April 14, 2012
TEMPE – The Arizona State University track and field team wrapped up its 2012 home slate on Saturday, hosting squads from LSU, Arkansas and San Diego State in a low-scale competition that produced some big results at Sun Angel Stadium.
The #7 Arizona State men’s team saw junior Jordan Clarke take home the men’s shot put competition with a season’s best throw of 19.66m (64-06). The mark was just a couple centimeters shy of Clarke’s outdoor best and is tentatively the top mark in the nation in 2012 barring results from other meets across the nation this weekend.
In the men’s sprints, junior transfer Chris Burrows continued to show he may have been the team’s best offseason pick-up, clocking in a blazing fast time of 20.65 in the men’s 200-meter dash for a career best time and a wind-legal one at that. While the time wasn’t quite enough to move into ASU’s all-time top 10 in the event, it was good for the tentative 15th-best time in the nation so far in 2012 and is the fifth-fastest non-wind-aided time of 2012.
Right behind Burrows was sophomore Ryan Milus, who clocked in at a personal best time of 20.67 and the 16th-quickest time in the country in 2012. Milus would also win the 100-meter dash competition in 10.36, just edging teammate Daniel Auberry’s time of 10.37.
Will Henry took home the victory in the 400-meter dash in a time of 46.47 before leading the men's 4x400-meter relay team and teammates Chris Burrows, Kelsey Caesar and John Kline to a victory in the final event of the day in 3:07.15.
On the women’s end of things, the No. 15 Sun Devils got off to an impressive start in the women’s hammer throw on the heels of senior Cj Navarro’s new career-best toss of 60.27m (197-6). The mark was over a meter better than Navarro’s previous personal best and improved her hold on the fourth-best throw in school history in the event.
Fellow senior Ashley Lampley also launched a career-best throw of 59.05m (193-9) to move into fifth on ASU’s all-time list. Both marks rank the ASU seniors in the top 30 nationally this year.
The throws were sources of other exceptional performances as sophomore Anna Jelmini had a seasonal best throw of 17.15m (56-03.25) to take home the victory in the shot put competition while also taking home the victory in the discus throw with a season’s best mark of 58.14m (190-9) for the second-best throw in the nation in 2012.
In the long jump, sophomore Constance Ezugha opened up the 2012 season with a victory and a jump of 6.26m (20-06.50), putting her in a tie for the 13th-best jump in the nation in 2012.
The Sun Devils will return to action next weekend at the prestigious Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif., set to begin April 19 at the Historic Hilmer Lodge Stadium.