April 30, 2013
TEMPE - Arizona State University senior Chelsea Cassulo was named the Pac-12 Women's Field Athlete of the Week for the second time this season, as announced by the conference on Tuesday afternoon.
Cassulo got the annual Double Dual Meet against Arizona and Northern Arizona going this past weekend by setting the all-time NCAA dual meet record in the hammer throw with her winning throw of 69.52m (228-01) in the first event of the competition.
The ASU women fell to No. 3 Arizona in the Double Dual but handled Northern Arizona easily, 110-67.
According to the research of Jesse Squire at www.tracksuperfan.com, the throw surpassed former USC standout Eva Orban's previous NCAA Dual Meet record of 69.15m (226-16), which was set at the USC-UCLA Dual Meet in 2009.
The throw was just shy of Cassulo's previous career best of 69.80m (229-00), which she set at the ASU Invitational earlier this season. That mark is currently No. 1 in the nation, the top mark in ASU history and the eight-best throw in NCAA history.
That throw also garnered Cassulo her previous Pac-12 Athlete of the Week nod and also earned her USTFCCCA Division I Athlete of the Week honors.
With her second conference weekly award of the season, Cassulo became the first Sun Devil to be selected multiple times in the same year since Jacquelyn Johnson earned two weekly nods during the 2008 season.
Cassulo's second selection is the fourth weekly honor earned from the conference by a Sun Devil this season in addition to Christabel Nettey following her school record Sun Angel Classic performance in the long jump and Ryan Herson's impressive 5,000-meter run at the ASU Invite earlier this season.
The No. 9 Sun Devil women and No. 24 men will be opening the 2013 championship season this weekend with the Pac-12 Multis as part of the opening weekend of the Pac-12 Championships in Los Angeles. The brunt of the competition will take place in two weeks, also in L.A.