May 14, 2006
EUGENE, Ore. - The 2006 Pac-10 Track & Field Championships concluded Sunday afternoon with the Arizona State University women's track and field team winning its first conference title, securing 154 points to defeat runner-up and 2005 champion Stanford, who scored 151.50 points. The Sun Devils captured the crown as they had five individuals crowned champion, including the three long distance runs. On the men's side, the Sun Devils placed sixth with 76 points while USC nipped defending champion and host Oregon, 140-133.5.
Arizona State - 2006 Pac-10 Track & Field Champions  |
|
The women go big performances from their distance corps for the second day in a row as the Sun Devils finished first, third, fifth, seventh and eighth in the 5,000m run to score 23 team points. Victoria Jackson, the runner-up in the 10,000m race one night before, claimed the race title in 16:09.73 while Amy Hastings, who won the long race the night before, claimed third place in 16:32.82. Also scoring in the event were Jenna Kingma (third), Brooke Bennett (seventh) and Corey Randall (eighth). The team also received points in the 1,500m run as Jenna Kingma place seventh (4:26.99) while Rachel Ellison placed eighth (4:28.28).
Earlier in the day, the Sun Devils built their lead with several runners and throwers scoring for the team. On the track, Jacquelyn Johnson placed third in the 100m hurdles in 13.52 while Latosha Wallace was the runner-up in the 400m hurdles in 58.14. In the field, Sarah Stevens continued her successful run in the meet as she added a third-place finish in the hammer (65.69m) and fourth in the discus (50.12m) to go along with her shot put title from one day earlier.
With only one event remaining, the Sun Devils clung to a 4.5 point lead over Stanford and sent the 4x400m relay to the track needing big points to win the team title. Despite Stanford winning the race, the quartet of Bridgette Williams, Christina Hardeman, Johnson and Wallace combined to cover the track in 3:33.23 to place second and secure the team title for ASU.
On the men's side, Ryan Zimmerman claimed the triple jump Pac-10 title as he popped a big jump of 16.23m on his third attempt to secure the crown after placing third a year ago. Domenik Peterson also had a solid day for the men as he placed second in the 200m dash (20.71) and fourth in the 100m dash (10.44) before helping the 4x400m relay of Peter Bas, Jerry Jones and Joshua Kinnaman to a fifth-place finish at 3:10.42.
Sprinter Kelvin Love Jr. also scored in mulitple events, placing eighth in both the 100m (10.57) and 200m (21.49). Marquis Profit also scored in the 400m hurdles as he placed seventh in 52.64. In the longer running events, Aaron Aguayo, the three-time Pac-10 Champion in the 3,000m steeplechase, came back to finish fifth in the 5,000m run (14:10.46) while running mate Ryan Warrenburg, the runner-up in the steeplechase, came back to place sixth in 14:12.13.
Several members of the team will compete in Tucson next weekend as they take part in the Tucson Elite Classic Saturday. One week later, the Sun Devils will trek to Provo, Utah, for the 2006 NCAA West Region Championships.