Williams, Krafft Lead Sun Devil XC At Dave Murray
TUCSON, Ariz.—Redshirt junior Tommy Williams and redshirt-freshman Natalie Krafft led the Arizona State cross country teams at the 2014 Dave Murray Invitational on Friday at Dell Urich Golf Course.
Williams finished the men’s 4.25-mile race in 22:07.00 for seventh overall, while Krafft placed 12th in the women’s 3-mile in 18:03.13. Williams’ top-10 finish is the ASU men’s fourth so far this year.
“It was a good day overall,” head cross country coach Louie Quintana said. “The group we took down to Tucson competed very well. On the women’s side, I was extremely happy with Natalie, who had really her best race so far in her young career. She’s made huge progress over the last year, and it was great to see her running and feeling confident in her race plan.”
Both the men’s and women’s teams finished in third, the men with 77 points and the women with 100.
Also for the men, redshirt sophomore Noah Kenyawani finished in 13th at 22:27.00, while redshirt juniors Ryan Norton and Daniel Wong finished in 17th and 18th, respectively, with times of 22:37.00 and 22:38.00.
“The men had a great day,” Quintana added. “It may not reflect in the team scores, but Tommy Williams had a tremendous run, really shined for us today. Noah Kenyawani ran over a minute and twenty seconds faster than he did last year, which is really impressive.”
On the women’s side, senior Macy Bricks rounded out the top-20 finishers as she crossed the finish line in 19th at 18:30.00.
“We’re making a lot of progress, and are very excited for next week at the Roy Griak Invitational in Minnesota,” Quintana said. “This certainly gives the squad a lot of confidence.”
Up next, the Sun Devils will head to Minneapolis, Minn., for the Roy Griak Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 27.