April 21, 2007
LA JOLLA, Calif. - The Arizona State University track and field program sent several athletes to compete at the Triton Invitational Saturday with the Sun Devils again turning in solid performances, including another record effort from Sarah Stevens in the shot put.
Stevens, who had a personal best of 18.03m last week at the Sun Angel Track Classic, tossed 18.40m (60-04.50) to become the first ASU female to throw past 60 feet in competition and just the second in the history of the Pac-10 Conference. Ryan Whiting also had a solid performance in the men's shot put as his mark of 20.27m (66-06.00) moved him into second on the all-time ASU lists, moved him atop the national lists so far this season and pushed him to No. 7 on the current world lists.
Also finding their ways on to the all-time ASU lists were Alana Waterford in the pole vault and Angela Piana in the javelin. Waterford cleared 3.80m (12-05.50) to qualify for the regional championships and move into fourth on the ASU lists while Piana recorded the 10th-best javelin (new implement) mark of 29.79m (97-09).
For the women, Latosha Wallace won the 400m dash (52.90) while Jacquelyn Johnson took first in the 100m hurdles (13.59), both of which met regional qualifying marks. Matt Turner joined Whiting as the lone victors for the men as he captured the high jump with a regional clearance of 2.10m (6-10.75).
All told, the Sun Devils collected 17 total regional qualifiers with five coming in the men's field events and another 10 in the women's field events. The ASU women placed four athletes in the Top 3 of their events while three men finished among the Top 3 as well.
The Sun Devils will battle for state bragging rights this Saturday as they play host to the Double Dual with Arizona and Northern Arizona inside Sun Angel Stadium. Field events start at 2 p.m. with the running events starting at 7 p.m.