George Kyte Classic Meet Notes
TEMPE – The Arizona State cross country teams get back in action Saturday with a trip into the mountains for the George Kyte Classic in Flagstaff.
"It's a good opportunity to open the season in Flagstaff where it's 7,000 feet up," Rasmussen said. "It's a little bit of a challenge to compete at altitude like that. We're really looking at more of the mental side of things, like preparation and how they manage themselves during the course of the race."
The Sun Devils are no strangers to the Buffalo Park course. The squads have attended the season-opening meet in every year since 2005.
At last season's classic, the women of ASU took the meet title behind a strong run from Chelsey Albertson who finished second in the 2.6-mile race with a time of 15:16.8.
On the men's side, C.J. Albertson took the individual title for the Sun Devils and led ASU to the runner-up finish behind host and eventual NCAA champion Northern Arizona.
Because C.J. graduated in the spring, ASU's highest-finishing returner is junior team captain John Reniewicki, who took ninth, just ahead of former Sun Devil Cody Brazeal. However, Reniewicki will not make the trip, making Brandon Boys (15th) the highest finishing returner.
"We always set goals for the team, and those will be set, but right now, we're not quite sure where we are," Rasmussen said. "Being able to figure out how we get better every day and how we get better every meet is really important for this group to succeed."
All five of the ASU women's scorers finished in the top-10 in 2016. Along with Chelsey's second place finish, Courtney Lewis (fourth), Megan Reniewicki (fifth), Kaitlin Kaluzny (eighth) and Anna Pruter (10th) helped the Sun Devil women take the meet win with 29 points. Pruter is the only returner expected to compete Saturday.
This season's meet will feature the defending national champion Lumberjack men and the women of NAU, as well as the men and women of Arizona, Grand Canyon and UCLA, among others.
What to Watch for
While it is just the first meet of the season for all of the teams competing at this weekend's George Kyte Classic, the meet in Flagstaff is a rare and important opportunity for ASU to run at altitude, and will be the first race in some time for a number of Sun Devils.
Flagstaff is ASU's only stop this season over a mile above sea level, and the second highest meet is next weekend's Dave Murray Invitational in Tucson, which sits at just over 2,000 feet above sea level.
Of the 13 Sun Devils entered in Saturday's race, Billie Jo Dytrt is the lone senior, and only three entrants are juniors, which means the Devils will send a young squad to toe the line with NAU, UCLA, Arizona and others.
Anna Pruter, Lauren Gavulic, Brandon Boys and Kyle Shinn are the only athletes traveling for ASU who competed at the George Kyte Classic a season ago.
Sun Devil Entries – George Kyte Classic
Men:
Brandon Boys, Nick Dale, Jackson Lewis, Ryan Normand, Michael Renner, Kyle Shinn
Women:
Chamique Duboise, Billie Jo Dytrt, Emily Gallegos-Francksen, Lauren Gavulic, Daan Haven, Alexis Nichols, Anna Pruter, Angela Saitta
Sun Devils Go the Distance for Cross Country
Although the Sun Devils open the season with two meets in the Grand Canyon State, ASU will rack up the airline miles this fall as the squads are set to travel to meets in Minnesota, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Washington and Oregon.
In total, the Sun Devils will travel 8,761 miles to competitions. For comparison, a flight from Tempe to Adelaide, Australia, covers just 8,502 miles.
ASU Women Crack Regional Top-10
The Arizona State Sun Devil women's cross country team debuted at No. 9 in the first USTFCCCA West Regional poll, the squad's highest preseason rank since 2015.
The men premiered at 13 in the region as one of seven Pac-12 schools to earn Regional top-15 places.
Sun Devils Represent at World Championships
Two former Sun Devil cross country All-Americans competed at this year's IAAF World Championships in London and both came away with memorable performances with one claiming a medal.
Amy Cragg took bronze in the marathon to become the first American woman in 34 years to medal in the event at the world championships.
Shelby Houlihan dashed to a personal best in the 5,000-meter prelim in exciting fashion before finishing 13th in the final.
New Title, Same Sun Devil
New ASU cross country head coach Jeremy Rasmussen will make his head coaching debut in Flagstaff, but the former Pac-10 steeplechase champion has been sporadically on the staff at his alma mater since 2003.
He spent one year as a graduate assistant before becoming a volunteer coach in 2004 and eventually an assistant in 2006. Rasmussen was hired by the University of Illinois in 2007, but returned to the valley in 2014 before becoming the first Sun Devil alumnus to receive the title of head coach this past summer.
As an assistant, Rasmussen coached Olympian Shelby Houlihan and world bronze medalist Amy Cragg while in Tempe.
Leslie Added to Coaching Staff
Former All-American and Ohio State standout Cory Leslie is joining the Arizona State cross country coaching staff as an assistant coach.
Leslie spent the 2016-17 season as an assistant at George Mason, and prior to his time with the Patriots, Leslie had a four-year stint at Furman where he helped turned the Paladin cross country teams into two of the NCAA's best.
In his last season at Furman, the Paladin men finished 13th at the NCAA Championships and were ranked as high as 10th in the USTFCCCA poll.
Leslie joins the staff of new head coach Jeremy Rasmussen and volunteer assistant coach Priscilla Schultz.
TEMPE – The Arizona State cross country teams get back in action Saturday with a trip into the mountains for the George Kyte Classic in Flagstaff.
