TEMPE, Ariz. -The Arizona State University track and field teams will debut the new ASU Pac-12 vs. Big Ten Invitational on Friday and Saturday at Sun Angel Stadium.
The Sun Devils will team up with UCLA and Arizona from the Pac-12 to take on the Big Ten’s Michigan, Nebraska, and Indiana in a meet that will be scored by conference instead of the traditional single-team scoring.
“This weekend we have kind of a unique format that Jeremy Rasmussen (Assistant Coach and Meet Director) has created with the Pac-12/Big Ten Challenge, bringing UCLA and Arizona as our partners, as we compete against our Big Ten counterparts, Nebraska, Michigan and Indiana,” Director of Track and Field Greg Kraft said. “That should be a lot of fun. And one of the things that we’ve tried to be sensitive to is the presentation of our sport. The running events, from start to finish, will be done—for track—in a relatively short time frame of four hours, and so I think it helps keep our fans engaged, that there’s not an excessive number of heats in the sprints and that type of thing.”
Friday’s events are slated to begin at 1:30 p.m. PT with the men’s hammer, while Saturday’s first events will start at 4:30 p.m. PT in the field with the discus, and the track events will start at 6 p.m. PT with the running of the 100m hurdles.
ASU will also be live streaming Saturday’s track events on thesundevils.com, and live results will be available for the entire weekend on FinishedResults.com. Updates throughout both days will also be available on Twitter by following @SunDevilTFXC.
“I think people that came last week were pleasantly surprised at the presentation with the field event display boards, and with the scoreboard working in conjunction and presenting times in a timely fashion,” Kraft said. “It makes our fan base a little bit more connected to what’s happening on the field. We’re looking forward to this event, and we’re just as curious to see our athletes. We’re also curious to see what UCLA and Arizona have, because, before you know it, in eight weeks we’ll be competing against them in the Pac-12 Championships. And so there’s a lot of balls we’re juggling this weekend but definitely from my perspective it’s a very interesting event for us on so many different levels. I’m really looking forward to the weekend.”
IN THE RANKINGS
The Sun Devils opened the 2015 outdoor season with the men’s team in the USTFCCCA rankings at No. 18, while the women are just outside the top-25 at No. 30.
UCLA is ranked at No. 19 on the men’s side and No. 23 on the women’s, while Michigan will bring the No. 24 men’s team and the No. 20 women’s team, and Nebraska’s men’s team is ranked at No. 17.
EVENT BREAKDOWN
Pac-12 vs. Big Ten Invitational (All times PT)
Friday’s field events will begin with the men’s and women’s hammer throw events, starting at 1:30 p.m. PT. Ryan Leslie, Kyle Lillie, and Kyle Long will throw for the men, while Jessika Byrd, Magdalyn Ewen, Ginger Jarchow, and Ashley Weber will represent the women.
The discus will follow at 3:45 p.m. PT Ahmed Hassan, Kyle Long, and Michael Ohakwe will throw for the men, while Magdalyn Ewen, Alex Hartig, and Ginger Jarchow will throw for the women.
On Saturday, the field events will begin at 4:30 p.m. PT with the men’s and women’s javelin. The women will follow the men with Alyssa Cornell, Alex Hartig, Ginger Jarchow, and Kendra Purifoye set to throw.
The men’s pole vault will begin at 5 p.m. PT, with Josiah Becker, Jacob Flores, Tanner Greeley, and Dillon Groener set to jump for the men, and the women will follow with Haleigh Fritts, Nicole Kennedy, and Kristiana Warth.
Starting at 5:30 p.m. PT, Jamol James and Josh Dixon will compete in the men’s long jump, with Chelsea Chess, Jasmine Gibbs, Kendra Purifoye, Keyasia Tibbs, and Darreyl Woodson set to compete in the women’s competition, which will begin at the same time..
The men’s high jump will begin at 6 p.m. PT, with Edmond Baker and Bryan McBride entered in the men’s competition, and Kendra Purifoye entered in the women’s.
Events on the track are also set to start at 6 p.m. PT, with the running of the women’s 100m hurdles, where Kendra Purifoye is set to compete. The men’s 110m hurdles is set to follow at 6:15 p.m. PT, with Cameron Taylor entered to run.
At 6:30 p.m., Noah Kenyawani and Daniel Wong will compete in the 1500m run, and Shelby Houlihan and Cristina Juan Torres will follow in the women’s race.
The 4x100m relay is set to begin at 6:50 p.m. PT, with Jasmine Gibbs, Brianna Tate, Sara McDonald, and LaTroya Franklin set to run in the women’s race, which will follow the men’s.
