The ASU men’s cross country team took 11th place at the Notre Dame Invitational on Friday, while the rest of the squad delivered several fine individual performances at the ASU Invitational in Mesa.
Senior Ben Engelhardt paced the Sun Devils in South Bend, turning in a 12th place overall finish (24:10) in the men’s 8,000-meter blue race. Sophomore Darius Terry (24:46), sophomore Nick Happe (25:09), junior Daniel Lovell (25:15) and sophomore Doug Smith (25:25), who placed 47th, 68th, 76th and 89th, respectively, rounded out the scorers for ASU at Notre Dame’s nine-hole golf course.
“[We had] mixed feelings after the race. We will be significantly better once everyone is healthy,” ASU coach Louie Quintana said, referring to the sickness that the team battled in practice last week. “I told the guys to keep working hard and keep believing.”
The No. 18 men, who took eight of their top runners to Friday’s elite, multi-region competition hosted by the Fighting Irish, garnered 289 points to place 11th.
The Sun Devils finished ahead of a pair of ranked teams, No. 27 Butler and No. 14 Villanova, and only one point shy of breaking into the top 10.
No. 3 Oregon took home the team title with 69 points, edging No. 16 New Mexico’s 78-point second-place effort.
Although the men were somewhat disappointed with their performance, Quintana continued to stress the importance for his harriers to “focus on the big picture.”
“We are doing such phenomenal work, but we have to combine both sides of training — physical and mental — to really be ready for the stretch drive,” Quintana said.
The rest of the ASU squad was also preparing for the season’s “stretch drive” via the ASU Invitational at Toka Sticks Golf Course in Mesa.
The race was an opportunity for many of the team’s younger runners, as well as those battling back from injury, to get some big race experience under their belts in ASU’s lone home meet of the season.
“It’s a really good confidence booster, especially if we come out here and do well,” said redshirt freshman Sean Newport, who came in first for the ASU men (15:51.3, 15th overall).
This was the second consecutive year that the ASU Invitational has been run in conjunction with the Desert Twilight Cross Country Festival.
“It’s a great event that we’re pleased to be a part of,” said assistant coach Ryan Cole, who oversees the organization of the collegiate races. “Hopefully, it’s just an inspiring event to live a healthy lifestyle and stay involved in the sport of running, whether you’re 10 years old or 85.”
While ASU did not figure into the team scoring on either side (four runners completed the course for both the men and women, one short of the five needed to score as a team), solid individual efforts highlighted the night for the Sun Devils. Redshirt sophomore Catherine Loden’s third place finish (15:51.3) led the ASU women, followed by senior Brianna Smith (fourth, 19:00.1), junior Camille Olson (sixth, 19:05.2) and sophomore Natasa Vulic (eighth, 19:35.0).
“We were planning on going out, putting all expectations aside, and just racing,” Loden said of the strategy going into the meet, where UA swept the men’s and women’s titles. “I’d say it’s pretty laid back [in terms of race pressure], but we always go out racing with a purpose.”
Regardless of the results thus far, ASU is confident that continued hard work, coupled with a confident yet collected mentality during competition, will result in success down the stretch.
“We don’t really care who the September superstars are, and we don’t worry about winning the meet on Oct. 1,” Cole said. “But you want to be there at the end of the season, at the championship events, ready to roll. And I have a lot of confidence in our student-athletes that they’re doing the appropriate work to do that.”
Reach the reporter at kyle.j.newman@asu.edu
