1998 Recaps

Men's Cross Country (Walt Drenth/3rd Year): Finished in fourth place at the Pac-10 Championships, the best team finish in ASU history ... previous best was a fifth-place showing in 1986 ... placed eighth at NCAA West Regionals, ASU's best showing since a seventh-place finish in 1986 ... top finisher at both championships was freshman Juan Chavira ... he finished 14th at the Pac-10 Championships and 18th at regionals, best among all freshmen ... freshman Fasil Bizuneh joined Chavira with a top 20 finish at the regional (20th), the first top 20 finishes by ASU men since 1991 ... Chavira was ASU's top finisher at five of six races he competed in ... five of ASU's top seven runners were freshmen (Kris Alexander, Bizuneh, Ron Buchanan, Chavira and Isaiah Festa) and the other two were sophomores (David Burke and Brandon Strong) ... while it did not crack the top 25, ASU was ranked as high as 31st in the nation.

Women's Cross Country (Walt Drenth/3rd Year): For the first time in school history, ASU competed as a team at the NCAA Championships, finishing in a tie for 23rd ... senior Priscilla Hein finished 39th at the NCAA Championships, best in ASU history, and among the top 25 Americans to become ASU's first female All-American in cross country ... freshman Lisa Aguilera finished 131st, sophomore Kelly MacDonald 134th, Kristin McFerron 158th, freshman Cody Sohn 211th, sophomore Nicole Simmons 227th and sophomore Amy Maciasek 235th at the NCAA Championships... ASU finished sixth at the NCAA West Regionals, its best showing since a sixth-place finish in 1986 ... Hein placed 13th, the best finish by a Sun Devil woman since 1988, to earn all-region honors ... ASU finished fourth at Pac-10 Championships, matching the school's best showing ever (also finished fourth in 1987) ... Hein earned all-conference honors with a sixth-place finish ... team was ranked for the first time in school history, climbing as high as 15th in the nation... the squad was named an Academic All-American team by the Women's Intercollegiate Cross Country Coaches Association as the squad compiled a 3.23 GPA during the fall semester ... MacDonald earned Academic All-American honors (WICCA) ... Hein was a second-team Pac-10 All-Academic selection while MacDonald, Amy Maciasek and Amanda Markland earned honorable mention.