The men’s shot put will start at 7 p.m. PT, with the women’s to follow, and Ahmed Hassan, Kyle Lillie, and Kyle Long are entered in the men’s competition, and Magdalyn Ewen, Alex Hartig, Kendra Purifoye, and Ashley Weber will compete in the women’s.
On the track at 7 p.m. PT, Jack Balder and Daniel Wong will run in the 3000m steeplechase, and Shaina Corbin, Anna Long, and Kayla Springford will follow in the women’s race.
At 7:23 p.m. PT, Ronny hall and Sterling Winston will run in the 400m dash, while Melese Crozier will follow in the women’s race.
The 100m dash races are set to start at 7:35 p.m., with Jamol James and Kyle Middlebrooks running in the men’s competition, and Jasmine Gibbs entered in the women’s.
Michael Julian and Trevor Landry will compete in the men’s 800m run, which is slated for 7:45 p.m. PT, and Paisley Pettway and Mia Townsend will compete in the following women’s race.
The men’s and women’s triple jump will both start at 8 p.m. PT, with Josh Dixon competing on the men’s side, and Chelsea Chess and Darreyl Woodson entered on the women’s.
At 8:05 p.m., Cody Moore will run in the 400m hurdles, and Kiera Bulluck will compete in the following women’s race.
Ronny Hall, Kyle Middlebrooks, and Sterling Winston will run in the 200m dash starting at 8:18 p.m., and Sara McDonald, Kendra Purifoye, and Brianna Tate are entered in the women’s competition.
CJ Albertson, Jeff Bickert, Maxwell Groves, and Ryan Herson will run in the 5000m at 8:35 p.m., while Macy Bricks, Cristina Juan Torres, Anna Long, Jenna Maack, and Chelsey Totten are entered in the following women’s race.
ASU will end the night with the running of the women’s 4x400m relay, slated to follow the men’s race, which will run at 9:15 p.m. PT. Melese Crozier, LaTroya Franklin, Kiera Bulluck, Sara McDonald, Shelby Houlihan, and Paisley Pettway are all possible for the relay team.
PAC-12 VS. BIG TEN IN THE OUTDOOR QUALIFYING LISTS
The teams representing the Pac-12 this weekend (ASU, Arizona, and UCLA) currently have more than 100 athletes’ marks and times, and ranked in the top-50 in the NCAA West Regional descending order list.
LAST TIME OUT
ASU opened the 2015 outdoor season last week, hosting the Baldy Castillo Invitational at Sun Angel Stadium.
Starting with the throwing events, the Sun Devils went 5-6-7 in the women’s hammer, led with personal bests and record book performances from redshirt freshman Magdalyn Ewen and junior Ginger Jarchow. Ewen threw 58.44m (191-09), the new No. 8 in the ASU record book, while Jarchow surpassed her previous personal best of 51.50m (168-11) with her throw of 56.86m (186-06), the new No. 10 in the ASU record book.
ASU also went 5-7-8 in the men’s hammer, with redshirt sophomore Kyle Long and redshirt senior Kyle Lillie recording new personal bests. Long threw 60.14m (197-04), surpassing his previous best of 53.88m (176-09) from last year’s Pac-12 Outdoor Championships. Long’s mark is the new No. 9 in the ASU outdoor record book.
On the track, the Sun Devil distance athletes opened with redshirt junior Ryan Herson fishing second in the 1500m run at 3:44.61, a new personal best. Also with a personal best was redshirt junior Daniel Wong, who ran 3:50.31, second in his heat and 16th overall.
Redshirt junior Jeff Bickert placed fourth in his heat and 22nd overall with his PR of 3:51.26, while senior Maxwell Groves ran 4:01.75 in his opening 1500m race with the Sun Devils.
On the women’s side, sophomore Chelsey Totten ran a personal best 4:27.26 for fifth, while senior Shaina Corbin also set a personal best as she placed 12th with a time of 4:31.96. Also in the top-15 was junior Cristina Juan Torres, who placed 14th a 4:32.91.
On Saturday, Jamol James, opened in both the 100m dash and long jump events. On the track, James won the event in 10.47, the current No. 3 time in the country. Prior to that performance, James jumped a personal best 7.44m 4-5.00) in the long jump for third.
Bryan McBride won the men’s high jump competition with a clearance of 2.20m (7-2.50), while Edmond Baker followed in third as he tied his personal best with a clearance of 2.14m (7-0.25).
Tanner Greeley also set a new personal best, clearing 5-meters for the first time as he vaulted over 5.05m (16-6.75) in the men’s pole vault, finishing in seventh.
