Oct. 5, 2007
TEMPE, Ariz. - The Arizona State University cross country team held its 22nd running of the ASU Invitational Friday afternoon at Kiwanis Park in Tempe, Ariz., with the Sun Devils fielding a "B" squad in the competition that featured several local collegiate teams.
Originally, the men's squad scored 42 points to finish second to Arizona (36 points) while Pepperdine (110), Dine College (127) and Pima Community College (148) rounding out the Top 5 teams in the 11-team competition. Following a review of the results, an Arizona runner was changed to Unattached from the UA squad, changing the team point totals to ASU winning with 37 points and followed in the Top 5 by UA (88), Pepperdine (105), Dine (123) and Pima (144). The team title was ASU's first since taking the Canyon West Classic in 2005. That same season, the Sun Devils also won the ASU Invitational and the George Kyte Invitational.
On the women's side, the Sun Devils finished fifth overall with 148 points while Arizona (29 points) won the meet. UTEP (59), New Mexico State (70) and Pepperdine (110) finished ahead of the hosts to round out the Top 5 of the 12-team race.
Individually, the men were led by Santos Castro, who crossed the tape in 25:29.1 to place eighth overall. Castro was followed by Jack Mann (10th in 25:42.2), Collin Eckelman (12th in 25:53.0), David Mehlhorn (17th in 26:09.8), David Gott (20th in 26:20.2) and Shane Snyder (40th in 27:13.0). Jacob Kirwa of Dine College won the men's race with the sixth-fastest time on the 8,000m course at Kiwanis, crossing the line in 24:15.9.
For the women, Whitney Lemieux led the charge as she finished 12th overall in 19:13.8. Whitney Blue (16th in 19:26.4), Chelsea Caloia (26th in 19:53.8), Jocelyn Buras (61st in 21:12.5) and Lisa Nelson (94th in 23:58.6) rounded out the Sun Devils in the race. Kelly Young of UTEP won the women's individual title, running 18:13.2 over the 5,000m course.
Next weekend, the Sun Devils will send their top runners to Terre Haute, Ind., to compete in the NCAA Pre-National Meet on Saturday, October 13, while the remaining runners on the team will return to Kiwanis Park to compete in the Canyon West Classic on Saturday at 8 a.m.