Coming into last Saturday's Roy Griak Invitational, ASU men's cross country coach Louie Quintana simply wanted his team to win.
The team fell short of that goal, but Quintana is happy with his team's performance and remains extremely confident.
“I was pleased with the finish,” Coach Quintana said. “We were very competitive and stuck with the game plan ... even if it was risky. We went out hard and stuck our nose in the competition. Portland and NC State are two potential top ten teams and we competed well against them. It would have been nice to beat Minnesota, but overall it was a nice day for the boys.”
The men finished in fourth place, losing to only nationally-ranked teams Portland, NC State, and host Minnesota.
Individually, the Sun Devils also performed well. Redshirt junior Darius Terry led ASU, finishing in fifth overall with a time of 23:55, finishing a mere 10 seconds from the runner-up position.
“Darius has really just blossomed as a distance runner,” Quintana said. “It was tremendous watching him compete on the frontline with Ryan Hill of NC State, Hassan Mead of Minnesota and Trevor Dunbar of Portland. All these other guys get the headlines, but Darius has quietly put together tremendous accomplishments.”
The next three Sun Devils finished in quick succession and also posted solid finishes. Junior Nick Happe finished 28th with a time of 24:47, junior Matt Boughton finished 33rd in 24:48, and senior Brian Pierre finished in 39th place with a time of 24:51.
Next up for the Sun Devils was Doug Smith, who finished with a time of 25:22 after falling and injuring himself during his first meet at NAU.
Redshirt freshman Garrett Baker-Slama followed up a solid first appearance, finishing in 103rd place with a time of 25:41.
The other freshmen Sun Devils in this race, Domenic D'Acquisto and Heyden Wooff, lagged behind the rest of the pack, but Quintana believes it is just a learning experience.
“Domenic and Heyden struggled with mid-race injuries and I really thought they would be running with Boughton and Pierre,” Quintana said. “They have been training great and both are highly competitive and I expect they will learn tremendously from this experience. I would anticipate much improved performances from the both of them the next time they line up.”
Women’s team finishes second
The ASU women's team also had a solid day in Minnesota, finishing 11th out of the 26 teams in the competition. Freshman Shelby Houlihan finished first among all Sun Devil runners, landing in 24th place with a time of 21:18.
Senior Lindsay Prescott finished second for the Sun Devils, posting a time of 21:43 for 47th place. Rounding out the top five for the women were junior Natasa Vulic (21:54, 59th place), freshman Macy Bricks (22:03, 71st place) and senior Kauren Tarver (22:06, 77th place).
The Sun Devils will next run in a couple of weeks at the Grand Canyon Invitational, which will be take place in Goodyear.
Reach the reporter at dsshapi1@asu.edu
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