March 8, 2004
TEMPE, Ariz. - Following their school and collegiate record-setting performance over the weekend, the Arizona State men's 4x400m relay team of Jason Barton (Jr., Phoenix, Ariz.), Steve Fitch (Sr., San Ramon, Calif.), Seth Amoo (Jr., Palmdale, Calif.) and Domenik Peterson (Fr., Jefferson City, Mo.) has been named the Trackshark.com National Male Athletes of the Week. The quartet won the relay event at the Iowa State Last Chance meet in Ames, Iowa, Saturday (March 6).
Their time of 3:03.43 is the fastest the collegiate ranks has ever seen and marks the second time the relay mark has been reset this season for the Sun Devil program. The previous mark of 3:04.25 was set by Oklahoma on March 8, 1997, in Indianapolis, Ind. ASU also currently holds the distinction of having the fastest time in the world this year.
The relay, which recorded splits of 45.6 (Barton, lead off), 46.1 (Fitch, second leg), 46.2 (Amoo, third leg) and 45.5 (Peterson, anchor), also set another first as it became the first collegiate relay to cross the finish line in under 3:04. By virtue of finishing runner-up to ASU in the race, LSU is the only other team to break the 3:04 barrier as they finished with a 3:03.97 in the event.
Prior to the race, the Sun Devil relay of Barton, Peterson, Fitch and Lewis Banda (So., Bulawayo, Zimbabwe) had recorded the fourth-fastest mark in the nation with the 3:06.06 captured at the Tyson Foods Invitational (Feb. 14), the site of the 2004 NCAA Indoor Championships. At the time, the mark also stood as the school record until the past weekend.
Trackshark.com is a web site that is devoted to the coverage of collegiate track and field and cross country. It has awarded national athletes of the week for both men and women nine times this year and provided a winner for each week of the indoor and outdoor seasons a year ago. The relay is now eligible for the Athlete of the Year award, bestowed following the NCAA Championships. The appearance of the relay on the honor list is the first for the Sun Devil program and also marks the first time a relay has won the honor.
As a team, Members of the Sun Devil program that qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships will head to Fayetteville, Ark., March 12-13 for the national meet. The NCAA is set to release the list of those athletes accepted into the national meet Monday evening (March 8) at 8 p.m. EST.