June 10, 2005
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Two events on the track and another two in the field comprised the third day of action at the 2005 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships for the Arizona State University track and field team Friday night at the meet being conducted at the Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex in Sacramento, Calif. ASU sent three competitors to the finals with a fourth entry opening action in the qualification rounds.
Ryan Zimmerman entered the men's triple jump and recorded a personal best mark of 15.98m (52-5.25) to finish in ninth place in the event and will compete in the event finals Saturday. His mark also places him seventh on the all-time ASU lists in the triple jump while marking just the fourth time since 1982 that a Sun Devil has moved into the Top 10 in the event. Also in the field, Julia Pedersen competed in the finals of the women's discus and recorded a mark of 50.30m (165-00) to place 11th overall.
On the track, the day opened with the men's 4x100m relay of Steven Koehnemann, Domenik Peterson, Seth Amoo and Lewis Banda competing in the finals as the fifth-seed. Following three strong hand-offs, the 2004 NCAA runners-up had trouble with the third exchange before Banda crossed the line to stop the clock with the team in fifth place. Following the race, however, it was ruled that ASU had made its final exchange outside of the allowed zone and was disqualified.
The final race of the day for the Sun Devils was the men's 3,000m steeplechase. Before the race began, two-time Pac-10 champion Aaron Aguayo had to pull out of the race because of an injury, leaving Ryan Warrenburg as the lone Sun Devil in the race. In a very fast race, Warrenburg finished 13th in 8:51.79. Despite the 13th place finish, Warrenburg was the seventh American to finish, thus earning him All-America honors for the first time in his career.
The final day of competition will see a few Sun Devils take to the track and field areas Saturday. In the field, Jessica Pressley will take part in the finals of the women's hammer throw while Zimmerman will compete in the finals of the triple jump. On the track, Amoo will run the finals of the 200m dash before joining with Rich Allen, Peterson and Banda to run the 4x400m relay.