Oct. 30, 2004
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - The Arizona State cross country program traveled to Golden Gate Park Saturday and returned to Tempe with impressive showings as both the men and women finished second overall in the 2004 Pac-10 Cross Country Championships in San Francisco, Calif. History also was achieved in the women's race with Amy Hastings becoming for the first Sun Devil, male or female, to win the conference cross country race in the history of the program.
In the team standings, the women tallied 47 points to finish behind Stanford (30) to establish the school record for low points in a conference meet, besting the 59 points the team compiled in 2002. Washington (100), UCLA (102) and Washington State (171) rounded out the Top 5 in the team race. The ASU men also set a new mark for points as their runner-up total of 64 points bettered the 75 recorded in 2001. Stanford also won the men's race with 37 points while Oregon (105), Washington (116) and UCLA (118) completed the Top 5 in the standings.
In the women's 6,000m race, Hastings rolled to the first title in school history at 20:19, outkicking Stanford senior Alicia Craig (20:26). The previous top finish for the Sun Devil women came in the 2000 meet when Lisa Aguilera finished second. The win for Hastings was not only her second of the year, but also gave her four career victories, tying Lynn Nelson's school mark of four set in 1983.
Desiree Davila finished second on the team and fifth overall at 21:00 while Victoria Jackson took ninth overall at 21:14 for ASU with Anna Masinelli (13th at 21:24) and Jessica Crate (20th at 21:43) rounded out the scoring for the Sun Devils. Also competing for ASU in the race were Rachel Ellison (28th at 21:57), Cassie Rios (30th at 22:01), Corey Randall (34th at 22:08), Jessie McLaughlin (45th at 22:33) and Liz Lindgren (66th at 23:02).
Aaron Aguayo paced the men with his third-place finish at 24:12 in the 8,000m race, bettering the 18th-place finish he tallied a year ago. His overall finish is the second-best in school annals as Fasil Bizuneh took runner-up honors in the 2001 meet. Velibor Radejovic took 10th in his first conference race at 24:43 while Ryan Warrenburg earned a Top 15 finish with his 14th-place finish at 24:46. Juan Reyes and Roger Cahill rounded out the scoring with finishes of 18th (24:58) and 19th (25:04), respectively. Rounding out the men in the race were Casey Burchill (30th at 25:23), Kal Clark (37th at 25:39), Joey Heller (55th at 26:17), Jeremy Cramer (60th at 26:26) and Griffin Lee (65th at 26:44).
The Sun Devils will take a week off from competition before heading to Fresno, Calif., for the 2004 NCAA West Region Championships. The meet, hosted by Fresno State, will take place Nov. 13 with the women contesting a 6,000m race at 11 a.m. and the men taking part in a 10,000m run at noon.