MADISON, Wisc. - While the Arizona State women's cross-country team had positives to take away form the Wisconsin adidas Invitational, the men were not as fortunate in their second national meet on Friday, Oct. 16.

The unranked women finished in 24th place out of 36 teams with 579 points, just ahead of No. 14 Wisconsin and No. 20 West Virginia in the 6K race.

The men sat in the 20's through the 2K mark, but would quickly drop and finish 34th out of 36 teams with 784 points by the end of the 8K journey.

"It was one of those results where your kind of like, we could have run better, we should have run better," head coach Louie Quintana said of the women's team. "It's a highly competitive field so at the end of the day, when you scale it all down, it's not as terrible as it might seem."

The women's race featured a total of 246 racers -- nearly 100 more than their last national meet at Notre Dame on Friday, Oct. 2. 

Freshman Samantha Ortega continues to pace the women's team, as she crossed the line in 41st with a time of 20:26.6.

Senior Adriana Olivas finished four spots higher and with a faster time than she did at the event last year, putting up a time of 20:49.1 for 82nd place. Junior Chelsey Totten earned 132 points with a time of 21:18.1, while senior Cristina Juan Torres improved on her 208th finish last year with a time of 21:26.2 for 150 points today. Junior Jenna Maack -- who has been dealing with a minor leg injury -- rounded out the scoring for the Sun Devils with 174 points and a time of 21:40.6.

As for the men, redshirt junior C.J. Albertson was the highlight of the day, as he rallied from 124th place at the 2K mark to finish 67th with a time of 24:16.2 in the 8K race. Last year, he earned 137th place with a time of 24:56 at the Wisconsin Invite.

"I was really proud of C.J. Albertson," Quintana said. "It was a big run for him running 24:16. It was really right about where I thought he would be."

Redshirt senior Ryan Norton crossed second for ASU for 153 points and a time of 24:45.5. He improved on his 205th place finish and time of 25:35. However, fellow redshirt senior Ryan Herson and junior Bernie Montoya didn't perform as they did last year, finishing with 166 and 197 points respectively. Redshirt freshman Ryan Normand capped the scoring for the Devils with 201 points and a time of 25:09.1.

"It was a struggle (for the men)," Quintana said. "I thought we started well and were pretty competitive through about 4,000 meters of the race. I thought we put ourselves in a really good spot then sort of took our foot off the gas. And all of a sudden that good position became a really disadvantageous position.

"We have some guys who are trying to fight through some things and we're making it harder on ourselves than we need to."

Women's Results

1. New Mexico - 32 points
2. Arkansas - 188 points
3. Virginia - 217 points
...
23. Florida St. - 566 points
24. Arizona St. - 579 points
25. Wisconsin - 580 points

Individual

41. Samantha Ortega - 20:26.6
82. Adriana Olivas - 20:49.1
132. Chelsey Totten - 21:18.1
150. Cristina Juan Torres - 21:26.2
174. Jenna Maack - 21:40.6
209. Jen Owen - 22:06.1
215. Shaina Corbin - 22:10.2

Men's Results

1. Syracuse - 101 points
2. Brigham Young - 186 points
...
33. Penn State - 772 points
34. Arizona State - 784 points
35. Lamar - 799 points

Individual

67. CJ Albertson - 24:16.2
153. Ryan Norton - 24:45.5
166. Ryan Herson - 24:52.1
197. Bernie Montoya - 25:05.7
201. Ryan Normand - 25:09.1
211. Jeff Bickert - 25:23.2