TEMPE – The Sun Devils opened their 2019 season with a bang, earning two team wins in Tucson. This weekend, the Devils will head to the coast to take on the field at the USD Invitational in San Diego.
"This weekend's a chance to go out and compete against a lot of the California schools in our region and get the team racing on a different course," coach Cory Leslie said. "A lot of the time we'd usually go back to Tucson or up to NAU, but going out to California gives us a look at some of those teams we typically wouldn't see until the regional and see where we stack up against them."
The men's team that fielded the top-three finishers at the Cactus Opener two weeks ago will add another valuable piece to the lineup in San Diego as junior and Ireland U23 champion Fearghal Curtin enters the fray.
"We're slowly getting everybody plugged into races and getting to the projected seven," Leslie said. "To get Fearghal back this weekend and having him work with those front guys will certainly go a long way, especially considering the summer he just had. I think a lot of the guys will feed off of that energy."
Curtin was one of the Devils' top performers in the cross country season back in 2018, leading the squad at the Pac-12 Championships and scoring for the Devils in all three of his cross country appearances before having an impressive debut track season.
The women's lineup will look the same as the last outing with Megan Reniewicki and Daan Haven heading a top-five that finished within five seconds of one another.
"Talking to the women after the race, they really were excited at how they finished and how they ran together," Leslie said. "As one would move up, the others would feel encouraged to stay with her. I think they kind of carried each other through the course and that kind of pack mentality is going to be huge for us in each race this year."
ASU's freshmen came up big last time out as four found themselves in scoring position for the men's and women's squads, including Vincent Mauri, Lee Nasewytewa, Lena Lebrun and Ava Shackell.
Mauri was the No. 2 overall finished in the men's 3.7-mile run down in Tucson and finished six seconds off of the winner, sophomore Ian Kebenei. France International Lebrun took fifth in the women's race and was the Devils' No. 3 runner. Nasewytewa and Shackell were both the teams' respective No. 5 finishers, earning top-20 places.
ASU will get back to conventional distances this weekend in San Diego as the women's race will be a standard 6K and the men move up to 8K. The USD Invitational will begin at 5:30 p.m. PT with the women's collegiate section, and the men's section will get going an hour after. Results will be provided by Finished Results and a recap of the Devils' day in Southern California will be available on thesundevils.com following the completion of the event.
"This weekend's a chance to go out and compete against a lot of the California schools in our region and get the team racing on a different course," coach Cory Leslie said. "A lot of the time we'd usually go back to Tucson or up to NAU, but going out to California gives us a look at some of those teams we typically wouldn't see until the regional and see where we stack up against them."
The men's team that fielded the top-three finishers at the Cactus Opener two weeks ago will add another valuable piece to the lineup in San Diego as junior and Ireland U23 champion Fearghal Curtin enters the fray.
"We're slowly getting everybody plugged into races and getting to the projected seven," Leslie said. "To get Fearghal back this weekend and having him work with those front guys will certainly go a long way, especially considering the summer he just had. I think a lot of the guys will feed off of that energy."
Curtin was one of the Devils' top performers in the cross country season back in 2018, leading the squad at the Pac-12 Championships and scoring for the Devils in all three of his cross country appearances before having an impressive debut track season.
The women's lineup will look the same as the last outing with Megan Reniewicki and Daan Haven heading a top-five that finished within five seconds of one another.
"Talking to the women after the race, they really were excited at how they finished and how they ran together," Leslie said. "As one would move up, the others would feel encouraged to stay with her. I think they kind of carried each other through the course and that kind of pack mentality is going to be huge for us in each race this year."
ASU's freshmen came up big last time out as four found themselves in scoring position for the men's and women's squads, including Vincent Mauri, Lee Nasewytewa, Lena Lebrun and Ava Shackell.
Mauri was the No. 2 overall finished in the men's 3.7-mile run down in Tucson and finished six seconds off of the winner, sophomore Ian Kebenei. France International Lebrun took fifth in the women's race and was the Devils' No. 3 runner. Nasewytewa and Shackell were both the teams' respective No. 5 finishers, earning top-20 places.
ASU will get back to conventional distances this weekend in San Diego as the women's race will be a standard 6K and the men move up to 8K. The USD Invitational will begin at 5:30 p.m. PT with the women's collegiate section, and the men's section will get going an hour after. Results will be provided by Finished Results and a recap of the Devils' day in Southern California will be available on thesundevils.com following the completion of the event.