TEMPE – The Sun Devil track and field team will head into enemy territory this Saturday for the Desert Heat Classic in Tucson, Arizona.
The day trip down south is not only another opportunity for the Devils to move up the regional qualifying list, but also a chance to see the host site for this year's Pac-12 Championships and see how they stack up against their Wildcat foes.
"On paper, it kind of looks to be the same as it did indoors for our men's group, but the women have gained a lot from going outdoors," coach Greg Kraft said. "It'll be nice to see what we can do down there, but at this point I think both teams have a pretty good idea of where they stand."
While a few Sun Devils will sit this weekend out, some of the nation's best will lace up in the throwing events, including new school record-holder Seri Geisler.
Geisler is the latest addition to one of the best women's throws groups in the nation. She joins NCAA champion Samantha Noennig and All-American Beatrice Llano as women with marks in the top-three in the nation in the throwing events.
The balance within the throws group has catapulted the Sun Devils into the top-25 in the latest USTFCCCA poll after they started the season outside the top-100.
"If you look at our team, the women don't have as many qualifiers as the men do on paper, but the women's we would send to the regional have a better shot of advancing because they're in that top-tier," Kraft said. "Our ranking may be in the 20s, but we have the talent to push on and go for a top-10 finish at the NCAA meet for the third-straight year."
Last year's Desert Hear Classic provided plenty of excitement with the Sun Devils winning a handful of events and Maggie Ewen setting the NCAA shot put record to close out the evening.
The meet in Tucson gets going at 1:30 p.m. when the men's hammer throw and women's discus take place. The track at Roy P. Drachman Stadium opens up at 5:15, and the meet runs until the the end of the 4x400-meter relays.
Results will be provided by Finished Results, and a full recap will be available following the conclusion of the meet at thesundevils.com.
Wild, Wild West Region
The road to the NCAA Championships runs through Sacramento, California, once again in 2019 as Hornet Stadium hosts the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds for the second-straight season.
Only 48 of the top athletes in each event receive a place in the regional meet, and so far this outdoor season, 24 Sun Devils find themselves in position to advance to preliminary rounds, including NCAA champion Samantha Noennig and All-Americans William Paulson, Beatrice Llano, Kaylee Antill and Jessica Barreira.
The men have 14 in the top-48 with Paulson leading the way thanks to his No. 3 mark in the 1,500-meter run.
Fellow newcomer Fearghal Curtin sits in 25th in the 5K with John Reniewicki just behind him at 30th.
In the sprints, Steven Champlin's 400-meter time from the Baldy Castillo Invitational still has him comfortably in the top-48 in the event and two high jumpers make the list with Reed Bussey coming in 44th and Elijah Hughes checking in at 17th.
Three of the region's and nation's best on the women's side call Tempe home with Noennig, Llano and newcomer Seri Geisler owning top-three places in the region.
Noennig holds the third-best shot put mark, Llano has led the nation in the hammer throw since her Sun Devil debut performance, and Seri Geisler's school-record mark has her in third in the region in the javelin.
Barreira is the only woman in maroon and gold with three marks in the top-25. She sits in 13th in the javelin with her school record mark from earlier this season, 19th in the long jump and 25th in the triple jump.
Josephine Anokye's season opening 200-meter mark is still the 15th-fastest in the region, and Bianca Tinoco clocked a top-20 time in the 800 at the Sun Angel Classic.
The complete list can be found on page five of the weekly meet notes.
Everything's Meant to Be Broken
It didn't take long for Seri Geisler to make her mark on the Sun Devil program as she unseated Jessica Barreira at the No. 1 spot on the school record list in the javelin, just a month after Barreira claimed the top-spot.
Geisler's 55.73m/182-10 foot throw in the event bested Barreira's mark by five meters and was one of two school records broken during the weekend of April 18-20.
The first record broken that weekend came on the track from newcomer William Paulson.
The senior All-American already owned the record for the indoor mile thanks to his conference title-winning run from the MPSF Championships, but the dynamic mid-distance athlete came into the season with a personal best better than Chuck LaBenz' 49-year-old 1,500-meter record and had his sights set on topping the ASU list once more.
Paulson did just that at the Bryan Clay Invitational when he clocked a personal best and new school record 3:38.35, becoming the only active Sun Devil with two school records to their name.
So far, two records have fallen this season, but a handful of Devils added themselves to top-10 lists, including Tommi Hintnaus, Michael Chadwick, Beatrice Llano, Bianca Tinoco, Cerah Moren, Sydnee Larkin, Fearghal Curtin and John Reniewicki.
Suped-Up Sprints Squad
Arizona State once made a name for itself in the sprints department, earning more than 60 All-America honors in the events between 2000 and 2016.
A slight dip in production has been followed by a renaissance in the shorter distances with a handful of Sun Devils vying for regional qualifying places in the sprints in 2019.
Leading the way for the squads is Josephine Anokye, whose season-opening 200-meter dash mark has had her safely in the top-10 in the region for more than a month now. The time of 23.26 is only three-tenths of a second off the regional lead and good enough for fourth in the Pac-12.
Steven Champlin has the 19th-best time in the 400 and his 46.70 is the fastest 400 by a Sun Devil since 2017.
Freshman Nia Brown and senior Holland Cabara both have 100-meter times in the top-48, with Brown's personal best 11.62 good enough for 32nd in the West and Cabara's time putting him at 41st.
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. Geisler, Moren and Johnson hold spots in the ASU top-10 with Moren's mark placing her at No. 4, Johnson at 8 and Geisler at 9.
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.