TEMPE – The Arizona cross country teams fared well against host ASU’s “”B”” teams, with a win on the women’s side and a second-place finish for the men Saturday at the ASU Invitational.
“”Overall, (the teams’ performances) was pretty good,”” said UA cross country coach James Li. “”We continue to make good consistent progress, and that is important.””
The Arizona women had four finishers in the top 10. Juniors Marissa Urban and Irine Lagat and freshman Maggie Callahan finished second through fourth at 18:15, 18:21 and 18:40, respectively, while senior Angelina Cabrera finished eighth at 19:00.
Sophomore Shelly Splittberger rounded out the scoring, finishing 19th at 19:34.
“”(The meet) was more of a workout,”” Urban said. “”But I’m happy with my performance. I was listening to what (Li) wanted me to do, rather than running a race the way I usually would have.””
Urban said she felt this meet served as good preparation for the Pre-NCAA Invitational this Saturday because it gave the team a “”good boost of confidence,”” and that even though it was a relatively small meet, “”it was good to be able to win it.””
The men finished second to the ASU “”B”” team but had strong showings from several athletes. Freshman Victor Zazueta finished the 8,000-kilometer event in fifth place with a time of 25:15, and junior Lou Maturo finished 11th in 25:46.
“”It’s disappointing (to finish second),”” Maturo said. “”I know we could have beaten ASU.””
Sophomore Brian MacArthur (13th, 25:54) and freshmen Reed Blochberger (21st, 26:23) and Michael Armon (26th, 26:36) also scored for Arizona.
Maturo said he believes this race will serve as good preparation for this weekend.
“”Everyone ran hard, and if we have a good week of training then I think that we can do very well,”” he said.
Dylan Fitzpatrick, considered the team’s top athlete at the start of the season, has been battling an illness. He returned Saturday and finished 28th in 26:42.
Li thought that he was looking better but is still “”far from where he should be”” in terms of fitness.
Li said he believes the coming meet will be “”a big challenge but will be valuable experience for us.””
