Nov. 21, 2005
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Despite temperatures in the high 30s and overcast conditions at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center in Terre Haute, Ind., the Arizona State University cross country teams shined brightly on the national stage as the No. 5 women earned the first trophy finish in program history with their fourth-place ending while the men, ranked 21st heading into the meet, finished strong in 17th place. Wisconsin's men and Stanford's women each won the team titles.
The women, making their eighth NCAA appearance in a row, finished fourth place with 191 points and were just 10 points from tying for second place overall with Colorado. The Cardinal won the meet with 146 points while Duke, the top ranked team in the nation all season, finished third at 185. The Sun Devils' finish in both placement and point total are the best in the history of the program, surpassing the previous record of 266 points and a sixth-place finish at the 2000 meet.
Amy Hastings became the program's fist three-time All-American in cross country after she ran 20:09 to finish 11th in the race. Her finish is the second-best in program history, bested only by Lisa Aguilera's fifth-place finish during the 2000 meet. Hastings, who led at the half-way mark of the race, was followed across the line by Jenna Kingma, who finished her first NCAA meet in 31st place with a time of 20:36. Kingma finished just ahead of Anna Masinelli, who took 34th overall at 20:39. The finishes for Kingma and Masinelli are the sixth and seventh-best in the ASU history.
Victoria Jackson placed 43rd overall at 20:48 and Rachel Ellison was 72nd at 21:06 to round out the Top 5 scorers for the Sun Devils. Cassie Rios and Corey Randall also represented the Sun Devils in the meet, finishing 112th (21:33) and 148th (21:55), respectively.
Nearly three weeks ago, the men finished fifth in the Pac-10 Conference and needed a strong showing at the regional meet to advance to the national race. After finishing third in the West, the men made their fourth appearance at the national level and scored 465 points to finish 17th overall in the 31 team field.
Ryan Warrenburg, who was running his final cross country meet in his home state, led the charge with his 36th place showing at 30:30. Fellow senior Casey Burchill took 47th overall in 30:40 and joined Warrenburg on the all-time Top 10 finishes for the program as Warrenburg now stands sixth on the list and Burchill is seventh. Joey Heller (103rd at 21:19), J.J. Duke (121st at 31:28) and Eric Dall (158th at 31:51) completed the five men that scored in the meet for ASU. Roger Cahill (194th at 32:23) and Kal Clark (200th at 32:50) also raced for the maroon and gold.
The men's team finish and point total rank as the third-best in the four appearances the team has made and also marked the fourth time ASU has finished in the Top 20 at the NCAA Championships. The men were eighth one year ago, 20th in 2001 and 14th in 1999, the first time they had advanced to the championship meet.