TEMPE – Nearly 1,500 athletes will gather in Tempe for the 40th edition of one of the Valley's great and historic traditions, the Sun Angel Classic, April 4-6 at Sun Angel Stadium.
While the event is slated to begin on Thursday with more than 900 athletes from 53 area high schools participating in the high school sections, the Sun Devils and the rest of the collegians and post-collegiate athletes will lace up for competition on Friday and Saturday.
"One of the things that really saved the Sun Angel Classic was the introduction of the high school section, which was initiated by former coach Tom Jones," director of track and field Greg Kraft said. "we've tried to really make it a community event. We've introduced events to try to showcase that our great sport is really one that everyone can participate in."
Although a handful of high school athletes wil compete on Saturday for medals, Friday and Saturday's schedule is highlighted by the collegiate and premiere sections that will include the Sun Devils as well as NCAA institutions such as Wisconsin, Oregon, Kansas State and Iowa, among others.
"It's a little bit different this year with the World Championships being so late in the year," Kraft said. "The elite and professional athletes who usually open up around this time won't be starting until a month later, so some of our former athletes who compete at that level won't be participating this year, but we still have a great group of teams coming in."
For a few Sun Devils, the final home meet of 2019 will also be their last time to compete in Sun Angel Stadium in the iconic maroon and gold kit.
"Each one of our seniors has had a unique journey to where they are now and they've been great faces of our program for the past few seasons," Kraft said. "One who sticks out for me is Jessica Barreira. She'll admit she didn't get off to a great start here, but to see her grow into a conference champion and finish 10th at nationals this year is a testament to how much she's worked and how patient she's been with the process."
Barreira and the other seniors will be honored on the final day of the meet.
The collegiate sections of 40th Sun Angel Classic will be streamed live on FloTrack, and live results for both the high school and collegiate sections will be provided by Finished Results.
Visit thesundevils.com after the completion of the meet for updated results and a full recap of ASU's day, and follow @SunDevilTFXC on Twitter for updates.
Where There's a Will...
For the second consecutive week a Sun Devil has taken home a Pac-12 honor as 2019 Indoor All-American William Paulson received the designation of Men's Track Athlete of the Week, the conference announced Tuesday.
The honor is Paulson's first as a Sun Devil and ASU's second weekly honor of the season after Beatrice Llano earned conference and national recognition for her outstanding debut weekend two weeks ago.
Paulson claimed the honor after clocking the fastest 1,500-meter time in the NCAA this season at the Stanford Invitational. His 3:42.53 won him the race and put him at fifth in Sun Devil history in the event in just his first outing of the outdoor season.
While the mark wasn't a personal best, it's the senior's best season-opening performance of his collegiate career by nearly four seconds. He's now just over two seconds off of the school record that has been held by Chuck LaBenz since 1970.
Paulson will lace up again and take to the Joe Selleh Track in Sun Angel Stadium this weekend for the 40th Sun Angel Classic in Tempe.
If Ya Know, Llano
Beatrice Llano received her first Pac-12 honor as the Women's Field Athlete of the Week, and was also named as the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's Division I Women's Athlete of the Week.
She took home the honors following her record-setting series in the hammer throw during the ASU Invitational.
With her fifth throw of the day, and just her fifth throw as a Sun Devil, Llano set the Norwegian record in the hammer throw with a heave of 71.43m/234-4 feet. The mark also put her into the top-10 in NCAA history, making her the second Sun Devil in two years to put themselves on the list with Maggie Ewen setting the collegiate record last season.
The mark leads the NCAA this season by nearly 11 feet, and has her at second in school history behind another mark that Ewen set outside of the collegiate season.
In the world standings, Llano's throw puts her in seventh in 2019, and qualifies her for the IAAF World Championships in Doha, Qatar, this fall.
Llano is one of three current Devils competing under throws coach Brian Blutreich with All-America honors, joining 2019 NCAA shot put champion Samantha Noennig and 2018 second-team honoree Kaylee Antill.
Llano and the Sun Devil throwers will compete this weekend in the Sun Angel Classic with Noennig opening up in the shot put for the first time this outdoor season.
Jav Record for Jessica
She is a conference champion in the triple jump and an All-American in the long jump, and now Jessica Barreira is the Arizona State record-holder in the women's javelin.
