Track & Field Splits Like Tip of Fork for Final Big Indoor Weekend

Sun Devil Athletics

February 10, 2016

TEMPE, Ariz. -- The Arizona State track and field program splits up like the tip of the fork this weekend with the squads traveling to New Mexico, Iowa and Flagstaff.

The distance group heads to the Iowa State Classic, the pole vaulters travel to the NAU Invite, and the sprinters, runners and throwers fly to the Don Kirby Elite Invitational in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

"Typically when you look at the indoor season, there are two critical weeks in the season -- obviously the conference meet is the biggest and this is probably the second biggest," said head coach Greg Kraft.

The Don Kirby Elite Invite features several of the top-ranked programs in the country, including Oregon's No. 3 women and No. 6 men, Stanford's No. 13 women and No. 11 men, Oklahoma State's No. 22 women and No. 24 men, and the No. 13 Colorado men.

With just two weeks left until the MPSF (Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) Conference Championships, the weekend provides athletes with one of their last opportunities to qualify for the NCAA Indoor National Championships.

"Every team has been nursing some type of injury, so the guys sitting in the wings have to step forward," Kraft said. "It's one of those things that is a delicate balance for distance teams when you run cross country, indoors and outdoors."

One of those athletes will be senior sprinter Jamol James, as he competes in his first event of the season.

"Going to Albuquerque, it will be the first time we race Jamol James, a very talented sprinter who has battled injuries pretty much his entire career," Kraft said. "We've been very judicious and are going to be racing him sparingly. He's one of those athletes that have been sitting in the wings, but training well."

But James isn't the only one Kraft expects big things from at the Don Kirby.

"We're looking for our jumpers to get on track as far as moving up the decending order list with Tim White and Keyasia Tibbs, but I also think Josh Dixon can make an entry into the top-16 in the country," he said.

"Thomas Anderson is coming off some elbow irritation so it will be interesting seeing how he is, and Ahmed Hassan has been battling some injuries too. We're interested to see how those guys come back this week.

For the rest of the men, Kraft is expecting three men to take the next step and potentially earn NCAA qualifying times.

"I think for us I look at the men's side and it would be Jamol James, Josh Dixon and Isaiah Underwood," he said. "When you look at Josh and Isaiah, they have a body of work that shows they're emerging and they can make that step forward. Those are the three that have the best chance to move up and establishing themselves on that national list."

As of right now, White is on the outside looking in sitting in 17th place nationally in the men's triple jump with a leap of 15.90m (52-2.00). The 16th position is set at 15.93m (52-3.25) currently. Dixon is also in the hunt in 30th with a leap of 15.59m (51-1.75).

Underwood is .06 seconds from the 16th position in the men's 60-meter dash with a time of 6.73.

On the women's side we just need to make progress. Sydney Mosley, LaTroya Franklin and others need to continue to make strides forward. It's going to be an interesting weekend for us no question.

"We expect Maggie to solidify her spot in the shot put. She's been throwing well the last two weeks but hasn't had that big throw that solidifies her as the top-16 in the country. She's more than capable of having a breakthrough not only in the shot put but in the weight throw as well."

Ewen is currently tied for 16th in the nation for the shot put with a throw of 16.58m (54-4.75), but is back in 26th in the weight throw. She is one foot and seven inches from the last qualifying spot as of Feb. 11.

In the women's triple jump, Tibbs holds the 25th-best jump in the country with her leap of 12.78m (41-11.25) at the first meet of the season. She needs another seven inches to sneak into the top 16.

Northeast of the sprinters and throwers, the Sun Devil distance team will encounter a new meet at the Iowa State Classic versus their typical trip to the Husky Invitational in Seattle, Washington.

"It's just doing something a little different," Quintana said. "We've been going to the Husky meet for the last 10 years, so for my group right now, I thought we could get into better races and have control over the races we're getting into.

"It turns out the group we're taking out there is really ready to go, so it doesn't matter where we go."

Quintana's distance crew will keep the same mindset as the rest of their teammates in a new setting -- run the fastest we have all season.

"For the 3,000-meter runners, the first priority is to run fast enough to get into the fast heat at the MPSF conference meet, because it's hard to score from the slow heat," said Quintana. "For the guys, we need to run under 8:12.00, and I'm looking for C.J. Albertson and Ryan Herson to run under that. If they can break 8:00.00 then they have a chance to make Nationals.

"For Shaina Corbin and Chelsey Totten, it's trying to run under 9:35.00 -- which I think they can -- to get to the fast heat. That's the main objective."

As for the pole vaulters, they will make the short trip to Flagstaff for the NAU Invitational.

"We felt it was best for our pole vaulters to head to NAU just because New Mexico doesn't have the ability to handle a large field and we didn't want just a few of our athletes competing," Kraft said. "It's a slow moving event and it's difficult for a lot of venues to handle a large field."

Don Kirby Elite Invitational Feb. 12-13 Albuquerque, NM

FRIDAY

Field Events

Women's Weight Throw (4 p.m. MT)

-Magdalyn Ewen, Ginger Jarchow, Ashley Weber

Men's High Jump (6 p.m. MT)

-Reed Bussey, Mason Ford

Men's Weight Throw (7 p.m. MT)

-Kyle Long

Running Events

Women's 60mH - 1st Round (4:10 p.m. MT)

-Sydney Mosley, Alexandra Williams