Sept. 23, 2006
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Aaron Aguayo and Jenna Kingma again led the Arizona State University cross country teams to solid showings as the Sun Devils placed second in the women's race and fourth in men's race at the 21st Roy Griak Invitational held Saturday on the Les Bolstad Golf Course in Minneapolis, Minn.
The women, ranked ninth in the nation, finished second with 113 points while UC Santa Barbara scored 91 to win the meet. The Sun Devils, the champions of the meet one year ago, finished second despite its top runner, Kingma, placing 12th overall in the race in 21:45.55, though its Top 5 all finished among the Top 31 finishers.
Cassie Rios placed right behind Kingma, finishing 13th at 21:46.80, while rookie Krystal Duke finished 27th in 22:02.50. The Sun Devil Top 5 was rounded out by Ali Kielty (30th in 22:05.70) and Brooke Bennett (31st in 22:07.00) while true freshman Kari Hardt (61st in 22:42.55) and sister Whitney Hardt (85th in 23:03.40) to round out the Top 7. ASU's final two runners included Sereena Harmon (118th in 23:32.40) and Jenny Cohen (128th in 23:39.15).
The men's race saw the Sun Devils score 182 points to finish fourth overall, moving up from their ninth-place showing one year ago. No. 8 Arizona won the team title with 142 points and was followed by No. 23 Minnesota (153), No. 26 Virginia (173), ASU and Iowa State (207) in the Top 5. The Sun Devils did finish ahead of one higher ranked team as No. 10 Kansas finished ninth with 294 points.
Aguayo turned in a solid performance as he placed third overall, running the 8k course in 24:18.70 and finishing behind NCAA champion Josh McDougal of Liberty, who won the race in 24:14.05. Aguayo also finished ahead of Arizona's Robert Chesert as the defending Pac-10 champion placed fourth.
Kyle Alcorn gave ASU its second Top 15 finisher as he placed 12th overall in 24:55.15. Joey Heller finished 46th in 25:46.00 while true freshmen Mikias Gelagle (62nd in 25:55.30) and Garrett Kelly (71st in 26:01.70) rounded out the Top 5 for the Sun Devils. Kal Clark (85th in 26:09.25) and Eric Dall (104th in 26:18.40) rounded out the Top seven for the team. Also competing for the men were Jeff Helmer (114th in 26:22.20), David Mehlhorn (121st in 26:25.15) and David Gott (185th in 26:59.35).
Following a week off from competition, the Sun Devils return to action at home Oct. 7 when the program plays host to the 21st Arizona State Invitational at Kiwanis Park in Tempe.