Barreira set the school record on just her second throw of the new outdoor season when she wound up and launched the javelin 50.46m/165-7 feet, ending Jacquelyn Johnson's 11-year reign as the record-holder.
The leading mark is not the Sun Devil senior's personal best, though. Barreira's PR came this past summer when she threw an inch farther in her home country of Portugal.
The record could be short-lived with true freshman Cerah Moren jumping up to fourth in school history in her first competition as a Sun Devil and the 2017 NAIA champion yet to make her ASU debut.
That champion is Seri Geisler, and her personal best coming into 2019 is nearly 15 feet better than Johnson's previous record and would have given her ninth at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in 2018.
Blu's Crew
Led once again by an NCAA champion, the Arizona State throws group is expected to be a force in the Pac-12 and in the NCAA this season.
Samantha Noennig won her first NCAA title in dramatic fashion, placing the shot at 17.91m/58-9.25 feet on the final throw of the competition at the indoor championships.
Noennig will open up in the women's shot put for the first time this season at the Sun Angel Classic, and already has a mark in the top 15 in the nation in the discus.
The Devils have a contingent of talented javelin throwers, including school record-holder and MPSF triple jump champion Jessica Barreira.
Along with Barreira, the Devils boast the 2017 NAIA javelin champion Seri Geisler, Cerah Moren and Melanie Johnson. Both Moren and Johnson hold spots in the ASU top-10 with Moren's mark placing her at No. 4 in history and Johnson at 8.
On the men's side, the only Arizona boys' javelin champion in state history Carlan Naisant suits up for ASU along with freshman Connery McLaughlin.
Ian Schulz set a personal best nearly every week during the indoor season, and he's looking to build upon that under the sun.
In the hammer throw, though the Devils are without their NCAA record-holder from a season ago, ASU has two All-Americans in the event on their roster in 2017 third-place finisher Beatrice Llano and 2018 All-American Kaylee Antill.
Coach Brian Blutreich's throwing crew has been important for the Sun Devils scoring at Pac-12 and NCAA Championships since he arrived in Tempe three years ago, and his elite group in 2019 looks like it will keep the trend going as the Devils advance into the outdoor season.
While the event is slated to begin on Thursday with more than 900 athletes from 53 area high schools participating in the high school sections, the Sun Devils and the rest of the collegians and post-collegiate athletes will lace up for competition on Friday and Saturday.
"One of the things that really saved the Sun Angel Classic was the introduction of the high school section, which was initiated by former coach Tom Jones," director of track and field Greg Kraft said. "we've tried to really make it a community event. We've introduced events to try to showcase that our great sport is really one that everyone can participate in."
Although a handful of high school athletes wil compete on Saturday for medals, Friday and Saturday's schedule is highlighted by the collegiate and premiere sections that will include the Sun Devils as well as NCAA institutions such as Wisconsin, Oregon, Kansas State and Iowa, among others.
"It's a little bit different this year with the World Championships being so late in the year," Kraft said. "The elite and professional athletes who usually open up around this time won't be starting until a month later, so some of our former athletes who compete at that level won't be participating this year, but we still have a great group of teams coming in."
For a few Sun Devils, the final home meet of 2019 will also be their last time to compete in Sun Angel Stadium in the iconic maroon and gold kit.
"Each one of our seniors has had a unique journey to where they are now and they've been great faces of our program for the past few seasons," Kraft said. "One who sticks out for me is Jessica Barreira. She'll admit she didn't get off to a great start here, but to see her grow into a conference champion and finish 10th at nationals this year is a testament to how much she's worked and how patient she's been with the process."
Barreira and the other seniors will be honored on the final day of the meet.
The collegiate sections of 40th Sun Angel Classic will be streamed live on FloTrack, and live results for both the high school and collegiate sections will be provided by Finished Results.
Visit thesundevils.com after the completion of the meet for updated results and a full recap of ASU's day, and follow @SunDevilTFXC on Twitter for updates.
Where There's a Will...
For the second consecutive week a Sun Devil has taken home a Pac-12 honor as 2019 Indoor All-American William Paulson received the designation of Men's Track Athlete of the Week, the conference announced Tuesday.
