Track & Field Sets 12 Personal Records on Saturday, Total 23

Sun Devil Athletics

February 13, 2016

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M./AMES, Iowa -- New Mexico is considered the "Land of Enchantment", and that's how the Sun Devils seemed to view it after setting nine personal records on Saturday.

On top of those, two were added in Iowa State and one more in Flagstaff to total 23 personal records broken by the Arizona State track and field squad over the two days all-in-all.

"When you look at the results, particularly on the national descending order, it's the ones who have a baseline of consistency that are there," head coach Greg Kraft said. "So the people that continue moving up the list are the people that have been the most steady. I think it's kind of a broken record.

"On the women's side it starts with Maggie Ewen and on the guy's side it starts with Tim White. I think Maggie is just inside the (national top-16) cusp and Tim has punched his ticket. The ones who keep flirting with that list are Keyasia Tibbs -- she's been very steady -- and Isaiah Underwood."

Redshirt junior Tim White continued to impress in the triple jump, elevating his performance in the final round with a new personal best of 16.15m (53-0.00) to take third overall and second of all NCAA competitors.

His teammate and fellow jumper Josh Dixon also jumped to a new best with a leap of 15.80m (51-10.00) for 7th out of 20 athletes.

On Friday, redshirt senior Isaiah Underwood broke his previous 60-meter dash record of 6.73 with a preliminary qualifying time of 6.71 to make the semifinals on Saturday. After finishing with the second-best time in the semis, Underwood again snapped his record and broke the 6.6 mark with a 6.68 for fourth place.

"Over the course of the indoor season, he's shown a remarkable level of consistency," sprints coach Ronnie Williams said. "So that was positive. I also thought it was a solid opening race for Jamol James and I thought Reggie Lewis took a big step forward with his 200-meter and getting a little bit better with his 60 as well."

James and Lewis both made the semifinals on Saturday and ran times of 6.81 and 6.94 respectively.

"In the women's 200-meter, LaTroya running a big PR -- those things weree all positive -- and we had a couple seasonal bests in the 400 as well," Williams said. "So collectively we made some positive strides forward and we need to continue to keep our foot on the gas and keep our focus -- and more importantly the intensity of our focus.

"I always tell the kids you're execution always equals what the clock says or distance you jump, and if you continue to execute and it's constant, then you're going to get that breakthrough performance."

That constant execution is something redshirt sophomore Magdalyn Ewen can pride herself on. After taking third on Friday in the weight throw, Ewen placed second in the women's shot put with a throw of 16.70m (54-09.50) for a new best.

"Maggie was outstanding," throwing coach David Dumble said. "She beat another couple girls that are top in the NCAA, so that was outstanding. She did a great job in Nebraska as well.

"Kyle Long did an outstanding job this weekend with two PR's. A six-inch PR in the weight throw and a two-foot PR in the shot put, so that moves him up quite a bit in the conference rankings as well."

After his 18.45m (60-06.50) on Friday in the weight throw, Long rolled that success into day two with a toss of 17.57m (57-07.75) in the shot put for a 7th-place finish out of 23 men.

His throwing buddies -- Ahmed Hassan and Thomas Anderson -- also made it to the shot put finals and finished 3rd and 4th respectively.

"I thought they did very well," Dumble said. "It was a season best for Ahmed and I think that gives them confidence as we got into our last tune-up meet on Friday in Flagstaff. I think we can do some great things. It's not as tough of a year in the shot put as year's past, so I think they can qualify if they have a good next couple weeks."

Other personal bests at the Don Kirby were set by Sierra Irvin in the women's 400-meter and Keyasia Tibbs, Jessica Barreira and Darreyl Woodson in the women's triple jump.

At the Iowa State Classic, graduate senior Jennifer Owen cruised in the women's 1-mile event to a time of 4:46.85 for a new personal record by nearly five seconds. Freshman Hannah Benoit-Bucher also crossed the line in the event with a new best in her young college career at 4:59.86.

Up north in Flagstaff, pole vaulter Matthew Eckles placed second in the men's NCAA event with a new personal best of 5.07m (16-07.50).

All around it was a great weekend for the Sun Devils as they change their focus into the final tune-up meet of the season in Flagstaff on Friday, Feb. 19. From there, the team will prepare for MPSF Conference Championships on Friday, Feb. 26 through Saturday, Feb. 27.

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

SATURDAY

Field Events

Women's Shot Put

2. Magdalyn Ewen - 16.70m (54-09.50)

14. Ashley Weber - 14.10m (46-03.25)

Men's Shot Put

3. Ahmed Hassan - 18.14m (59-06.25)

4. Thomas Anderson - 18.06m (59-03.00)

7. Kyle Long - 17.57m (57-07.75)

Track Events

Men's Triple Jump