TEMPE – The final weekend of the indoor regular season sees a small group of Sun Devils make the trip up the hill to compete at the NAU Tune-Up Friday in Flagstaff.
Arizona State has made three appearances at the Walkup Skydome so far this season, and each time they've come back with a handful of personal bests and even an NCAA-leading mark from Samantha Noennig.
Noennig and the throwers will have the weekend off as they make their final preparations for the MPSF Championships. Coaches Jeremy Rasmussen and Cory Leslie will also hold out their distance crews after a couple of busy weeks.
"I think we know where we are as a team right now as far as the indoor season is concerned," Director of Track and Field Greg Kraft said. "We've taken a significant hit losing a guy like Cole Riddle, but Matt Eckles and Michael Chadwick have never vaulted better."
Eckles recently took sole possession of fourth in school history in the indoor pole vault when he cleared 5.33m/17-5.75 feet at last weekend's Don Kirby Elite. The pair of pole-vaulting Devils will jump one more time at NAU before heading to Seattle where last year Chadwick tied for third in the conference.
Tommi Hintnaus will join freshmen Myka Steinbeisser, Julianna Park in Flagstaff, looking to improve on her season and personal-best clearance of 4.02m/13-2.25 feet.
"We're going up there to make bars, and we'll have a few athletes in the horizontal jumps just to use it as an opportunity just to get some additional work in before MPSF," Kraft said. "If we're able to hit one, that's great, but this meet is really about getting in some extra work."
Noennig's NCAA-leading mark in the shot put means the sophomore has all but punched her ticket to the national meet in Birmingham, but a couple of Sun Devils are on the bubble either looking in or fighting to stay in the top-16.
Jessica Barreira's personal best leap of 6.28m/20-7.75 feet has her in position to advance to the NCAA Indoor Championship for the first time, but last year's conference championship weekend produced seven national qualifying marks and this year's conference competitions are expected to be similar.
"I believe Sam is the only one who has really locked up a spot at the national meet because she currently leads the nation in her event," Kraft said. "Jess is 10th in the long jump, but historically it's taken a 6.30m jump to get in. I think she has that in her and I also think she has a 13-meter triple jump in her as well.
"I think Derrick Monroe is close to jumping 7.80m, which would get him into the conversation as well," Kraft said. "He can go that far and has, he just hasn't done it on a legal jump, yet."
Monroe's personal best of 7.60m/24-11.75 is six inches shy of the final qualifying mark. He set his PR on the same runway he's competing on this weekend.
The meet in Flagstaff will have live results on Wingfoot Finish and a full recap of the Sun Devils' day at NAU will be available at thesundevils.com following the completion of the event.
Arizona State has made three appearances at the Walkup Skydome so far this season, and each time they've come back with a handful of personal bests and even an NCAA-leading mark from Samantha Noennig.
Noennig and the throwers will have the weekend off as they make their final preparations for the MPSF Championships. Coaches Jeremy Rasmussen and Cory Leslie will also hold out their distance crews after a couple of busy weeks.
"I think we know where we are as a team right now as far as the indoor season is concerned," Director of Track and Field Greg Kraft said. "We've taken a significant hit losing a guy like Cole Riddle, but Matt Eckles and Michael Chadwick have never vaulted better."
Eckles recently took sole possession of fourth in school history in the indoor pole vault when he cleared 5.33m/17-5.75 feet at last weekend's Don Kirby Elite. The pair of pole-vaulting Devils will jump one more time at NAU before heading to Seattle where last year Chadwick tied for third in the conference.
Tommi Hintnaus will join freshmen Myka Steinbeisser, Julianna Park in Flagstaff, looking to improve on her season and personal-best clearance of 4.02m/13-2.25 feet.
"We're going up there to make bars, and we'll have a few athletes in the horizontal jumps just to use it as an opportunity just to get some additional work in before MPSF," Kraft said. "If we're able to hit one, that's great, but this meet is really about getting in some extra work."
Noennig's NCAA-leading mark in the shot put means the sophomore has all but punched her ticket to the national meet in Birmingham, but a couple of Sun Devils are on the bubble either looking in or fighting to stay in the top-16.
Jessica Barreira's personal best leap of 6.28m/20-7.75 feet has her in position to advance to the NCAA Indoor Championship for the first time, but last year's conference championship weekend produced seven national qualifying marks and this year's conference competitions are expected to be similar.
"I believe Sam is the only one who has really locked up a spot at the national meet because she currently leads the nation in her event," Kraft said. "Jess is 10th in the long jump, but historically it's taken a 6.30m jump to get in. I think she has that in her and I also think she has a 13-meter triple jump in her as well.
"I think Derrick Monroe is close to jumping 7.80m, which would get him into the conversation as well," Kraft said. "He can go that far and has, he just hasn't done it on a legal jump, yet."
Monroe's personal best of 7.60m/24-11.75 is six inches shy of the final qualifying mark. He set his PR on the same runway he's competing on this weekend.
The meet in Flagstaff will have live results on Wingfoot Finish and a full recap of the Sun Devils' day at NAU will be available at thesundevils.com following the completion of the event.