Arizona State opened its championship season on the road as the No. 5 women tied for third and the No. 25 men finished fifth at the 2007 Pac-10 cross country championships Saturday in Corvallis, Ore.
No. 1 Stanford (48 points) won the women’s team title followed by No. 2 Oregon (64 points) with ASU and No. 9 Washington tying for third place (68 points).
On the men’s side, Oregon won the team title with 39 points followed by No. 15 Stanford (55 points), No. 8 California (70 points), No. 9 UCLA (97 points) and ASU (105 points).
The ASU women were paced by Jenna Kingma, who finished the 6,000-meter course in 20:09.4 for fifth overall, and Ali Kielty, who took seventh place (20:24.3).
Kyle Alcorn paced the ASU men as he crossed the line in 23:18.8 to place 10th overall.
CROSS COUNTRY
• Mesa Community College’s Ingrid Mollenkopf and Brendan McMaster helped their respective cross country teams qualify for the NJCAA national meet after solid performances at the NJCAA Region I championships Friday.
It is the first time both teams have gained admission to nationals this decade, MCC coach Eamonn Condon said.
McMaster, a Tempe Corona del Sol graduate, finished sixth with a 25.57.7 at the race at Kiwanis Park in Tempe, running with “his best form to date”, Condon said.
The men’s team finished fourth with 91 points. The women were third with 68 points.
Mollenkopf, a Mesa Skyline graduate, placed fifth in the warm conditions and received Region I first-team honors.
“Ingrid is not one to complain, but I think she’ll be happier (at nationals) in the cooler weather of southern Illinois,” Condon said.
The NJCAA national meet is Nov. 10 in Ina, Ill.
SWIMMING AND DIVING
• The Arizona State teams were able to hold their leads and defeat visiting UC Santa Barbara. The women’s team won handily, defeating the Gauchos 236-111. The men’s team earned its first victory on the season, edging Santa Barbara 177-170.
In the 200-yard freestyle relay, the women’s “A” team of Caitlin Andrew, Jen Beckberger, Jess Perazzo and Lindsey Brown earned an NCAA “B” qualifying time after finishing in 1:33.18.
The Sun Devils return to action on Nov. 9 when the women host UCLA and the men host Utah.
ARIZONA FALL LEAGUE
• Chris Dickerson homered twice, scored four times and knocked in four runs to power the host Surprise Rafters to a 17-0 romp over Team China.
Every starter had either a run scored or an RBI for Surprise (11-5) in a game that was ruled complete after the top of the seventh inning due to the 10-run rule that the Arizona Fall League follows in international competition.
In other games Sergio Santos (Blue Jays) hit two homers and six pitchers combined on a 10-hitter as the Scottsdale Scorpions blanked the host Peoria Saguaros, 3-0.
Corey Wimberly (Rockies) was 3-for-4 as the Peoria Javelinas shut out the host Mesa Solar Sox 7-0 at Hohokam Stadium.
