Oct. 8, 2004
TEMPE, Ariz. - The Arizona State cross country teams played host to its lone home event of the season with both the men's and women's teams finishing second overall at the 19th Arizona State Invitational held Friday night at Kiwanis Park in Tempe. Both Sun Devil squads competed as a "B" team, opting to sit its regular starters to allow for the younger runners to gain race experience.
Rival Arizona took the women's team crown with a 21-point showing with the Sun Devils taking second (52) and UNLV (89), Western New Mexico State (129) and Mesa Community College (143) rounding out the Top 5 in the standings. On the men's side, UA took top honors with 37 points while the hosts finished second with 67 points. Gateway CC (116), Glendale CC (118) and Quest Running Club (148) rounded out the Top 5 teams.
Jessica Crate (So., Brights Grove, Ontario) clocked in at 18:48.7 to pace the Sun Devil women with her third-place finish. She was followed by Brooke Bennett (Fr., Eagar, Ariz.) who took seventh in a time 19:08.6 and Cassie Rios (Fr., Phoenix, Ariz.) who placed 11th at 19:36.3. Liz Lindgren (Jr., Klamath Falls, Ore.) took 21st at 20:29.9 and Katie Murphy (Fr., Scottsdale, Ariz.) finished 38th at 21:33.4 while Jaelee Martinez (Fr., Gilbert, Ariz.) rounded out the Sun Devil entries with a 42nd-place finish in 21:50.1.
Kal Clark (So., Peewee Valley, Ky.) paced the men to their runner-up finish as he placed seventh with a time of 25:36.9. Jeremy Cramer (So., Boise, Idaho) followed at ninth (25:46.8) with Griffin Lee (Jr., Shawnee, Kan.) placing 22nd at 26:53.4, Carlo Lozano (Fr., Seattle, Wash.) finishing 28th at 27:23.1, Derek Pisel (Jr., Glendale, Ariz.) placing 31st at 27:31.0 and Jeff Dodge (Sr., Chandler, Ariz.) rounding out the ASU runners with a 32nd-place finish at 27:34.3.
A pair of meets are on the slate next weekend with the varsity squad heading to Terre Haute, Ind., for the 2004 NCAA Pre-National meet while the remainder of the team will return to Kiwanis Park to participate in the Canyon West Classic. Both meets will be conducted Oct. 16 with the Canyon meet starting with a women's 5K at 8 a.m. and a men's 8K at 8:45 a.m. The pre-national race will see the women run a 6K race at 11 a.m. while the men will take on the 8K race starting at 12:10 p.m.