March 8, 2003
TEMPE, Ariz. - The Arizona State track and field team opened its 2003 outdoor campaign at home Saturday with its annual Bill Sawyer Invitational meet that featured many local junior colleges and three large institutions in ASU, Arizona and Louisville. Six Sun Devils took home the top place in their respective events while four races featured a clean sweep of the Top 3 places by ASU runners.
The sweeps were in the men's 400 and 800-meter events while the women dominated in the short sprints of 100 and 200-meters in length. On the stronger showings was that of the men in the 400 meters. Lewis Banda (Fr., Bulawayo, Zimbabwe), first, Seth Amoo (So., Palmdale, Calif.), second, and Jason Barton (So., Phoenix, Ariz.), third, combined with fifth-place finisher Steve Fitch (Jr., San Ramon, Calif.) to dominate the event. All four sprinters are members of the 4x400 meter relay team that went undefeated in the indoor season this year. The first three runners earned a spot in the NCAA regional this year while all four have qualified for the Pac-10 Championships.
Winners on the day included Anthony Santa Cruz (Jr., Tempe, Ariz.) in the 800 meters. In all, the Sun Devil women had three first-place, 6 second-place and seven third-place finishes while the men finished first, second and third three times, twice and five times, respectively.
In the record books, Jenae Sonne (Fr., Las Vegas, Nev.) launched the hammer 165-feet-1-inch to take the No. 3 spot on the all-time ASU list in the event, while Travis Jones (Jr., San Diego, Calif.) moved into No. 9 on the men's hammer at 178-1. In the women's discus, Orsund improved her No. 6 standing at 165-3 and Molly Clarke (So., Santa Cruz, Calif.) joined the list at No. 8 with her heave of 153-1.
Indoors in Boise, Idaho, Trevell Quinley (So., Tracy, Calif.) recorded a mark of 7.71 in the long jump to improve his provisional standing in the national rankings. The 7.71 (25-03.50) is the best on the year for the Sun Devil sophomore as well as the team.
Several members of the team will head to Fayetteville, Ark., next weekend for the 2003 NCAA Indoor Championships. Participants will be announced Monday. The outdoor runners return to action at home in two weeks with the Baldy Castillo Invitational, March 21-22, at Sun Angel Stadium.
ASU Pac-10 and NCAA West Regional Qualifiers
Sun Devil (time, which meet(s) qualified)
Men 400m Dash
Lewis Banda (45.95, NCAA West and Pac-10)
Seth Amoo (46.33, NCAA West and Pac-10)
Jason Barton (46.61, NCAA West and Pac-10)
Steve Fitch (47.67, Pac-10)
Women 100m Dash
Cassandra Reed (11.98, Pac-10)
Kandace Tucker (12.02, Pac-10)
Women 200m Dash
Kandace Tucker (23.92, NCAA West and Pac-10)
Cassandra Reed (23.96, NCAA West and Pac-10)
Porchea Carroll (24.41, Pac-10)
Women Discus
Sandra Orsund (165-3, NCAA West and Pac-10)
Molly Clarke (153-1, NCAA West and Pac-10)