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By OMAR SOUSSI
Cronkite News

TEMPE — When news broke that longtime Arizona State cross country coach Louie Quintana was leaving the program for a similar job at Oregon State, the team was heartbroken that its longtime leader had left.

“I was just devastated, of course, felt really close with Louie,” redshirt junior John Reniewicki said. “He was like another dad to me. We’ve developed a really good relationship, I think, over my first three years here.”

Once word spread that former ASU runner Jeremy Rasmussen would be his replacement, the reaction was a collective sigh of relief.

“Right away knowing that Jeremy was going to be the one to fill in his shoes, I wasn’t worried at all.” Reniewicki said. “I was sad because Louie wasn’t going to be apart of what we were going to do but I was still happy. Like I knew I was in good hands with Jeremy and I really trusted him.”

Rasmussen is no stranger to the ASU program. He was an assistant from 2003 to 2007 and after a six-year stint with the University of Illinois, returned to Tempe to assist Quintana. For the former ASU runner, the opportunity was something he always wanted.

“For me, it’s a tremendous honor,” Rasmussen said. “When the announcement was made, I had an outpouring of people reaching out to me, old alums and those that have been a part of the program over the years. And to see that and to get that communication to me was tremendous and just the transition with the student athletes was great as well.

“Having that experience with them over the two years prior and the relationships that were built were great because it allowed us to basically not miss a beat and continue to move forward.”

Rasmussen said he learned a lot working with Quintana and track and field coach Greg Kraft, as both have had success at ASU during their long tenures with the program.

“(Quintana’s) ability to train and bring athletes along to the highest level is tremendous and l learned a tremendous amount from him in training and just building relationships with the student athletes and always being positive and believing in them,” Rasmussen said.

Reniewicki said that the transition from Quintana to Rasmussen has been smooth so far and he has even seen an improvement in terms of helping the players understand their workouts.

Rasmussen inherits a women’s team that is young but talented. With that comes high expectations.

“On the women’s side, (the goal) is to be at the national meet and to be able to do that, you have to be able to go out and beat some really good quality teams,” Rasmussen said.

A priority for Rasmussen is to win recruiting battles for top state runners over 2016 men’s cross-country NCAA champion Northern Arizona, University of Arizona and those who come to the state looking to pluck top talent.

“It’s always a battle,” Rasmussen said. “Whether you have the national champions up north, two hours from us, or really anybody, in order to be an elite program we have to go after elite kids and so we’re always gonna battle top programs, there’s no doubt about it. Those are the battles that we’re gonna have to win in order to excel and bring our program to a national caliber program.”

Rasmussen said he has put an emphasis on facing these top teams.

“I think It’s always great for the athletes to be able to see what that bar is set at,” he said. “To see what excellence at that highest level is with those programs.”

The first test for Rasmussen is Saturday as the Sun Devils will participate in NAU’s George Kyte Classic in Flagstaff.