TEMPE – Next season's Sun Devil track and field program will feature a plethora of new faces as director of track and field Greg Kraft welcomes a group of talented rising freshmen and transfers to Tempe for 2018-19.
"When we reorganized our staff, we saw this year as a rebuilding year and we knew we had to have a good class to start that process," Kraft said. "This is just the start of that. It's a great start, but we believe it's just the beginning for this program."
Joining the Sun Devils from Princeton, Garrett O'Toole spent four years with the Tigers as a mid-distance and distance specialist with experience at the national championships for cross country and outdoor track.
O'Toole has a personal best of 3:39.34 in the 1,500 and this season has the 17th-best time in the region in the event. Prior to this outdoor season, the Massachusetts native has scored at six Ivy League championship events and even won the indoor mile this past February.
"When you look at Garrett, he's definitely a miler, but with that comes great range," assistant coach Cory Leslie said. "He's run cross country, and in his first 5K to run 14:06 clearly shows he has some potential there too. To run 3:39 as a college junior though, he's a miler. He's coming in with goals to win an NCAA title in the event, but he also has goals beyond college as well. We're going to try to help put him get in a position to run really well at Pac-12s and NCAAs, and hopefully along the way get him a world championship A-standard time."
Another Tiger making his way out west is William Paulson, a senior from Tetbury, England. Paulson, a staple for Princeton at Ivy League Championships, recently advanced to the NCAA Outdoor, Championships in the 1,500 where he earned his first honorable mention All-America honor.
"We're really excited about them," Leslie said. "Having two guys who have already experienced the growth and development as college athletes and getting them for their fifth year while we bring in a lot of young and talented guys will really shift the culture here. They're going to set examples of the day-to-day and how to carry yourself at this level."
He helped the Tigers' DMR team take gold at the 2018 Ivy League Indoor Championships, was the runner-up at the Ivy League Cross Country Championships in 2016 and has scored in the open 1,500 and 3,000-meter runs at conference championships.
This outdoor season, Paulson and O'Toole went one-two in the 1,500-meter final, and the Tiger men completed the track and field sweep at the conference championships.
"A guy like Will, I think his premiere event is the 1,500, but he's run fast in the 800 and we haven't seen what he can do on the track in the 5K," Leslie said. "With that said, he was the Ivy League runner-up in cross country. He's someone with great range and when you've run 3:42, you've clearly got some wheels."
While both of the Princeton transfers will look to make an impact in their one season in maroon and gold, another transfer from the east coast will have three seasons under Rasmussen and Leslie.
In less than a season of NCAA competition, Fearghal Curtin has made a name for himself. The freshman from Ireland recently recorded a time of 14:02.88 in the 5,000 that has him in the top-10 in the East.
"With Fearghal, we'll have three years with him and he's a guy who's already run 14:02 in the 5K as a freshman," Leslie said. "Those three guys alone, coupled with who we have here already are going to raise the expectations of this team next season."
During the cross country season, he led the Charleston Southern men to their best finish at a regional championship since 1994 and took 41st in the race with a time of 30:25.4.
At his only Big South Indoor Championship, Curtin took sixth in the mile and third in the 3,000, then he finished fourth in the outdoor 5,000 and third in the 1,500-meter final.
"I don't think we know what the ceiling is for this class, and what we'll be able to do with this program as early as next year," Leslie said. "With those three guys and a true freshman in Jackson Lewis who's taken to the steeple and John Reniewicki who's coming back, there's a lot of pieces here already that's going to cover a lot of different areas."
Also joining the transferring trio will be Timothy Sterkel from California, Fitz Laurie from Illinois and Joseph Dickie from Colorado.
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On the women's side, triple and long jump threat Sydnee Larkin will bring depth not only to Kraft's crew, but her speed on the track will be an asset to first-year sprints coach Devin West's blossoming program.
"Sydnee is a great talent and will be a triple threat for us," West said. "She's the real deal and we're really excited to have her for her jumping ability, but she'll bring more than that and we expect her to help us in the 4x100 and eventually the open sprints because she has that kind of ability."
Before her senior season at Cherokee Trail in Aurora, Colorado, Larkin had already made a name for herself as a two-time 5A state champion in the triple jump.
With a personal best of 12.72m/41-9 feet outdoors in the event, Larkin would be in prime position to advance to the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds if she were on a collegiate roster this season.
"We know she's got a chance to come in an impact the program immediately," West said. "She's a top-five jumper nationally with speed, so an athlete like that is huge for Arizona State and what we're trying to build here."
Larkin also anchored the Cherokee Trail 4x100-meter team to a state title in 2017, and competed in the long jump for her school. At the 2017 New Balance Indoor National Championships, she finished 13th in the triple jump.
A Texas Relays champion and runner-up at the Texas 4A Championships, Tyrek McNeese is the latest addition to the highly-touted class.
McNeese won the triple jump at the Texas Relays with a personal best 15.16m/49-9 feet and set a personal best in the long jump two weeks later in the long jump of 7.11m/23-4 feet.
West's men's group will add a junior college All-American in Marcus Reaves, a transfer from Meridian CC.
Reaves spent two seasons at Meridian and in his time in Mississippi brought his personal best in the 100 down to an impressive 10.30 and helped the Eagles to a seventh-place finish at the NJCAA Outdoor Championships a season ago and a fourth-place finish at the indoor championships this season.
Reaves attended Pine Forest High School in Pensacola, Florida before his tenure at Meridian. He advanced to the NJCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships in both of his seasons in the 60, 100 and 200, and took fourth in the 100 last season.
In his first open 100 this season, Reaves ran a 10.60 and finished third at the Southern Miss Invitational.
