March 1, 2008
TEMPE, Ariz. - The Arizona State University women's track and field team successfully defended its title and Ryan Whiting posted the third-longest shot put mark in the world this year as the Sun Devils wrapped up competition at the 2008 MPSF Indoor Track & Field Championships Saturday inside the Dempsey Indoor Facility in Seattle. The Sun Devils swept the shot put and the 4x400m relay while also adding one more women's individual title to give ASU's women seven titles in 17 events while the men captured four crowns.
The women, winners of their first indoor conference title last year and the defending NCAA indoor champions, scored 154.5 points to claim the title as Stanford took second with 141 points. Oregon (72), California (69) and Washington (60.5) rounded out the Top 5 in the women's standings. In the men's race, Oregon captured the title with 90 points and was followed by California (84.5), Stanford (83), ASU (77) and last year's champion Washington (66.5).
While there were many top performances, the biggest came from the men's shot put where Ryan Whiting recorded a toss over 70-feet, hitting at 21.47m (70-05.25) to better his school record and national leading throw by over two feet. Whiting's toss ranks as the third-longest in the world right now and stands as the fourth-best mark in Pac-10 history. His mark, which broke the facility and meet records, also is the second-best indoor mark in Pac-10 history behind Terry Albritton of Stanford who went 21.50m (70-06.50) in 1977.
The men's 4x400m relay also was victorious as the team of Jimmie Gordon, Joel Phillip, Darryl Elston and Justin Kremer clocked in at 3:07.06 to provisionally qualify for the national meet. They were joined on the top step of the podium by the women's 4x400m relay of Jeavon Benjamin, Shauntel Elcock, Dominique' Maloy and Jacquelyn Johnson won in a provisional time of 3:37.34. The Sun Devil women also won two other events as Johnson took the 60m hurdles in 8.24, an NCAA provisional mark, while Sarah Stevens captured the shot put for the second year in a row with a toss of 17.57m (57-07.75).
ASU earned four more provisional marks, two by each gender. For the women, Johnson tied for third in the high jump with a clearance of 1.78m (5-10.00) while Kari Hardt took fourth in the 3,000m run in 9:30.56. On the men's side, Tomas Navarro recorded a provisional toss of 17.81m (58-05.25) in the shot put while Joel Phillip qualified in the 400m dash with a time of 47.09 to place sixth. Two other marks earned positions on the all-time Top 5 indoor list in program history as Marquis Profit ran 8.06 to place second in the 60m hurdles while Charonda Williams placed second in the 60m dash in 7.46, the third-fastest time in school history.
The Sun Devils will return to action at a pair of meets next weekend as student-athletes looking for national qualifying marks or to improve on marks attained at either the Washington Last Chance in Seattle or at the Iowa State Last Chance in Ames, Iowa.