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ASU cross country sweeps in USD Invitational

Sun Devils get second sweep of the season in out-of-state meet

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Then ASU sophomore Courtney Lewis and senior Billie Jo Dytrt lead the women’s three-mile race at the ASU Cross Country Invitational at the Karsten Golf Course in Tempe, Arizona, on Friday, Oct. 20, 2017.


ASU's cross country teams claimed victory in both the men’s and women’s races at the USD Invitational Friday.

The Sun Devils earned their second sweep in a row after both teams won the Cactus Open in Tucson this August. 

Redshirt junior Daan Haven led the way for the ASU women, finishing third overall in the 6K race with a time of 22:10.4.

“I felt very nervous going into it,” Haven said. “(As the race started) the nervousness went away, and my focus was to follow the race plan and stay engaged, and don’t let the jerseys that are not our color beat us.”

ASU was the only non-California school competing in the invitational. The Sun Devils took a long bus ride up to San Diego on Friday morning. Haven said this was her first meet outside of Arizona since her high school days.

Including Haven, five runners finished in the top 10 in the women’s race. Senior Megan Reniewicki, freshman Ava Shackell, senior Courtney Lewis and freshman Lena Lebrun finished fourth, fifth, sixth and 10th respectively.

“As an individual, (teamwork) comes in perspective in starting at practice, making sure everyone’s on board, making sure everyone has that big goal of making nationals and having everyone on the same page,” said Haven.

On the men’s side, sophomore Ian Kebenei was the top ASU finisher in the 8K race, placing second overall with a time of 25:50.0. Freshman Vincent Mauri was right behind Kebenei with a time of 25:50.5.

Junior Jackson Lewis and sophomore Adam Klein finished fourth and seventh respectively. 

“We really got after it as a team,” said Lewis. “That’s kinda the focus for us in the first two weeks and it will continue to be the focus as we get into bigger meets as well.”

“Looking at our team, I don’t think we have any individuals that can make the NCAA meet alone, so everything has to be done as a team. In all the races so far, we’ve been executing and working together as a group.”

The Sun Devils took a long bus ride from Tempe to San Diego on the same day as the meet to compete in a course they had little to no experience with, but Lewis wasn’t rattled.

“A focus for this season is being able to perform no matter what the situation is,” said Lewis. “Coach Cory (Leslie) has added a little adversity into the last two meets.”

Irish transfer Fearghal Curtin did not compete in the meet. Curtin was a "healthy scratch" according to coach Leslie in an interview the day before the meet.

“He had a such a long summer and workout schedule,” said Lewis. “With us working back from the Pac-12 meet, he would get more out of a nice, hard workout as opposed racing.”

The next meet for the Sun Devils is the Arturo Barrios Invitational in Texas on Oct. 19.


Reach the reporter at cvanligt@asu.edu or follow @Connor_VL on Twitter. 

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