March 18, 2005
TEMPE, Ariz. - The first day of the 2005 Baldy Castillo Invitational got concluded Friday evening with several members of the Arizona State University track and field teams turning in solid performances inside their home venue of Sun Angel Stadium in Tempe. Collectively, the men and women won three events, placed among the Top 3 in seven, established two school records and qualified eight student-athletes to the NCAA regional meet.
The women's hammer was a record event for ASU throwers as Jessica Pressley and Jennifer Kowacz each broke the school record as the women recorded marks of 58.78m (192-10) and 58.53m (192-00), respectively. Pressley entered the meet ranked second on the school lists with Kowacz right behind her as both chased Adrienne Judie's 2001 mark of 58.10m (190-07). The trio are the lone Sun Devil women to throw past the 58 meter barrier. Both throws also qualified them for the NCAA West Region meet later this year. Pole vaulter Angela Tavlarides rewrote the record book -- again -- as she cleared 3.90m to win the event and reset the school's top mark for the fourth time in her career with the Sun Devils. Her mark also qualified her for the regional meet.
The final winner on the day for the Sun Devils was Aaron Aguayo in the men's 1,500m run. Aguayo's winning time of 3:47.65 also qualified him for the regional meet, as did the time of 3:48.05 that Ryan Warrenburg clocked to finish second in the race. In the women's 1,500m run, Desiree Davila finished second while her time of 4:27.42 earned her a berth into the NCAA West Region meet.
Back in the field, Pressley was back at it again as she earned a regional mark of 16.16m in the shot put to place second. Her mark ranks her third on the ASU all-time list and makes her just the fourth Sun Devil woman to break the 16-meter barrier in the event. Travis Jones rounded out the regional mark attainments as he collected marks in the hammer (56.71m) and the shot put (17.11m).
The final day of competition at the Baldy Castillo Invitational is set for Saturday with the throwing events leading off the day at 10 a.m. while the running events are slated to begin at 1 p.m.