May 18, 2002
PULLMAN, Wash. - Junior All-Americans Tiffany Greer and Lisa Aguilera won conference titles in the long jump and 3000m steeplechase, respectively, leading Arizona State University in the first day of the 2002 Pac-10 Track and Field Championships at Washington State's Moobery Track Complex in Pullman, Wash., Saturday. The ASU women sit in third place with 37 points, while the men stand in fifth with 35 points heading into the final day of competition tomorrow. Stanford leads both team races, as the women have 51 points and the men have 58.
In addition to the title-winning performances by Greer and Aguilera, the ASU women got help from a third-place finish by sophomore Jodi Smith in the high jump, and fourth-place finishes by sophomore Jen Hurbis and junior Cody Sohn in the 10,000m and 3000m steeplechase finals, respectively.
Leading the ASU men were runner-up finishes from junior Jeremy Rasmussen in the 3000m steeplechase and freshman Trevell Quinley in the long jump. Senior David Wood and junior Vince Mosca also placed three-four in the men's shot put to add some valuable points.
"For the women, the first day went as well as it could go," ASU head coach Greg Kraft said. "I was coming in hoping we could get in the low 20's and we got to 37. So I feel fairly comfortable that we can hold our top four finish. It was a big day across the board any time you have someone win a Pac-10 title like Lisa Aguilera and Tiffany Greer, that was huge. Cody Sohn stepping up and getting a fourth place in the steeplechase and Jen Hurbis in the 10,000m, that was great. Yoly Meservey hitting a provisional in the shot put was a big PR for us. For the women we were really happy with how that went.
"For the guys, I felt like we needed to get between 35 and 42 points to be on pace to score about 125-130. I think it will take about 130 to win. It was a solid day for us but it wasn't a spectacular day. We probably got more people through on the track (in prelims) than anyone in the conference. That's what we needed to do."
Greer, a five-time All-American, won her second career Pac-10 long jump title, edging Arizona's Brianna Glenn with an outdoor season-best leap of 21 feet. Greer notched her winning jump, an NCAA provisional qualifying effort, in her fifth attempt. Glenn's best jump also came in her fifth attempt, a leap of 20-10.75. Greer won her first conference crown as a freshman in 2000 and is the first ASU woman to become a two-time Pac-10 long jump champion.
"It was good competition," Greer said. "I was going after Brianna (Glenn). I was feeding off of her and when she jumped 6.37 (meters) I knew I had to react then and jump 6.40, so I was very happy. But she did push me a little bit. I wanted to go out there and win and I did."
Greer also qualified for tomorrow's finals in the 100m (11.71) and the 200m (24.13).
After a third-place finish last season, Aguilera won the Pac-10 title in the women's 3000m steeplechase with a Mooberry Track record and NCAA provisional qualifying time of 10:15.71. Aguilera ran much of the race in third behind Stanford teammates Jeane Goff (second, 10:24.60) and Laura Turner (third, 10:37.00), before taking the lead with approximately three laps to go. Sohn finished fourth in a season-best 10:55.03 and freshman Mandi Fitz-Gustafson was eighth in 11:14.21.
"The plan was not to lead for the first half of the race," Aguilera said. "I'm running the 5000m tomorrow so I wanted to save as much energy as I could."
In the men's 3000m steeplechase, Rasmussen finished second for the second straight year. Rasmussen clocked a season-best time of 8:59.31, behind Washington's Mike Hill (8:54.19). As a freshman, Rasmussen won the 2000 steeplechase Pac-10 title. Junior Kris Alexander also finished eighth in a season-best 9:12.93.
Quinley came just short of a Pac-10 title in the men's long jump, earning runner-up honors with a leap of 24-10. Quinley's best mark of the day matched the mark of first-place winner, Stanford's Milton Little, but Little's second-best mark (7.57 meters) was better than Quinley's second-best mark (7.35m) to break the tie. ASU freshman Asokah Muhammad finished 16th in the event with a mark of 19-1.25.
The 2001 Pac-10 champion in the shot put, Wood placed third in 2002 with an NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 61 feet, 0.75 inches. Finishing closely behind Wood was Mosca who placed fourth with an NCAA provisional qualifying mark of his own, 59-7.5.
Jodi Smith tied for third in the women's high jump, clearing the bar at 5 feet, 7.25 inches. Smith tied with Stanford's Kimberly Stone and UCLA's Darnesha Griffith. Washington State's Whitney Evans won the event with a mark of 5-11.25. ASU senior Olivia Mazzaglia tied for 10th with UCLA's Julie Stevenson, clearing a mark of 5-5.25.
In the women's 10,000m final, Hurbis placed fourth in 37:24.20, the first time competing in the event. Stanford's Erin Sullivan won the title in 35:44.19, followed by teammate Caroline Annis (36:01.74) and Washington's Kate Bradshaw (36:54.08).
Junior Fasil Bizuneh, the 2001 Pac-10 runner-up, finished sixth in the men's 10,000m final with a time of 31:06.91. Stanford blew away the field with four of the top five spots including winner Jonathan Riley (30:22.64). ASU junior J.R. Cox finished 11th in 31:52.93.
In other field event finals, junior Mike Rivers placed fifth in the men's javelin with a mark of 207 feet, 11 inches, while senior Bobby Raines was 13th (184-1). In the women's shot put, senior Yolanda Meservey notched a personal-best and NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 49 feet, 4.25 inches, placing eighth. Freshman Julia Pedersen finished 10th (45-1) and sophomore Sandra Orsund was 17th (41-6).
A number of Sun Devils advanced past their preliminary heats to tomorrow's event finals. Sophomore Seneca Holmes qualified for finals in both the 100m and 400m hurdles. Holmes clocked the third fastest 100m hurdle time (13.99) and eighth-fastest 400m hurdle time (1:00.35). Senior Candida Coulson also qualified for the 400m hurdles final with the fifth-best time overall (59.47). Senior Tony Galaviz had the fifth-fastest overall 110m hurdle time (14.05) to advance to the final.
In the women's 400m, junior Joni Smith and freshman Cassandra Reed will compete in tomorrow's final, placing second (53.85) and fourth (55.83), respectively, in their prelim heat. The men's 400m saw three Sun Devils post four of the top qualifying times. Freshman Seth Amoo led the pack with a time of 46.53, while sophomore Steve Fitch had the third-best time (47.19) and junior Lorenzo Parham finished fourth overall (47.37).
Junior Luiz Mello qualified for the men's 100m final with a time of 10.60. A trio of ASU athletes qualified for the men's 200m final as Mello (21.03), Amoo (21.09) and senior Pete Lopez (21.31) recorded the fifth through seventh fastest time overall.
Both Sun Devil competitors in the men's 800m, senior Brandon Strong and freshman Jeff Dodge both advanced past their prelim heat. Strong clocked the third fastest overall time (1:49.39) and Dodge had the sixth fastest time (1:50.30).
In the women's team race, Stanford is in the lead after day one with 51 points, followed by Oregon (41 points) and ASU (37). UCLA is in fourth (32), Washington State and USC are tied for fifth (31), Washington and Arizona are tied for seventh (17) and Cal is in ninth (16).
In the men's team race, Stanford is in the lead (58 points), followed by Oregon (57), Arizona (44), UCLA (41), ASU (35), USC (32), Washington (22), WSU (19) and Cal (4).
The 2002 Pac-10 Track and Field Championships conclude tomorrow in Pullman. Field events begin at 11:30 a.m. PT, while running events begin at 1 p.m.