The honor is Paulson's first as a Sun Devil and ASU's second weekly honor of the season after Beatrice Llano earned conference and national recognition for her outstanding debut weekend two weeks ago.
Paulson claimed the honor after clocking the fastest 1,500-meter time in the NCAA this season at the Stanford Invitational. His 3:42.53 won him the race and put him at fifth in Sun Devil history in the event in just his first outing of the outdoor season.
While the mark wasn't a personal best, it's the senior's best season-opening performance of his collegiate career by nearly four seconds. He's now just over two seconds off of the school record that has been held by Chuck LaBenz since 1970.
Paulson will lace up again and take to the Joe Selleh Track in Sun Angel Stadium this weekend for the 40th Sun Angel Classic in Tempe.
If Ya Know, Llano
Beatrice Llano received her first Pac-12 honor as the Women's Field Athlete of the Week, and was also named as the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's Division I Women's Athlete of the Week.
She took home the honors following her record-setting series in the hammer throw during the ASU Invitational.
With her fifth throw of the day, and just her fifth throw as a Sun Devil, Llano set the Norwegian record in the hammer throw with a heave of 71.43m/234-4 feet. The mark also put her into the top-10 in NCAA history, making her the second Sun Devil in two years to put themselves on the list with Maggie Ewen setting the collegiate record last season.
The mark leads the NCAA this season by nearly 11 feet, and has her at second in school history behind another mark that Ewen set outside of the collegiate season.
In the world standings, Llano's throw puts her in seventh in 2019, and qualifies her for the IAAF World Championships in Doha, Qatar, this fall.
Llano is one of three current Devils competing under throws coach Brian Blutreich with All-America honors, joining 2019 NCAA shot put champion Samantha Noennig and 2018 second-team honoree Kaylee Antill.
Llano and the Sun Devil throwers will compete this weekend in the Sun Angel Classic with Noennig opening up in the shot put for the first time this outdoor season.
Jav Record for Jessica
She is a conference champion in the triple jump and an All-American in the long jump, and now Jessica Barreira is the Arizona State record-holder in the women's javelin.
Barreira set the school record on just her second throw of the new outdoor season when she wound up and launched the javelin 50.46m/165-7 feet, ending Jacquelyn Johnson's 11-year reign as the record-holder.
The leading mark is not the Sun Devil senior's personal best, though. Barreira's PR came this past summer when she threw an inch farther in her home country of Portugal.
The record could be short-lived with true freshman Cerah Moren jumping up to fourth in school history in her first competition as a Sun Devil and the 2017 NAIA champion yet to make her ASU debut.
That champion is Seri Geisler, and her personal best coming into 2019 is nearly 15 feet better than Johnson's previous record and would have given her ninth at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in 2018.
Blu's Crew
Led once again by an NCAA champion, the Arizona State throws group is expected to be a force in the Pac-12 and in the NCAA this season.
Samantha Noennig won her first NCAA title in dramatic fashion, placing the shot at 17.91m/58-9.25 feet on the final throw of the competition at the indoor championships.
Noennig will open up in the women's shot put for the first time this season at the Sun Angel Classic, and already has a mark in the top 15 in the nation in the discus.
The Devils have a contingent of talented javelin throwers, including school record-holder and MPSF triple jump champion Jessica Barreira.
Along with Barreira, the Devils boast the 2017 NAIA javelin champion Seri Geisler, Cerah Moren and Melanie Johnson. Both Moren and Johnson hold spots in the ASU top-10 with Moren's mark placing her at No. 4 in history and Johnson at 8.
On the men's side, the only Arizona boys' javelin champion in state history Carlan Naisant suits up for ASU along with freshman Connery McLaughlin.
Ian Schulz set a personal best nearly every week during the indoor season, and he's looking to build upon that under the sun.
In the hammer throw, though the Devils are without their NCAA record-holder from a season ago, ASU has two All-Americans in the event on their roster in 2017 third-place finisher Beatrice Llano and 2018 All-American Kaylee Antill.
Coach Brian Blutreich's throwing crew has been important for the Sun Devils scoring at Pac-12 and NCAA Championships since he arrived in Tempe three years ago, and his elite group in 2019 looks like it will keep the trend going as the Devils advance into the outdoor season.