March 4, 2005
TEMPE, Ariz. - The last chance meets for indoor qualifications to the NCAA Championships (March 10-12) got underway Friday night as members of the Arizona State University track and field team competed in three events at the Alex Wilson Invitational, hosted by Notre Dame, in South Bend, Ind. The meet, one of three last chance meets ASU will participate over the weekend, featured three events with Sun Devil athletes, all in distance events.
The night got going as the women's distance medley relay team of Rachel Ellison, Cassandra Reed, Jessie McLaughlin and Amy Hastings finished first in the event with a time of 11:14.63. Not only did the event qualify the quartet provisionally for the national meet next weekend, it also ranked them ninth-fastest in the nation this year. Their time also stands as the fastest in program history, bettering the mark of 11:23.14 set in 2000 by Lisa Aguilera, Candida Coulson, Casey Scwarz and Kelly MacDonald.
Individually, a pair of Sun Devils competed in the 5,000m run with both earning provisional marks, although neither mark betters a performance recorded earlier in the season. Victoria Jackson competed for the women, placing third in the race at 16:42.73, while Casey Burchill ran the race for the men, finishing 16th at 14:23.56.
Several Sun Devils will continue to compete in South Bend, Ind., Saturday while other members of the team will participate in the last chance meets at Washington and Iowa State. Outdoors, the remaining Sun Devils will play host to the annual Bill Sawyer Invitational with the throwing events getting underway at 8 a.m. and the running events starting at 11 a.m.