TEMPE – The new-look Sun Devil men's cross country team makes its season debut at the Mark Covert Classic this Saturday alongside the Arizona State women's squad that earned the 12-spot in the West Region's preseason poll.
The trip out west is a break from tradition as the Sun Devils have routinely headed into the mountains to Flagstaff for the season-opener.
"Arizona State over the last 13 or 14 years straight has gone up to Northern Arizona for the first meet of the year, but coach Cory Leslie and I made the decision to change that this year because we felt it was more important to find a race that was more full-distance for the men right away," head coach Jeremy Rasmussen said.
The Sun Devil men come into the 2018 campaign with a reinforced roster containing seven new faces, with five being true freshmen, to go along with the returning athletes that include U.S. Junior champion Jackson Lewis and last year's No. 1 John Reniewicki.
Along with Reniewicki and Lewis, three more Devils return in Erik Gonzalez, Michael Renner and Kyle Shinn. As for the newcomers, the overhaul starts with graduate transfer Garrett O'Toole.
"Of the new guys, I think Garrett, coming from Princeton with that experience at the national meet, is going to be someone that everyone is able to lean on a little bit in terms of knowing what it takes to compete at the highest level of cross country," Rasmussen said.
Fearghal Curtin joins the Devils after a successful freshman season at Charleston Southern, and Joseph Dicke, Ian Kebenei, Adam Klein, Fitzgerald Laurie and Timothy Sterkel round out the new-look outfit.
"We've got a couple of guys back from last year on a team that was not very successful and we're looking to basically do a 180 and flip the script," Rasmussen said. "We've got a great group of individuals that came in and will add a lot to the team, and looking at what we can do on the track, we've got the potential to turn some heads."
While the turnover on the men's side has left ASU out of the regional rankings, the women brought back most of last year's team and check in at No. 12.
"It's never about where you start, it's about how you finish," Rasmussen said. "Rankings don't really mean that much to me because they don't really matter come race day where anything can happen."
Even though they return most of the 2017 roster, the Devils did lose all-conference and all-region honoree Chelsey Albertson, leaving the No. 1 spot up for grabs.
"Samantha Ortega has in the past shown that she can be that No. 1," Rasmussen said. "But we've got a few women chomping at the bit to try to be up there."
The redshirt-junior Ortega was the only Sun Devil woman to finish ahead of Albertson last year, completing the feat in Louisville, Kentucky, and down in Tucson.
"It's going to be important for us to run as a group, though," Rasmussen said. "My hope is we have a couple of people up there racing together and whoever finishes first on the given day, so be it. I don't think we technically have a clear-cut front-runner, but by the end of the year we might."
After solid seasons on the track that included West Prelims appearances from three women and a top-10 mark, ASU comes into this season with the understanding that there's plenty of competition for all seven places.
Bianca Tinoco and Alexis Nichols put up regional qualifying marks, and Tinoco managed to run herself into the Sun Devil top-10 in the 800-meter run indoors. Tinoco went on to run three more sub-2:10 800s during the outdoor season and held an outdoor top-10 mark for a few weeks before All-American Alethia Marrero put down one of the best half-miles in school history.
Also returning for ASU will be Anna Pruter, who competed in all but one meet during the 2017 cross country season. Sophomores Emily Gallegos-Francksen, Angela Saitta and Daan Haven, and juniors Megan Reniewicki and Courtney Lewis will also play a role this season. Lewis won the ASU Invitational and helped the women win the event as a team.
The only addition to the squad is Sam Deane, a local product who took the state title in the 400, and earned the silver in 400 and 800 this past May.
"Last year we saw teams that we were close to at the conference meet do really well at the regional meet and almost make the national meet," Rasmussen said. "If you put it together at the right time, you don't know what could happen, so our goal this year is to put ourselves in a position to make those improvements as needed so that in the very near future we can have a conversation about being a competitive team at the national championships."
Rasmussen, Leslie and the Sun Devils hit the course in Brea, California, at 8:40 a.m. for the men's 8K race. The women will make their debut at 9:15 a.m. Results and a full recap will be available following the races on thesundevils.com, and live results can be found on FinishedResults.com.
