Redshirt senior Ben Engelhardt and junior Lindsay Prescott paced the ASU cross country team once again on Saturday, although both the men and women struggled at the NCAA Pre-National meet in Terre Haute, Ind.
“I was real disappointed with the overall outcomes of both groups,” ASU coach Louie Quintana said after the race. “We ran a poor team effort and our runners ran with zero intent on helping the team.”
The women finished 11th overall in the 6k white race while the men took 19th in the 8k white race. The Sun Devils were unhappy with their placing at their final tune-up before the Pac-10 Championships.
“The team is real down,” Quintana said. “They’re feeling immense pressure to get this done [and] to turn things around.”
Engelhardt (18th, 24:10.7) and Prescott (17th, 20:46.5) fared well at LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in a race dominated by ranked opponents.
“It was really a bummer that the teams ran so poorly because Ben and Lindsay ran real solid today,” Quintana said. “They both have good momentum and I feel real solid about the rest of the season for them.”
In the women’s race, No. 5 Georgetown, No. 9 Colorado, No. 17 Stanford, No. 12 Stony Brook and No. 26 Minnesota took the top five spots, respectively.
The men’s race saw No. 16 Oklahoma take first, with No. 19 Brigham Young, No. 4 Colorado, No. 8 Portland and No. 13 North Carolina State rounding out the top five.
Darius Terry (63rd, 24:43.7), Nick Happe (74th, 24:49.4), Dylan Hatcher (155th, 25:38.4) and Daniel Lovell (162nd, 25:43.2) rounded out the scorers for the ASU men. Alyssa Allison (71st, 21:51.4), Cherise McNair (87th, 21:44.9), Anna Sperry (102nd, 21:51.4) and Kate Lydy (108th, 21:54.1) completed the top five for the Sun Devil women.
“[The results are] uncharacteristic of our group because we have been purposeful in practice and our attention to detail has been outstanding,” Quintana said. “My job is to continue with the work. [I must] stay positive and keep them believing.”
Prescott’s placement tied four other ASU harriers for the 14th-best finish in program history at the meet. Meanwhile, Engelhardt’s showing, which was the ninth-best all-time in program history, made him the 10th different ASU men’s runner to finish in the top 20 at the meet.
Quintana said ASU’s frontrunners “are frustrated because other runners are training with them consistently,” making the weekend’s performances a puzzling result.
This frustration is felt throughout the squad, as their hopes to use this meet as a momentum builder heading into the final month of the season did not materialize.
“On one hand, you feel it’s just a matter of time before we break through,” Quintana said. “But on the other hand, the season is dwindling with opportunity.”
Quintana continues to articulate that although he believes the team is doing great work at practice, their hard training has not yet resulted in desirable or expected outcomes at races.
“Right now we need to go out and race with intent, plain and simple,” Quintana said.
ASU must begin to right the ship quickly with the championship portion of the year fast approaching. The Sun Devils’ next competition will be in two weeks when they travel to Seattle, Wash. for the Pac-10 Championships on Saturday, Oct. 30.
Reach the reporter at kyle.j.newman@asu.edu
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