March 9, 2002
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Arizona State junior Lisa Aguilera finished second in the women's 3000m race, shattering her personal best and earning All-America honors in the final day of competition at the 2002 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark., Saturday.
Aguilera crossed the finish line in 9:09.67, surpassing her previous personal-best and school record 3000m time of 9:16.23 established at the Iowa State Classic Feb. 9. The only ASU athlete to compete today, Aguilera finished second only to Stanford's Lauren Fleshman who won the national title with a time of 9:07.45. West Virginia's Megan Metcalfe placed third in 9:09.95.
Combined with junior Tiffany Greer's third-place finish in the women's long jump yesterday, the pair earned All-America honors in their events with top-eight finishes and accounted for the team's 14 points. The ASU women ended the two-day championship meet tied for 16th with BYU and Colorado, its best NCAA Indoor finish since 1994 and the first top-20 finish since 1995.
The Sun Devil men ended the meet in a three-way tie for 51st place with Middle Tennessee and Southern Illinois. Senior David Wood's sixth-place finish in the men's shot put yesterday gave the ASU men's squad its three points. Wood joined Aguilera and Greer in earning All-America honors.
The Louisiana State women dethroned two-time defending national champion UCLA, winning the team title with 57 points, while the Bruins came in second with 43 points and Florida was third with 35. Tennessee was crowned the men's indoor champion with 62.50 points, followed by Alabama with 47 and Louisiana State with 44.
Aguilera, a native of Peoria, Ariz., is now a two-time indoor All-American, having first earned the distinction with a seventh place finish in the mile in 2000. Aguilera is also a two-time All-American in cross country and a one-time outdoor All-American (1500m, 2000).
With the indoor season now in the books, ASU will return its focus to outdoor competition, traveling to Tucson, Ariz., for the Willie Williams Invitational hosted by the University of Arizona Friday, March 15, through Saturday, March 16.