"It's a good opportunity to open the season in Flagstaff where it's 7,000 feet up," Rasmussen said. "It's a little bit of a challenge to compete at altitude like that. We're really looking at more of the mental side of things, like preparation and how they manage themselves during the course of the race."
The Sun Devils are no strangers to the Buffalo Park course. The squads have attended the season-opening meet in every year since 2005.
At last season's classic, the women of ASU took the meet title behind a strong run from Chelsey Albertson who finished second in the 2.6-mile race with a time of 15:16.8.
On the men's side, C.J. Albertson took the individual title for the Sun Devils and led ASU to the runner-up finish behind host and eventual NCAA champion Northern Arizona.
Because C.J. graduated in the spring, ASU's highest-finishing returner is junior team captain John Reniewicki, who took ninth, just ahead of former Sun Devil Cody Brazeal. However, Reniewicki will not make the trip, making Brandon Boys (15th) the highest finishing returner.
"We always set goals for the team, and those will be set, but right now, we're not quite sure where we are," Rasmussen said. "Being able to figure out how we get better every day and how we get better every meet is really important for this group to succeed."
All five of the ASU women's scorers finished in the top-10 in 2016. Along with Chelsey's second place finish, Courtney Lewis (fourth), Megan Reniewicki (fifth), Kaitlin Kaluzny (eighth) and Anna Pruter (10th) helped the Sun Devil women take the meet win with 29 points. Pruter is the only returner expected to compete Saturday.
This season's meet will feature the defending national champion Lumberjack men and the women of NAU, as well as the men and women of Arizona, Grand Canyon and UCLA, among others.
What to Watch for
While it is just the first meet of the season for all of the teams competing at this weekend's George Kyte Classic, the meet in Flagstaff is a rare and important opportunity for ASU to run at altitude, and will be the first race in some time for a number of Sun Devils.
Flagstaff is ASU's only stop this season over a mile above sea level, and the second highest meet is next weekend's Dave Murray Invitational in Tucson, which sits at just over 2,000 feet above sea level.
Of the 13 Sun Devils entered in Saturday's race, Billie Jo Dytrt is the lone senior, and only three entrants are juniors, which means the Devils will send a young squad to toe the line with NAU, UCLA, Arizona and others.
Anna Pruter, Lauren Gavulic, Brandon Boys and Kyle Shinn are the only athletes traveling for ASU who competed at the George Kyte Classic a season ago.
Sun Devil Entries – George Kyte Classic
Men:
Brandon Boys, Nick Dale, Jackson Lewis, Ryan Normand, Michael Renner, Kyle Shinn
Women:
Chamique Duboise, Billie Jo Dytrt, Emily Gallegos-Francksen, Lauren Gavulic, Daan Haven, Alexis Nichols, Anna Pruter, Angela Saitta
Sun Devils Go the Distance for Cross Country
Although the Sun Devils open the season with two meets in the Grand Canyon State, ASU will rack up the airline miles this fall as the squads are set to travel to meets in Minnesota, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Washington and Oregon.
In total, the Sun Devils will travel 8,761 miles to competitions. For comparison, a flight from Tempe to Adelaide, Australia, covers just 8,502 miles.
ASU Women Crack Regional Top-10
The Arizona State Sun Devil women's cross country team debuted at No. 9 in the first USTFCCCA West Regional poll, the squad's highest preseason rank since 2015.
The men premiered at 13 in the region as one of seven Pac-12 schools to earn Regional top-15 places.
Sun Devils Represent at World Championships
Two former Sun Devil cross country All-Americans competed at this year's IAAF World Championships in London and both came away with memorable performances with one claiming a medal.
Amy Cragg took bronze in the marathon to become the first American woman in 34 years to medal in the event at the world championships.
Shelby Houlihan dashed to a personal best in the 5,000-meter prelim in exciting fashion before finishing 13th in the final.
New Title, Same Sun Devil
New ASU cross country head coach Jeremy Rasmussen will make his head coaching debut in Flagstaff, but the former Pac-10 steeplechase champion has been sporadically on the staff at his alma mater since 2003.
He spent one year as a graduate assistant before becoming a volunteer coach in 2004 and eventually an assistant in 2006. Rasmussen was hired by the University of Illinois in 2007, but returned to the valley in 2014 before becoming the first Sun Devil alumnus to receive the title of head coach this past summer.
As an assistant, Rasmussen coached Olympian Shelby Houlihan and world bronze medalist Amy Cragg while in Tempe.
Leslie Added to Coaching Staff
Former All-American and Ohio State standout Cory Leslie is joining the Arizona State cross country coaching staff as an assistant coach.
Leslie spent the 2016-17 season as an assistant at George Mason, and prior to his time with the Patriots, Leslie had a four-year stint at Furman where he helped turned the Paladin cross country teams into two of the NCAA's best.
In his last season at Furman, the Paladin men finished 13th at the NCAA Championships and were ranked as high as 10th in the USTFCCCA poll.
Leslie joins the staff of new head coach Jeremy Rasmussen and volunteer assistant coach Priscilla Schultz.
The #SunDevilFamily got a little bigger today! Welcome, @cory_leslie!
— Sun Devil TFXC (@SunDevilTFXC) September 1, 2017
Release: https://t.co/AmhJl2AWZd pic.twitter.com/Nygp7GQT7r