The ASU cross country team was led by redshirt senior Ben Engelhardt once again on Saturday, as the men placed fifth overall and the women took 13th at the NCAA West Regional Championships on Saturday.
Engelhardt continued his hot season by placing 13th overall in 30:21.4 at Springfield Country Club in Springfield, Ore., good enough to take home all-region honors and qualify for the NCAA Championships meet as an individual, one of four men to do so from the West Region.
The women were once again paced by junior Lindsay Prescott, who finished 37th in 21:03.1. However, ASU was again disappointed with the outcome of the race.
“We are frustrated more than anything,” ASU coach Louie Quintana said. “We have worked hard, but not hard enough. I told them on Saturday after the race that part-time effort yields part time results and that's just what we got this year.”
While the team didn’t race up to par, redshirt senior leader Engelhardt was happy with his individual performance in Oregon.
“I feel like I had a much better race than I have all season, especially coming off the Pac-10s,” Engelhardt said. “I was really pleased.”
Redshirt sophomore Darius Terry (26th, 30:40.6), redshirt junior Daniel Lovell (44th, 31:04.2), sophomore Doug Smith (50th, 31:06.7) and sophomore Nick Happe (53rd, 31:10.5) rounded out the scorers for ASU in the 10k men’s race, which was won by No. 3 Oregon with No. 2 Stanford a close second.
“We haven’t been running our best all season, so it’s good to finally come out and race well,” Terry said of the men’s finish.
The women’s side saw No. 11 Washington and No. 7 Oregon secure spots to the NCAA Championship meet.
ASU’s finish was anchored behind the efforts of redshirt senior Cherise McNair (76th, 21:33.2), sophomore Alyssa Allison (79th, 21:34.5), junior Kauren Tarver (83rd, 21:41.1) and redshirt sophomore Kate Lydy (106th, 22:00.2).
“With the women, this is clearly a disappointment,” Quintana said. “To end the streak [of 12 straight NCAA appearances] this way is embarrassing and we have a lot of retooling with this group to reshift the culture and focus.”
The women’s and men’s seasons are now over, as the men fell just short of obtaining an at-large bid and making it back to Terre Haute.
“I was real pleased with the men’s results,” Quintana said. “They raced hard and really went after it. They emptied the tank and gave it all they could.”
With the Sun Devil’s season all but wrapped up, Quintana reflected on his overall displeasure with the way things panned out.
“As a coach, I know the things to do to move in the right direction, but it’s going to be a very involved process over the next few months,” Quintana said. “The pressure has been turned up immensely not only on the women, but for me as well. Our focus has got to shift to helping this team on the track and building great momentum with our distance running.”
Reach the reporter at kyle.j.newman@asu.edu
