by TEMPE, Ariz. — The Arizona State Cross Country team capitalized at their home meet — the ASU Invitational — on Friday afternoon, with the women placing first and the men taking second behind No. 1 Northern Arizona at Papago Golf Course.
Head coach Louie Quintana had a precise mission and goal for each of his individual athletes, and he felt it went as planned as the team prepares for the Pac-12 Championships in a week.
“The women executed the plan very well. We wanted to use the day as a second workout of the week and stress the group slightly with the heat and a challenging course,” said Quintana. “I have similar feelings about the men’s performance, as they stayed off the pace and locked into the tempo pace that we needed to hit. We were maybe a little fast at the beginning, but made some nice adjustments as the race moved along.”
Without the veteran leadership of junior Chelsey Totten, freshman Courtney Lewis (Fort Mojave Indian Tribe) led the young ASU group with a fifth-place finish at 18:45.10. Junior transfer Billie Jo Dytrt was right with her at the finish line, crossing three-tenths of a second behind her. Fellow freshman Megan Reniewicki also had a top-10 finish in seventh.
“It was a great prep for Friday (Pac-12 Championship),” said Quintana. “We emerged from the competition fresh and confident, and it was nice to get the win. Our front three really ran a great last kilometer. It was great for Megan, as it was a tremendous boost to her confidence and big for us heading into Pac-12’s.”