Another speedster heading to Tempe is Dock Mennonite star senior Austin Kratz out of Pennsylvania.
"We're extremely excited and we think he's a game-changer for our program as far as his ability," West said. "With any group you need a foundation and you have to have that person who has to elevate what you're trying to do and he's the person that elevates our program and visibility."
Kratz burst onto the national stage last year as one of the fastest juniors in the country and made an even bigger splash in his senior campaign when he brought his personal best down to 10.34 in the 100 and 20.74 in the 200.
He took home two gold medals at the Arcadia Invitational when he won the 100 and 200, and with his 6.73 in the 60 and 21.01 indoors in the 200, Kratz is the No. 2 ranked sprinter in the country.
"Austin and Marcus really round out our relays and they bring a level of seriousness to the group, which we desperately needed," West said. "We feel like next year at this time, we'll be in the mix in the Pac-12, legitimate in the West Region and we feel we'll have a shot to make some noise on the national stage."
In the pole vault, coach Ron Barela welcomes two new women as senior staples Kristiana Warth and Haleigh Fritts graduated last week.
"We are excited about Hayley Rayburn joining the Sun Devil family," Barela said. "She is one of the top vaulters in the prep ranks this year."
Rayburn is another Colorado native moving south for her collegiate career. At Platte Canyon High School in Bailey, Rayburn won gold in the vault at the Sun Angel Classic in Tempe and finished third in the event at the Arcadia Invitational.
She tied her personal best at Arcadia with a clearance of 3.83m/12-7 feet. The mark would be the second-best mark by a Sun Devil this season behind Warth's 3.85m/12-7.5.
"Hayley's impact is huge as she will be able to continue the great success and tradition in the vault program at ASU," Barela said. "Not only are her athletic credentials amazing, but also her work ethic and devotion to success make a good fit with the rest of our program."
Montana's Myka Steinbeisser has had a near-perfect senior season for the Sidney Eagles as she has won every meet she's participated in except one where she finished second.
Steinbeisser won the Eastern A Division title in the pole vault before advancing to the state championships in 2017 for the second consecutive season. She then followed up her junior campaign with a 26th-place finish at the New Balance National Outdoor Championships.
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"Myka has worked extremely hard for this and her effort and commitment to this sport has resulted in her being offered and opportunity to compete for a Championship program here at ASU," Barela said. "We believe that she is coming into her own as a pole vaulter, and her great work ethic and devotion this sport makes her a great fit to our vault family. We are thrilled to get her into our training program so she can continue to thrive."
Coach Brian Blutreich will add four throwers to his group, including Haley Smith and Shelby Moran on the women's side, and two men in Connery McLaughlin and Jared Tracy.
"Right now we don't have any guys, so we're really trying to reestablish the men's group and get some bodies in here who we can start developing," Blutreich said. "Connery will be a developing javelin thrower who can contribute at the Pac-12 level this next year. I believe he's capable of doing that for sure."
McLaughlin specialized in the javelin and discus throws while at Enumclaw High School in Washington.
As a junior, McLaughlin took second at the state championships in the javelin with a personal best mark of 62.20m/204-1 feet. This season, he's set a new personal best in the discus and has finished in the top-three in nine of his 10 javelin and discus contests with six wins.
Hailing from Texas, Jared Tracy is a Texas Relays champion in the shot put and one of the top high school throwers in the 2018 class.
"He's a great kid and kind of an old soul when it comes to training," Blutreich said. "He just loves the training aspect of the sport and isn't really that concerned with the other things that surround it. He's kind of a throwback. He gets excited about little things, so it'll be nice to start the program off on the men's side with him and Connery."
Tracy's Relays title came with a personal best throw of 19.36m/63-6.25 feet. At the same event, Tracy showed his prowess in the discus when he finished fifth a week after he set a PR and won the Jesuit-Sheaner Relays.
"We'll see if we redshirt him next season because in college, they move up in weight and the size of the implement, but he's definitely someone we'll be counting on as a main component of our team for the next couple of years," Blutreich said.
Shelby Moran is also considered one of the best throwing prospects in the nation out of Sherwood, Oregon.
Moran has finished first in every outing but one during her senior season in the discus, shot put and hammer throw.
"Right now, Shelby is doing some great things," Blutreich said. "She's the No. 2 hammer thrower in the country right now, and top-five in the discus. In shot she had a big PR this year and she's in the top-15 in that now."
She took runner-up in the shot put at the state championships in her junior season, took fourth in the hammer throw at the USATF Junior Championships and 11th at the same meet in the discus.
"We're excited to have someone come in who could possibly do three events for us," Blutreich said.
Smith won her district meet in both the shot put and discus in 2017, and she even took third in the javelin at the same meet. The results are a testament to her unique skill set as she was primarily a volleyball player for Summit High School until recently.
"The dark horse for us is Haley Smith," Blutreich said. "She's a volleyball player, who doesn't have a ton of track experience, but she has all of the measurables to be a great thrower."
She went on to win the state discus title as a junior, and this season, Smith has won the discus and javelin throws at the district championships while taking second in the shot put. She'll compete for three more state titles later this month.
While she has been with the program for a year now, sophomore transfer Beatrice Llano will also make her Sun Devil debut next spring.
The Norwegian international came to ASU over the summer after a successful first season of collegiate competition at Georgia where she capped off her freshman campaign with a third-place finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the hammer throw behind current Sun Devil Maggie Ewen and another in-state woman from Northern Arizona.
This season is far from finished for the current Sun Devils, but the future looks bright as early as next season with the new crop expected to arrive in Tempe this fall.