Sept. 19, 2008
TUCSON, Ariz. - Ali Kielty recorded her first collegiate cross country race victory and Noah Shannon set the pace for the men as both Arizona State University cross country teams captured titles at the Dave Murray Invitational Friday afternoon. Both teams scored 27 points to win the meet while host Arizona was second in each team event.
Kielty, an All-American last year in cross country, led the entire 4,000m race and crossed the line in 13:39.62 for her first collegiate win and the first for a Sun Devil since Jenna Kingma won the same race last year. Kielty was followed across the line by Kari Hardt, who was the race runner-up in 13:41.78. Haley Paul (fifth, 13:58.75), Angela Spadafino (seventh, 14:09.42) and Whitney Blue (22nd, 15:21.74) rounded out the Top 5 scoring positions for the team. Also running for the team was Maureen Stringham (25th, 15:36.94) and Rebecca Greenwald (38th, 16:23.41).
For the second meet in a row, Shannon was the top male finisher, breaking the tape in 18:59.93 to finish fourth overall in the 6,000m race. The remaining four scoring positions each finished among the Top 12 in the meet, including Patrick Milloy (seventh, 19:11.87), Santos Castro (ninth, 19:15.46), Thomas Petersen (11th, 19:27.06) and David Mehlhorn (12th, 19:29.42). Also running for the team were Dylan Hatcher (26th, 19:58.33), Collin Eckelman (29th, 20:10.40), Michael Anderson (39th, 20:42.23), Craig Nobles (50th, 21:09.72) and Jordan Hall (59th, 21:56.99).
The men competed in the meet without the services of its Top 3 runners as all three ran unattached from the team and placed in the Top 10. Among them was the men's overall race winner, Brandon Bethke, who clocked in at 19:29.30.
The Sun Devils jump back into action next weekend (September 27) as they are set to take part in the 23rd Roy Griak Invitational in Minneapolis, Minn.