The Sun Devils men's cross-country team is both confident and excited to travel to their first out-of-state meet.
Just talk to coach Louie Quintana.
“We are going to win, that's our goal, and we are not ashamed to put it out there,” Quintana said.
The Sun Devils are in a solid field that includes nationally ranked teams like Portland, North Carolina State, and host-school Minnesota, but look forward to the challenge that awaits them at the Roy Griak Invitational.
“It's a tough race, but it's going to be really fun to actually run against some really good competition and showcase the team and show them what we have,” redshirt senior team captain Daniel Lovell said.
Lovell will be leading the Sun Devils alongside with redshirt junior Darius Terry. In his only race so far this year, Terry won the George Kyte Invitational in Flagstaff, and is looking forward to the early season exposure and the challenge of facing top teams.
“There are a couple of good frontrunners, but I'm just going to try to put myself in the mix,” Terry said.
Coach Quintana acknowledged both Lovell and Terry for their leadership, and he is relying on them during Saturday's meet in the Division I Men's Gold competition.
“I think Darius is leading by example,” Quintana said. “The work he is putting in is really giving our guys a lot of confidence knowing we have a frontrunner and in cross country that's so important. Daniel is the vocal guy, really bringing the group together and he is very patient with the young guys. They have both been really rock solid for us.”
The Sun Devils appear to be meshing as a team and coming together at the right time. This meet is the first true test for the Sun Devils, and Quintana is excited with his team's progression up to Saturday's meet.
“We have been training now for almost six weeks,” Quintana said. “The guys are excited. We feel like we are in a really good spot. Certainly going into this meet there are some higher ranked teams than us. We are confident going in, though, and we just need to go and run hard and see what happens.”
Race experience, however, is the one concern for the Sun Devils heading into the Griak Invitational. Only two Sun Devils, Lovell and fellow senior Brian Pierre, have ever run in the event.
Nevertheless, the team is excited to start racing right away.
“This particular group hasn't been to Minnesota, so they don't have a lot of experience,” Quintana said. “It’s a challenging course, its all grass. The weather should be nice. They are just looking forward to getting on the plane and competing.”
Reach the reporter at dsshapi1@asu.edu
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