The Arizona cross country teams ran their first full-team races Friday at Dell Urich Golf Course in the annual Dave Murray Invitational, where the women won the team score and junior Mohamud Ige came out victorious in the men’s individual race.
“”It was a good run,”” said UA cross country head coach James Li. “”We have our work cut out for us down the road, but this is a good start.””
The most surprising outcome was the upstart women’s team win.
Junior Maggie Callahan remained in the front of the pack throughout the race but was beaten by ASU’s Anna Sperry before the finish line, earning second place in 17:05 minutes during the 4810-meter course. Sperry crossed the line two seconds ahead of Callahan, but it wasn’t enough to hold off the entire Arizona team.
“”I didn’t realize (Sperry) was so close, but I don’t know if I could have done anything differently,”” Callahan said. “”It sucked that it ended like that, but I think I ran as hard as I could.””
“”We haven’t beat ASU in forever,”” she added.
Callahan was followed by a number of underclassmen. Freshman Jennifer Bergman’s fourth-place, 17:11 run was followed by fellow freshman Lauren Smith’s fifth-place, 17:16 time.
Sophomore Hanna Henson, in eighth, and freshman Cami Jackson, in ninth, filled out the final two scoring spots for Arizona, which won with 28 total points to second-place ASU’s 41 team points.
Meanwhile, the men’s squad scored 54 points, good enough for second to winner UCLA with 32 total points.
Ige, who led the men’s team, finished off Pima Community College’s Craig Curley down the final sprint to the finish, ending the 6820-meter men’s course (4.25 miles) in 20:59.
“”Honestly, right now, I didn’t even set a goal coming into this race,”” Ige said. “”I’m just doing it step by step.””
Junior Victor Zazueta clocked in with a 21:36 finish as Arizona’s second-best performance. Redshirt sophomore Abdi Hassan, junior Jordan Mara and senior Brian MacArthur rounded out the scoring for the Wildcats in 14th-place, 22nd-place and 25th-place respectively.
