The ASU cross country teams will rest their varsity squads this weekend as they host the 23rd annual Joe Uff/ASU Invitational Friday at Tempe Kiwanis Park.
“It’s a really small meet. We’re really just running our redshirts,” coach Louie Quintana said. “I’m really interested in seeing how they race.”
Quintana said he will only run two or three racers with an ASU jersey. He’s holding back the varsity runners after a tiring race at the Roy Griak Invitational last week in Minnesota.
“The Griak [had] a tough course. There’s no way our kids can come back,” Quintana said. “Both teams did extremely well.”
ASU will play host to UA, NAU, Cal State East Bay, New Mexico State and several area community colleges.
Though the race will not feature the teams’ best runners, Quintana says he expects a big crowd to show up and cheer on the Sun Devils.
“Because it’s a local meet, we always seem to have a lot of people come out,” Quintana said. “It’s fun to have a lot of support out there.”
Quintana said he will use this race as an opportunity to give some of the younger racers a chance to have their first taste of competition.
“[They] are so young,” Quintana said. “This gives them the opportunity to step into the limelight.”
Quintana also said he hopes to use the race as an opportunity to coach.
“I’ll be spending some time teaching them how to race and execute strategy properly, things like following direction and being really competitive in the race,” Quintana said. “I’ll really try to mold some toughness into them.”
He said the focus of the race is on individual growth as opposed to team success.
“I don’t even know if we’re running enough people to score [as a team],” Quintana said. “There’ll be an emphasis on individual performance.”
The race will begin at 5 p.m. with the men’s 8,000-meter race. The women’s 5,000-meter race will begin at 5:30p.m.
Tempe Kiwanis Park is located just west of the intersection of Mill Avenue & Baseline Road.
Reach the reporter at cyrus.karimi@asu.edu.
