Feb. 8, 2008
TEMPE, Ariz. - Ryan Whiting shattered his own school record in the shot put and two others joined him in earning automatic berths into the NCAA Championships as members of the Arizona State University track and field team completed the first day of the Bronco Invitational in Nampa, Idaho, Friday night. Whiting was joined by Matt Turner in the long jump and Jessica Pressley in the weight throw as athletes to earn automatic berths to the national meet.
In his first meet of the season, Whiting connected on a toss of 20.38m (66-10.50) to win the shot put and take the overall lead in the national rankings. His mark bettered his school record toss of 20.01m (65-07.75) that placed him third at the NCAA Championships last year. In the same event, Jason Lewis took second in 17.86m (58-07.75) to provisionally qualify for the national meet. Matt Turner moved into second on the national order lists in the long jump as he automatically qualified for the national meet with a jump of 7.85m (25-09.25). His mark also ranks as the third-best in school history.
On the women's side, Pressley made her season debut and recorded a mark of 21.06m (69-01.00) to win the weight throw and automatically qualify of the national meet while Sarah Stevens, also making her season debut, was second at 19.10m (62-08.00) to provisionally qualify.
The long jump was not only a strong event for Turner on the day as the women's duo of Jacquelyn Johnson and Stephanie Garnett placed first and third, respectively, with NCAA provisional marks in the event. Johnson hit a personal-best mark of 6.34m (20-09.75), just one centimeter from the automatic standard, and moved into fifth on the all-time ASU lists. Garnett's mark measured 6.30m (20-08.00) to improve her qualifying mark on the national lists.
The Sun Devils conclude action in Nampa on Saturday.