Women’s cross-country has good showing in Tucson
In its second meet of the season, the women’s cross-country team had another strong showing by finishing in second place at the Dave Murray Invitational in Tucson.Women’s coach Ryan Cole said last week that he wanted to get different combinations of runners competing together.
Cole’s strategy paid off by having sophomore Adriana Olivas run in Tucson.
Olivas scorched the competition, finishing third overall with a time of 17:06:36 in the three-mile event.
Olivas’ time solidified the second place finish for the women’s team over two ranked opponents in UA an NAU.
Not only did Olivas help push the team into second place but the team helped itself by having eight different members finish in the top 15 of the entire event.
Cole said the team continues to improve on its strategy heading into a big test next week at the Roy Griak Invitational in Minneapolis on Sept. 28.
“Our group is doing a better job of running hard together," Cole said. "Being able to group up and race together will be important next week.”
Cole, who was pleased with how the team ran, said the Sun Devils are performing more consistently and that they will benefit from having that type of rhythm as the season progresses.
He said he plans on having freshmen compete next week and contribute to the team in the season’s first big test.
Men’s cross-country finishes third in Tucson
The men’s cross-country team continues to make strides leading up to the big test next week at the Roy Griak Invitational in Minneapolis.ASU finished third this weekend in Tucson behind UA and NAU, but coach Louie Quintana said the point of this meet was to further solidify the top runners going into the NCAA qualifiers in Minneapolis.
Quintana said the runners that participated in Friday’s meet in Tucson were those that needed more experience in races and that he is content with how they performed.
Quintana said the team employed a very conservative race plan so that they could move through the field smoothly and finish well.
Redshirt sophomore Daniel Wong finished top 10 overall with a time of 22:30:84 in the 4.25-mile run.
Quintana said Wong ran with the freshmen during most of Friday’s meet to help them throughout the race, but that he was told to open up with 800 meters to go.
At that point Wong was able to pass 15 other runners to finish in ninth place overall.
Quintana said he sat his top eight guys Friday, but plans on running Daniel Wong next week at the Roy Griak Invitational.
“I would consider the group we ran as very solidified 'B' and 'C' teams,” Quintana said.
Quintana said the plan is to have these secondary teams as backups to the top runners. He said injuries and stamina are challenges he must make sure he prepares his team for.
ASU men’s cross-country travels to the Roy Griak Invitational on Sept. 28 in Minneapolis.
Reach the reporter at lzazueta@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @lorenzozazueta
