Sept. 3, 2005
TEMPE, Ariz. - The Arizona State University cross country program opened the 2005 season among the cool pines of Flagstaff, Ariz., Saturday with the Sun Devils collecting a pair of victories at the George Kyte Invitational at Buffalo Park. The meet, hosted by Northern Arizona, saw the men's `B' team win the team title while the women's `B' squad placed third overall despite Sun Devil Jenna Wrieden winning the individual crown.
The men opened the meet with all six runners finishing among the Top 24 individually in the 4.77 mile race to accumulate 35 points and take the team title. Slippery Rock took runner-up honors with 66 points and were followed by host NAU in third place with 91 points. The women closed out the first meet of the season with 75 points and a third-place finish while Ft. Lewis (Colo.) won the team title with 40 points, just edging the host Lumberjacks who finished second at 46.
The ASU men were led by David Mehlhorn (Fr., Tempe, Ariz.), who finished fourth overall at 26:39.0. He was followed across the line by Jack Mann (Fr., Scottsdale, Ariz.) in sixth place at 26:50.3, Jeremy Cramer (Jr., Boise, Idaho) in eighth place at 26:58.7, Griffin Lee (Sr., Shawnee Heights, Kan.) in 10th place at 27:04.4 and David Gott (Fr., Marion, Iowa) in 12th at 27:09.5 to round out the scoring. Kent Henry (Fr., Pleasant Hill, Calif.) also competed in the meet, finishing 24th with a time of 28:16.7.
On the women's side, Wrieden (Jr., Glendale, Ariz.) won her first collegiate title as she covered the 5,000m course in 17:56.8, finishing nearly 20 seconds ahead of runner-up and teammate Brooke Bennett (So., Eagar, Ariz.) at 18:13.1. Jaelee Martinez () placed 20th overall at 20:10.0 while Katie Murphy (So., Phoenix, Ariz.) took 30th at 20:47.2 and Chelsea Caloia (Fr., Phoenix, Ariz.) 35th at 21:05.0 to round out the scoring. Samantha Knobbe (Fr., Phoenix, Ariz.) and Lauren Hayes (So., Mesa, Ariz.) also competed in the meet, placing 45th (21:35.1) and 53rd (22:26.2), respectively.
The Sun Devils return to action in two weeks as they travel south to Tucson and the Del Ulrich Golf Course for the Dave Murray Invitational on Sept. 16. The course, on the Arizona campus, will be the same used for the 2005 Pac-10 Championships later in the season.