The trip out west is a break from tradition as the Sun Devils have routinely headed into the mountains to Flagstaff for the season-opener.
"Arizona State over the last 13 or 14 years straight has gone up to Northern Arizona for the first meet of the year, but coach Cory Leslie and I made the decision to change that this year because we felt it was more important to find a race that was more full-distance for the men right away," head coach Jeremy Rasmussen said.
The Sun Devil men come into the 2018 campaign with a reinforced roster containing seven new faces, with five being true freshmen, to go along with the returning athletes that include U.S. Junior champion Jackson Lewis and last year's No. 1 John Reniewicki.
Along with Reniewicki and Lewis, three more Devils return in Erik Gonzalez, Michael Renner and Kyle Shinn. As for the newcomers, the overhaul starts with graduate transfer Garrett O'Toole.
"Of the new guys, I think Garrett, coming from Princeton with that experience at the national meet, is going to be someone that everyone is able to lean on a little bit in terms of knowing what it takes to compete at the highest level of cross country," Rasmussen said.
Fearghal Curtin joins the Devils after a successful freshman season at Charleston Southern, and Joseph Dicke, Ian Kebenei, Adam Klein, Fitzgerald Laurie and Timothy Sterkel round out the new-look outfit.
"We've got a couple of guys back from last year on a team that was not very successful and we're looking to basically do a 180 and flip the script," Rasmussen said. "We've got a great group of individuals that came in and will add a lot to the team, and looking at what we can do on the track, we've got the potential to turn some heads."
While the turnover on the men's side has left ASU out of the regional rankings, the women brought back most of last year's team and check in at No. 12.
"It's never about where you start, it's about how you finish," Rasmussen said. "Rankings don't really mean that much to me because they don't really matter come race day where anything can happen."
Even though they return most of the 2017 roster, the Devils did lose all-conference and all-region honoree Chelsey Albertson, leaving the No. 1 spot up for grabs.
"Samantha Ortega has in the past shown that she can be that No. 1," Rasmussen said. "But we've got a few women chomping at the bit to try to be up there."
The redshirt-junior Ortega was the only Sun Devil woman to finish ahead of Albertson last year, completing the feat in Louisville, Kentucky, and down in Tucson.
"It's going to be important for us to run as a group, though," Rasmussen said. "My hope is we have a couple of people up there racing together and whoever finishes first on the given day, so be it. I don't think we technically have a clear-cut front-runner, but by the end of the year we might."
After solid seasons on the track that included West Prelims appearances from three women and a top-10 mark, ASU comes into this season with the understanding that there's plenty of competition for all seven places.
Bianca Tinoco and Alexis Nichols put up regional qualifying marks, and Tinoco managed to run herself into the Sun Devil top-10 in the 800-meter run indoors. Tinoco went on to run three more sub-2:10 800s during the outdoor season and held an outdoor top-10 mark for a few weeks before All-American Alethia Marrero put down one of the best half-miles in school history.
Also returning for ASU will be Anna Pruter, who competed in all but one meet during the 2017 cross country season. Sophomores Emily Gallegos-Francksen, Angela Saitta and Daan Haven, and juniors Megan Reniewicki and Courtney Lewis will also play a role this season. Lewis won the ASU Invitational and helped the women win the event as a team.
The only addition to the squad is Sam Deane, a local product who took the state title in the 400, and earned the silver in 400 and 800 this past May.
"Last year we saw teams that we were close to at the conference meet do really well at the regional meet and almost make the national meet," Rasmussen said. "If you put it together at the right time, you don't know what could happen, so our goal this year is to put ourselves in a position to make those improvements as needed so that in the very near future we can have a conversation about being a competitive team at the national championships."
Rasmussen, Leslie and the Sun Devils hit the course in Brea, California, at 8:40 a.m. for the men's 8K race. The women will make their debut at 9:15 a.m. Results and a full recap will be available following the races on thesundevils.com, and live results can be found on FinishedResults.com.