Kielty, Milloy set the pace for Sun Devils at the NCAA Pre-National meet
The Arizona State University cross country team competed in the NCAA Pre-National Meet Saturday afternoon in Terre Haute, Ind., with the Sun Devil women placing sixth overall and the men 17th as both squads ran in the ‘white’ race on the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course, the same venue that will host the NCAA Championships in November.
The women, ranked eighth nationally, scored 202 points to finish sixth as No. 3 Florida State and No. 5 Princeton, both of which scored 89 points, tied for the victory. No. 11 Michigan (168) was third while No. 17 Illinois and No. 19 Georgetown tied for fourth with 186 points. In the men’s race, the Sun Devils tallied 533 points to finish 17th overall while No. 10 Stanford won the race with 77 points. No. 7 Iona (123), No. 18 BYU (154) and No. 16 Auburn (194) rounded out the Top 5 team finishers.
Ali Kielty led the way for the women as she covered the course in 20:39.8 to finish 11th overall while Kari Hardt also claimed at Top 20 placement as she finished 17th overall in 20:48.4. Jenna Kingma (34th in 21:08.3), Angela Spadafino (72nd in 21:36.5) and Lindsay Prescott (73rd in 21:37.6) rounded out the Top 5 team finishers that counted toward the team’s score. Sunni Olding (21:42.4) and Haley Paul (21:44.4) also competed for the Sun Devils, placing 81st and 83rd overall, respectively.
Patrick Milloy led the men for the second time this season (also at the Roy Griak Invitational) as he ran the 8,000m course in 24:24.9 to place 51st overall while Ben Engelhardt, running in his first race of the season, was 81st in 24:45.0. The Top 5 scorers for the team were rounded out by David Mehlhorn (123rd in 25:04.7), Santos Castro (132nd in 25:10.3) and Dylan Hatcher (146th in 25:16.8) while Noah Shannon (149th in 25:17.7) and Thomas Petersen (205th in 25:52.1) also competed in the race for the team.
The Sun Devil women also had a pair of runners compete in the women’s open race (non-scored event), including Kauren Tarver and Krystal Duke. Tarver, a true freshman, placed 35th overall in 22:28.1 while Duke, in her first race of the season, finished 70th overall in 23:05.1.
Next up for the Sun Devils, following a weekend off from competition, will be a trip to Springfield, Ore., for the 2008 Pac-10 Cross Country Championships on Friday, October 31. The women’s 23rd annual 6,000m race will start at 2:15 p.m. while the 40th men’s 8,000m run starts at 3:15 p.m. The meet, hosted by Oregon, will be held at the Springfield Country Club, the same course that hosted the 2007 NCAA West Region Championships.