March 11, 2006
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The Arizona State University women again made history this season as the team accumulated 30 points to finish in third place of the team standings at the 2006 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships Saturday inside the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark. The trophy finish, just the second all-time in track program history, gave the Sun Devil women their second of the year after the cross country team finished fourth. The men, with one point, finished in a tie for 60th. Texas' women (51 points) and Arkansas' men (53 points) captured the team titles.
In all, five Sun Devil women and one man attained All-America status on the weekend to record the best team finish in women's history. The previous best came in the 1990 season when it finished in a tie for fourth place on the strength of two national titles won. This year, the same happened with a pair of crowns.
Jacquelyn Johnson led the Sun Devil charge as she secured the second national title in her career after winning the outdoor heptathlon at the 2004 NCAA Championships. Johnson, who was the runner-up in this meet two years ago, led from the start as she finished first in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.37 to score 1,046 points. Building on her two-point lead after the first race, Johnson added to her advantage as she tied for second in the high jump with a clearance of 1.76m to score 928 points. From there, her finishes in each of the final three events may not have been as high as she would have liked, but those marks did earn her enough points to retain her lead after each event.
Johnson finished ninth in the shot put with a mark of 11.81m to score 649 points and increase her lead to 37 points. In the long jump, her mark of 5.88m scored her 813 points, but her lead dwindled to just 27 points heading into the final event, the 800m run. In that race, Johnson stayed on the heels of Julie Pickler of Washington State, who was in second overall, to make sure her point total would be nearly equal. Johnson finished in 2:17.99 for 851 points with Pickler just ahead of her. When the final scores were tallied, Johnson had won the event with 4,287 points, just 20 ahead of Pickler.
The national title is the second of the weekend for the Sun Devil women following Amy Hastings winning the 5,000m run. The two titles marked the third time in program history that ASU walked away from the indoor meet with two crowns following the 1991 squad that saw Maicel Malone win the 400m dash before joining Toinette Holmes, Dana Jones and Shaneuqa Campbell to win the 4x400m relay. One year before that, Malone won the first of her three 400m crowns in a row while Lynda Tolbert secured the high jump title.
In her first NCAA meet, Sarah Stevens, the 2006 Pan-Am Champion, reset her school record in the shot put on her final throw of the day to place third in the meet with a mark of 17.91m (58-09.25). Her throw, which also earned her All-America honors, scored six points for the team. Teammate Jessica Pressley also competed in the event as her mark of 15.75m (51-08.25) placed her 12th overall.
In the women's 3,000m run, Jenna Kingma clocked in at 9:16.13 to place sixth overall and attain All-America honors in her first collegiate season while Hastings, running in her second distance event in as many days, placed 19th in a time of 9:42.55. Kingma's finish added three points to the Sun Devil team total to push them to their final score.
On the men's side, Joshua Kinnaman attained All-America honors for the first time in his career as he used a personal best time of 2:48.78 in the 1,000m run, the final event of the two day event, to move up one place into eighth and score one team point for ASU with 5,476 points in the heptathlon. Kinnaman, who opened the day in sixth place, fell to ninth following the first event as his time of 8.59 (839 points) in the 60m hurdles was the 14th-best time. He remained in ninth in the overall race following a tie for 10th in the pole vault with a clearance of 4.50m (760 points).
Two other Sun Devils competed on the day with April Kubishta and Ryan Zimmerman entering field events. Kubishta finished in a tie for 12th in the pole vault with a clearance of 4.00m (13-01.50) while Zimmerman took 11th in the triple jump with a mark of 15.53m (50-11.50).
2006 NCAA Indoor Championship Results
Arizona State Athletes ONLY
Sun Devil Men:
Heptathlon - Joshua Kinnaman
Saturday - Day 2 (started sixth overall)
60m Hurdles: 8.59 (839 points) - 14th place (9th overall)
Pole Vault: 4.50m/14-09.00 (760 points) - t-10th (9th overall)
1,000m Run: 2:48.78 (778 points) - 6th place (8th overall)
Day 2 Total: 2,377 points
Combined Total: 5,476 points - 8th place & All-American
Triple Jump - Ryan Zimmerman
15.53 (50-11.50) - 11th place
Sun Devil Women:
Pentathlon - Jacquelyn Johnson
60m Hurdles: 8.37 (1,046 points) - 1st place (1st overall)
High Jump: 1.76m/5-09.25 (928 points) - t-2nd place (1st overall)
Shot Put: 11.81m/38-09.00 (649 points) - 9th place (1st overall)
Long Jump: 5.88m/19-03.50 (813 points) - t-5th (1st overall)
800m Run: 2:17.99 (851 points) - 6th place (1st overall)
Combined Total: 4,287 - National Champion & All-American
Shot Put - Sarah Stevens
17.91m (58-09.25) - 3rd place & All-American
* mark also is a school record
Shot Put - Jessica Pressley
15.75m (51-08.25) - 12th place
Pole Vault - April Kubishta
4.00m (13-01.50) - t-12th place
3,000m Run - Jenna Kingma
9:16.13 - 6th place & All-American
3,000m Run - Amy Hastings
9:42.55 - 19th place