NEXT TIME OUT
The Sun Devils will mostly have a break next week, save the distance athletes, who will travel to Stanford, Calif., for the Stanford Invitational on April 3-4. The rest of the team will be back in action April 9-11, for the 36th Sun Angel Track Classic at Sun Angel Stadium.
THE NCAA WEST OUTDOOR QUALIFYING LIST
Athletes with marks or times in the top-48 of the NCAA West Outdoor Qualifying list will compete at the 2015 NCAA West Regionals, May 29-31, in Austin, Texas.
Leading the way for ASU is Bryan McBride, whose high jump bar of 2.20m (7-2.25) is tied for the region leader.
Jamol James is ranked at No. 3 in the 100m dash at 10.47, and No. 5 in the long jump at 7.44m (24-5.00). Josh Dixon has the No. 8 mark in the long jump at 7.36m (24-1.75).
Ryan Herson’s 1500m run time of 3:44.61 is also ranked at No. 3 in the West.
In the shot put, Kyle Lillie’s 17.91m (58-9.25) is ranked at No. 9, while Ahmed Hassan’s 17.81m (58-5.25) is the No. 10 mark. Magdalyn Ewen’s 15.00m (49-2.50) is the No. 10 shot put mark on the women’s side.
Also for ASU, in the discus, Alex Hartig’s throw of 52.68m (172-10) is ranked at No. 9.
Complete details on ASU’s marks and times in the NCAA West top-50 are available on the sidebars of pages 4 and 5 in the attached notes PDF.
CHANGES TO THE ASU OUTDOOR RECORD BOOK
The Sun Devils opened the outdoor slate with five changes to the ASU outdoor record book.
In the women’s pole vault, both Nicole Kennedy and Haleigh Fritts opened at 3.70m (12-1.50), which is tied for No. 10 in the record book with Linda Kuenzi (2012), Stacy Orosz (2009), and Angela Piana (2007).
In the women’s hammer throw, Magdalyn Ewen’s personal best of 58.44m (191-09) is the new No. 8, while Ginger Jarchow entered at No. 10 with her throw of 58.86m (186-06).
In the men’s hammer, Kyle Long threw 60.14m (197-04), the new No. 9 in the top-10.
SUN DEVILS TO HOST FOUR HOME MEETS IN 2015
April 9-11 will mark the running of the 36th Sun Angel Track Classic, and then the Sun Devils will close out the home slate on May 2 with the Duel in the Desert against the Pac-12 rival Wildcats.
“The competition has always been great here but now I think that the presentation of our sport will be much improved, and all that credit from my standpoint really goes to Jeremy (Rasmussen) because he’s been in that role for a year and a half and he’s really been very aggressive in enhancing how we present track and field to our community and how we present it to potential student-athletes that come here,” Kraft said.
Complete 2015 Home Schedule:
March 20-21: Baldy Castillo Invitational
March 27-28: ASU Pac-12 vs. Big Ten Invitational
April 9-11: 36th Sun Angel Track Classic
May 2: Duel In the Desert - Arizona vs. Arizona State
The 2015 Pac-12 Outdoor Championships are set for back-to-back weekends on May 9-10 and May 16-17. UCLA will host the meet at Drake Stadium in Los Angeles, Calif. Athletes who qualify for the NCAA West Regional will travel to Austin, Texas, on May 28-30, with hopes to qualify for the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Championships, June 10-13, in Eugene, Ore.
ASU TO COMPETE AT 2015 DRAKE RELAYS
On April 23-25, the Sun Devils will travel to Des Moines, Iowa, to compete at the 106th Drake Relays, presented by Hy-Vee at Drake Stadium.
“The Drake Relays has really tried to do a lot of unique things for the sport of track and field,” Kraft said. “They have asked us to come for years and this year we agreed to go back and participate in the relays and be a part of the team challenge there. Obviously, Shelby Houlihan is very excited because that’s where her first great races were, winning the Iowa State Championship at Drake Stadium. It really is a neat situation for us to go back and do something a little different from a relay standpoint but also to try and support our sport of track and field as we continually fight to carve a niche and try to make ourselves a little more fan friendly and a little more TV friendly. As the stature of our program increases, we have to be sensitive to the overall needs of our program from an exposure standpoint.”
ASU’S 2014 NCAA CHAMPIONS-HOULIHAN & MCBRIDE
The Arizona State track and field squads added to its streak of producing at least one NCAA Champion since the 2006 season, adding two more in 2014 with Shelby Houlihan becoming ASU’s first-ever 1500m champion and Bryan McBride winning ASU’s first title in the high jump since Kyle Arney won the event in 1977. Houlihan won her race in 4:18.10, while McBride set a new lifetime best with a clearance of 2.28m (7-05.75), which sits as the No. 2 mark in school history.