SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The goal is the same for all 15 Sun Devil entrants into this weekend's West Preliminary Rounds: get into the top-12 and finish the season as one of the elites in Eugene.
It's a daunting task, but one that's familiar to a couple of Sun Devil seniors, and one that the younger Devils hope becomes commonplace as they ascend in their ASU careers.
For Magdalyn Ewen, the reigning NCAA hammer throw champion is seeking her fourth-consecutive NCAA Outdoor Championship appearance, and another senior in Alethia Marrero is going after her third trip to Eugene as an individual.
The group heading to Sacramento is split in terms of age with eight underclassmen and seven upperclassmen making the cut for the regional.
Of those underclassmen, Cole Riddle and Samantha Noennig lead the way after memorable debut seasons that included a fourth-place finish in the pole vault for Riddle, and a runner-up place for Noennig at the Pac-12 Championships.
The "last man in" in the pole vault competition was Sun Devil frosh Michael Chadwick, who was added to the field of 48 after a scratch. Chadwick may be on the fringes of the competition, but the freshman has stepped up in big moments this year as he finished third at the MPSF Championships during the indoor season.
Shaunie Morrison, Nathan Hiett and Khalil Parris have each been to regionals before, with Parris making the East version twice before he came to ASU, but an NCAA championship berth has eluded the seniors thus far. This year, the three come into the prelims with top-25 marks and just a fraction of a second – or in Hiett's case a few inches – off sitting in the top-12 in the tightly contested West.
The competition gets going Thursday afternoon as the women's shot put, men's 400-meter hurdles and men's pole vault all get going at 4:30.
To follow along, fans can watch live on FloTrack, check out live results provided by Record Timing and follow @SunDevilTFXC for updates on ASU.
Rankings Update
A fifth-place finish in the loaded Pac-12 was enough to tip the scales for the Sun Devil women's team and lift them to a season's best No. 12 in the latest USTFCCCA poll.
Although the Devils are sending a relatively small group to the regional prelims this weekend, ASU has proven it has plenty of quality heading to Sacramento.
Along with Maggie Ewen's NCAA-leading marks in all three of her events, Alethia Marrero and Samantha Noennig are both sixth in the region in their respective events, and Shaunie Morrison and Kaylee Antill are in the top-20 in theirs.
Among the conference, Southern California is in pole position after the Trojans won the Pac-12 title, and conference runner-up Oregon slipped to fifth. Stanford moved up a place to No. 6, and behind ASU is UCLA in 24th.
The SEC still dominated the poll, claiming all seven of the remaining top-10 places, and putting 10 of its 14 programs in the top-25.
The Pac-and Big 12 are tied for the second-most ranked programs with five.
Coach's Corner – NCAA West Prelims
"The one thing that everyone comes to the regional for is to advance. That's the primary objective. Whether you're first, second or 12th, it's all about getting to Eugene. It's pretty routine for people on the track in terms of the schedule, but for the field events, you've got to be able to put your best effort out because the format is just three jumps in the horizontal jumps and three throws. It's not like you have the luxury of warming up with your first two throws, so coach Blutreich and I are always on our student athletes about the importance of getting that first throw or jump in. That's one of the cardinal sins if you don't get a mark in then you're in such a deficit in the second or third round. It's going to be a little nerve-racking for some of the younger athletes that haven't been through it. Even for someone as experienced as Maggie, you still approach it the same. Take it one jump at a time, one race at a time and one throw at a time."
Sun Devil Track and Field Sweeps Kajikawa Award
Two of Sun Devil track and field's best representatives have been named as this year's Bill Kajikawa Award recipients in seniors Mason Ford and Maggie Ewen.
As a senior, Ford was named co-president of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee and was the student leader for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Ford is currently the team captain for the track and field team and has six ASU Scholar Baller distinctions to go along with his a two academic all-conference honors from last outdoor season and this past indoor season.
As for Ewen, the Kajikawa Award is just the latest in a laundry list of achievements for the ASU thrower.
She will leave ASU as one of the most decorated women in school history, and with a case for being one of the greatest collegiate athletes in NCAA history.
This outdoor season, she broke the NCAA hammer throw record, which she already owned, and set the shot put record within a few weeks of one another. By holding two records, Ewen is currently one of two women with two NCAA outdoor records.
Ewen and Ford are both in competition this weekend at the Pac-12 Championships. Ford is looking for his first all-conference honor in his final championship appearance, and Ewen heads to Palo Alto as the conference's defending shot put, discus throw and hammer throw champion.
What to Watch For
The goal last weekend was to win, but at the West Preliminary Rounds, winning takes a backseat and advancing is the only thing that matters.
Whether you finish in first by a mile, or scrape through in 12th, both spots produce the same reward: a spot in the national semifinal in Eugene, Oregon.
It's one of the smaller groups the Devils have traveled this season, but there will be plenty to follow on the three days in Northern California with day one being the busiest.
Along with Maggie Ewen headlining the day in the shot put at 4:30, ASU's three pole vaulters and Khalil Parris compete at the same time.
Later on in the evening, Alethia Marrero and Bianca Tinoco his the track for the 800-meter prelims, and Alexis Nichols runs in the 1,500.
In total, there are six possible tickets that could be punched for ASU on day one with Ewen and Samantha Noennig in the shot put, Nathan Hiett, Cole Riddle and Michael Chadwick in the pole vault and Samantha Ortega closing out the evening in the 10,000-meter semifinal.
The second day will feature Ewen and Noennig again, and Shaunie Morrison in the 100-meter hurdles, but could also include Parris, Marrero and Tinoco in their respective quarterfinals.
Ewen and Kaylee Antill being the third day with the women's hammer throw, then Mason Ford makes his regional debut with Elijah Hughes in the high jump.
Should Morrison and Nichols advance out of their prelims, the two will compete Saturday for the chance to advance to the NCAA Championships for the first time in their Sun Devil careers.
Each event will take 12 athletes to Eugene where they will compete among each other and the 12 athletes from this weekend's East Regional for a shot at an NCAA title in two weeks.
Ewen's Super Senior Season
Sun Devil senior Maggie Ewen has followed up her phenomenal junior season that put her in the final three for the Bowerman Award with marks that have propelled her into the conversation as one of the greatest throwers in NCAA history.
Ewen opened her outdoor season without recording a mark in the discus but two weeks later had an incredible performance in all three of her events in which she recorded the NCAA record in the hammer throw, the second-best shot put mark in collegiate history and the NCAA-lead in 2018 in the discus.
Less than a month later, Ewen one-upped herself and the nation when she broke the NCAA shot put record with a monster heave of 19.46m/63-10.25 feet.
She is one of just two women to currently hold two NCAA records, and is one of two athletes in Pac-12 history to hold two meet records simultaneously.
At her final Pac-12 Championships, Ewen won all three of her events for the second-consecutive season and become the joint-most decorated woman in conference championship history with seven total titles.
For her outdoor success, she was named Pac-12 Women's Field Athlete of the Year.
Coupled with her first indoor title and two All-America honors during the indoor season, Ewen has been on the Bowerman Award watch list all season.