TEMPE, Ariz. -- The 2016 outdoor season will begin on home turf for the Arizona State track and field program, as they host the 20th annual Baldy Castillo Invitational at Sun Angel Stadium on Friday and Saturday.
"The meet has never been healthier and a lot of the kudos deservedly so goes to (assistant coach) Jeremy Rasmussen," said director of track and field Greg Kraft. "He's really been here a short time -- his second stint with us -- and he has a gift for administration and the ability to stage track and field meets. The quality of the officiating and the look of the venue have really been enhanced the last couple of years and that's a direct result of Jeremy's work.
"I think people come out here and they embrace the balance of the competition that is reflective of our program, but like-minded coaches as well."
Friday will start with two flights of the women's hammer throw at 1:40 p.m. PT/4:40 p.m. ET, immediately followed by the men's.
Saturday's events will begin at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET with the women's discus, while the track events begin at 1 p.m. PT/4 p.m. ET with the women's 100-meter hurdles.
Eleven teams travel to Tempe for the two-day meet, including Illinois' women, Iowa, Kentucky, Long Beach State, Minnesota's men, North Dakota State, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas A&M, UC-Riverside and Utah's women.
"I think that all of the teams are just coming off the NCAA Championships, so they'll have some competitors who competed that are sitting it out and just go back to some base training and recuperate," said Kraft. "The one thing about our sport is we serve three masters with cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field. It's a difficult thing to balance. We're nine weeks out from the Pac-12 Championships, so it's a quick turnaround."
Despite the quick turnaround, the outdoor season is what Kraft and the Devils look forward to and take pride in.
"For us, we're built more to be an outdoor team," said Kraft. "That's just the west coast -- the west coast does indoor track and field just enough to be irritated with it ... the west coast has had tremendous success indoors, but I think all of the coaches in the Pac-12 would agree outdoors is where we feel our sport is in its rightful place."
While several athletes will enjoy the weekend off for the Devils, there are several who will be making their season debut and others chomping at the bit to participate in new events that some call their specialty.
"We have some new athletes that didn't have a chance to compete indoors," said Kraft. "Hudson Keffer is a freshman javelin thrower from Washington and we're really excited about how he's trained. We have some athletes that we didn't have indoors that will run in the 400-meter hurdles like Cody Moore who is a Pac-12 scorer that we think enhances our team. Then we have distance runners who are pretty good cross country runners and the indoor season isn't what they're made for. C.J. Albertson had a tremendous double at the Mountain Pacific conference meet and we look for him to be an outstanding steeplechase runner for us and that's somewhere we feel he could be an NCAA-caliber athlete."
One other athlete Kraft mentioned was indoor honorable mention All-American Maggie Ewen. While the indoor NCAA Championships didn't go as planned, she takes pride in the discus event where she sits fifth on the ASU all-time list as just a redshirt sophomore. She also placed third in the event at the Pac-12 Championships in 2015.
Saturday's events can be viewed via livestream on Pac-12 here. (Link to be added)
Live stats can also be followed here. (Link to be added)
There will be FREE PARKING in lot 59 or 57 on Friday. However, if you park in the structures you will have to pay. On Saturday, parking is open and you can park anywhere for free.