Jan. 30, 2010
TEMPE – Ryan Whiting recorded the top mark in the NCAA so far this season and Jason Lewis joined Whiting as an automatic qualifier for the national championships to lead the Arizona State University track and field team in the final day of action at the Mountain ‘T’ Invitational in Flagstaff, Ariz., Saturday. Whiting posted the top mark in the shot put to earn a spot in the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., in March while Lewis posted an automatic mark in the weight throw while also provisionally qualifying in the shot put.
Overall, Sun Devils won 10 different events, including six by the men and four by the women, while posting 25 Top 3 placements on the day. The men recorded eight marks good enough to meet the qualifying standards for the national meet while the men and women combined to record 14 marks that rank among the Top 10 all-time in ASU history.
Whiting, the two-time defending NCAA champion in the shot put and one of eight men on the initial Bowerman Award watch list, won the shot put with a toss of 20.57m (67-06.00) to claim the national lead in his first week of competition. In the same event, Lewis provisionally qualified with a toss of 18.87m (61-11.00) and redshirt freshman Jordan Clarke joined him with a provisional qualifier of 18.54m (60-10.00), which also stands as the seventh-best in school history. The trio finished first, fourth and fifth, respectively, in the event and currently rank first, fifth and eighth, respectively, in the NCAA.
Lewis, the defending national champion in the weight throw, recorded a toss of 21.92m (71-11.00) to win the weight throw and post the second-best toss of the year so far this season in the NCAA. Whiting and Clarke also had strong showings in the event as they finished third (18.94m/62-01.75) and eighth (17.45m/57-03.00), respectively, to record the fourth-best and seventh-best marks all-time in school history.
On the track, the men also provisionally qualified in four sprint events and won four times on the day in those events as well. Lawrence Trice won the 60m dash in 6.70 (converted) for the second week in a row to provisionally qualify for nationals and record the fourth-best mark in school history. In the 400m dash, Donald Sanford won the invitational race with a time of 46.85 to provisionally qualify while Justin Kremer was just behind him with a provisional qualifier of 47.06. Both Sanford and Kremer later came back to join up with Ray Miller and Joel Phillip to win the 4x400m relay with a time of 3:10.27 to provisionally qualify with the 10th-best time in school history. The final men’s victory cam from Ian Caracciolo, who ran in the open division of the 400m dash and won the race in 49.50.
Four women posted victories on the day with two coming in the field and two on the track. On the track, Courtney Golden won the open division of the 800m run in 2:22.09 while Lindsay Prescott took the title in the mile run with a time of 5:09.55. Samantha Henderson won the high jump invitational field with a clearance of 1.60m (5-03.00) while Cara Carpenter won the pole vault with a clearance of 3.65m (11-11.75).
In the second day of the men’s heptathlon, Jeremy Marcinko led the way for the Sun Devils as he placed second overall with 4,938 points, the second-best point total in school history and a 370-point improvement from last year. Austin Prince was just behind him in third place with 4,817 points, the third-best total in school history and a 491-point improvement, while Jamie Sandys took fourth overall with 4,787 points and the fourth-best point total in school history after improving his score by 913 points.
Marcinko, who entered the day third overall, opened by taking second in the 60m hurdles (9.19 converted) before winning the pole vault with an ASU heptathlon record clearance of 4.90m (16-00.75) and then winning the 1,000m run in 2:55.10. Prince also moved up as he started the day in fourth and ended in third place with marks of 9.41 converted in the hurdles before clearing 4.80m (15-09.00) in the pole vault and running 2:55.50 in the 1,000m. Sandys turned in performances of 9.39 converted, 4.10m (13-05.25) and 2:56.53 on the day.
Also on the ASU Top 10 lists were: Allante Battle, who ran the 10th-best time in the men’s 60m dash at 6.84 (converted); Henderson, who ran the eighth-best time of 8.95 (converted) in the women’s 60m hurdles; Keia Pinnick, who ran the ninth-fastest time of 8.98 (converted) in the women’s 60m hurdles; Linda Kuenzi cleared 3.65m (11-11.75) to record the seventh-best mark in the women’s pole vault; Christabel Nettey recorded the 10th-best mark in the long jump with a mark of 6.08m (19-11.50); and Ashley Lampley moved up to the eighth-best mark in the weight throw with her toss of 16.08m (52-09.25).
The Sun Devils will send athletes to a pair of meets next Saturday with athletes returning to Flagstaff for the NAU Team Challenge while others will head to Albuquerque, N.M., for the Lobo Classic.