June 11, 2005
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The 2005 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships came to a close in grand fashion for the Arizona State University track and field team Saturday night as the men's 4x400m relay clocked a school-record time to place second in the national on the final day of the meet that was held inside the Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex in Sacramento, Calif.
With the eight points the relay earned, the ASU men moved up to 17th place in the overall standings with 16 points while Arkansas won the team race with 60 points. On the women's side, the Sun Devils failed to score points during the meet that Texas won by edging out UCLA, 55-48.
On the track, the relay of Rich Allen, Seth Amoo, Domenik Peterson and Lewis Banda combined to run 3:00.57 and become the first ASU relay to run under 3:01 in the event. Allen opened the race with around a 46 second leg followed by a 44 split for Amoo prior to Peterson's 45. Banda, the anchor on the relay, also clocked a 44 and nearly caught the race winner, LSU, who set the collegiate mark at 2:59.59. The Sun Devils' previous best in the event had been 3:01.26 that the group of Steve Fitch, Amoo, Peterson and Jason Barton ran at the 2004 Pac-10 Championship meet in Tucson, Ariz.
Prior to the relay, Amoo also competed in the finals of the 200m dash where he finished in sixth place at 20.63 while race winner Wallace Spearmon of Arkansas clocked a 19.91.
Two Sun Devils also were in competition in the field events on the final day of action. For the women, Jessica Pressley advanced to the finals of the hammer throw with a toss of 60.71m (199-03) to finish just out of the scoring in ninth place. The final competitor of the day was Ryan Zimmerman in the men's triple jump, who placed 10th with a leap of 15.52m.
All four members of the relay and Pressley each earned All-America honors at the meet. The relay members automatically attained the honor by finishing among the Top 8, giving Amoo two awards on the day, while Pressley earned her first career All-America accolade as she was the seventh-highest finishing American in the hammer. For the week, Trevell Quinley in the long jump and 3,000m steeplechase runners Aaron Aguayo and Ryan Warrenburg each earned the national accolade.
Historically, Amoo's addition of two All-America honors this week brings his total to seven in his stellar career with the Sun Devils and ties him with Marcus Brunson and Herman Frazier for the most in ASU men's history. Peterson, who now has six awards to his name, moved into a tie for third with Tony Berrian and Nick Hysong.