Feb. 14, 2003
TEMPE, Ariz. - The Arizona State track and field team did not show much love to its intrastate rivals on the night of Valentine's Day as the men and women each swept the team races from Arizona and Northern Arizona Friday night at the Skydome in Flagstaff, Ariz. The Sun Devils defeated the Lumberjacks, 97-59 (men) and 82-58 (women), and got past the Wildcats, 78-77 and 86-57, respectively.
Seven student-athletes (four men and three women) provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships with two of the men's qualifiers, Seth Amoo and Lewis Banda, made the list in the same 200-meter race. Along with the 16 event wins and seven provisionals, 10 marks recorded ranked among the Top 5 in school annals.
Banda, who took third in the 200, ran a 21.19 and tied the school record set by Amoo last year. But Amoo, running in the same race, surged ahead at the end to win the race and reset the school record at 21.01. Also qualifying for the national meet were Jason Barton (400-meter dash), Trevell Quinley (long jump), Joni Smith (women's 400-meter), Seneca Holmes (55-meter hurdles) and Julia Pedersen (shot put.)
Quinley shined for the men as he was the only two-event winner on the evening for the Sun Devils. Quinley won the long jump and the high jump to pace the men and women's field events. Seven of the 16 victories recorded were in the field with Ryan Zimmerman (triple jump), Travis Jones (weight throw), Tiffany Greer (high jump), Pedersen (shot) and Sandra Orsund (weight throw) each taking the top prize.
In all, the men and women combined to see 16 winners, 11 runners-up and nine third-place finishes at their third meet in Flagstaff this year. The Sun Devils ran at NAU last week for the Mountain T Invitational and opened the season there Jan. 18 at the NAU Invitational.
Both squads have two weeks to prepare for the Pac-10 Invitational in Seattle, Wash., Feb. 28-March 1 on the campus of the University of Washington. From there, ASU will have last chance meets March 7-8 before those qualifying for nationals head to Fayetteville, Ark., for the 2003 national championships.