After many months of early mornings and hard workouts, the ASU cross country squads are finally ready to get their season underway at the George Kyte Classic in Flagstaff.
This is the first of eight scheduled meets this year for the Sun Devils, and they are looking to get off to a fast start.
“We are going to go there and run hard,” women's coach Ryan Cole said. “When we line up, we execute the way we want to execute and don't care who else is there.”
The women's team is looking to follow up a solid second-place finish last year at the classic. Led by senior runner Lindsey Prescott, the women have been completely focused in preparation for the start of the season, and are excited to see it all come to fruition Saturday.
“Its great because we have all been training all summer,” junior Kate Lydy said. “It’s been a really long process, so it will be fun actually getting into some meets and seeing what we can do after all the hard work we have put in.”
The main worry for Cole is the altitude, but he doesn't foresee it being a major problem to his team.
“It’s 7,000 feet, so the altitude is something you have to account for,” Cole said. “Obviously schools that are at higher altitudes are acclimated better to that than we are, but at the same time it's a 5,000 meter race and we have done a few of those, so we feel pretty confident regardless of what the course is or where its at.
“5K is 5K. Running anywhere from 17 to 21 minutes, we are pretty good at that.”
On the men's side, the squad is looking to bounce back from a fourth place finish at last year's meet and prove early on its No. 29 national ranking is deserved. Fifth-year senior and team captain Daniel Lovell is confident in his team's chances Saturday.
“We are taking some hardware home,” Lovell said. “We are getting first place, no doubt about that.”
Lovell, the team's top finisher in last year's classic, understands the importance of running a solid individual race, but the results of the team are much more important.
“We are looking to have a big pack and then at the last mile we are all just going to take off and place so we can get that first place trophy,” Lovell said. “Some younger guys are coming to the meet and I'm just going to help them, especially through the middle section, which is the hard section.”
As confident as Lovell and the squad may be, they have to go head-to-head with the host, No. 12 NAU.
Men's coach Louie Quintana understands the significance of beating NAU this early in the season, but realizes this is only the first of many meets.
“NAU is one of the better distance programs in the state,” Quintana said. “Certainly we don't put a lot of weight into it if we beat NAU now. It doesn't mean as much as it does in November, but they are talented.”
The meet starts Saturday at Buffalo Park in Flagstaff at 1:30 p.m. with the women's 5k race, followed by the men's 8k race immediately after.
