TEMPE – The Sun Devil track and field teams will head down south with a chance to clinch the Territorial Cup Series at the Pac-12 Championships Saturday and Sunday in Tucson, Arizona.
"The most important thing team-wise right now would be to secure the Territorial Cup Series," coach Greg Kraft said. "I think if we can get one of them, it puts us into a tie and then we have a shot at winning it based on the Director's Cup. We've got to get a split at least, but also we need to get more kids through to the regional meet so we have a chance to help ourselves in the Director's Cup challenge come nationals."
ASU enters the meet in Tucson without one of its most prolific scorers in school history, but the Sun Devils appear to have not missed a beat without seven-time Pac-12 champion Maggie Ewen in the lineup thanks to one of the deepest throws groups in the nation on the women's side.
Led by NCAA champion Samantha Noennig, the Sun Devil throwers are in position to be the primary breadwinners once again for the women at the Pac-12 Championships. Noennig holds top-two positions in the shot put and discus, Beatrice Llano leads the conference in the hammer, and Seri Geisler hold the third-best javelin mark among Pac-12 women.
"Our point totals could be similar to what we had last year," Kraft said. "I said after last year's meet that we wouldn't skip a beat without Maggie because I thought we'd get those points back by committee. That's almost come to fruition with the ascension of Samantha Noennig into a national champion shot-putter and one of the top discus throwers leading the way. With the development of Beatrice to go with Kaylee in the hammer, and Seri Geisler in the javelin, we might not have that superstar like we had the last couple of years, but we have the depth to make up for it and potentially be a top-10 team at the outdoor national meet again but with points from more people."
The do-it-all senior Jessica Barreira is also included in that throws group as she holds the sixth-farthest javelin mark. Barreira will be one of the busiest Devils this weekend though, looking to defend her indoor conference crown in the triple jump and trying to fend off the rest of the field in the long jump, which she currently leads by just over four inches.
Last year the Sun Devil women scored just 13 points on the track and the men put up eight. The improved 2019 sides have the chance and the proven ability to greatly improve on a one-off performance in 2018.
For the women, it starts with Josephine Anokye, who turned heads at her last outing two weekends ago on the same surface she'll make her Pac-12 debut on. She's already staked her claim as ASU's fastest women's sprinter this decade and has an opportunity to become only the third woman not from USC or Oregon to score in the 100 or 200 since 2016.
"The thing for Josephine is it's just been her maturation and development under coach Miller," Kraft said. "We're always focused on ourselves and what we can control, but if she continues the progress she's made, she can score here. She just has to stay within herself and follow the instruction of coach Miller and coach Small just like she's done all year and the results will take care of themselves."
The Devils will get help in the middle-distances from Bianca Tinoco who has herself among the top in the conference in the 800 and leads the team in the 1,500.
On the men's side, MPSF mile champion and school record-holder William Paulson leads the distance crew through one of the deepest conferences in the country. While Paulson will likely seek a double, this time in the 1,500, the Devils have contenders in other events with Fearghal Curtin, John Reniewicki and US Junior champion Jackson Lewis toeing the line in other events.
Back in the field, former Pac-12 champion Matthew Eckles and sophomore Michael Chadwick have the second-and fourth-best marks in the pole vault this season, and Derrick Monroe is third on the long jump list.
The 2019 Pac-12 Championships will get going Saturday at 11 a.m. and will run until a team champion is crowned on Sunday evening. Live results will be provided by Finished Results and the Championships will be broadcast live on the Pac-12 Network.
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.
Both squads have 12 in the top-48, and Paulson still leads the way for the men with his No. 3 1,500-meter mark.
Matthew Eckles and Marcus Reaves' career days down in Tucson two weeks ago moved them into the top-20 in the pole vault and 200-meter dash, respectively, and freshman Carlan Naisant, newcomer Derrick Monroe and Elijah Hughes all sit in the top-25 in their respective events.
Four of the region's and nation's best on the women's side call Tempe home with Noennig, Llano, Barreira and newcomer Seri Geisler owning top-four places in the region.
Noennig holds the third-best shot put and discus marks, 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 and 25th in the triple jump, but recently soared to fourth in the west after she recorded a personal best in the long jump two weekends ago.
Josephine Anokye topped her season's best in the 100 and 200 two weeks ago to catapult herself into the top-30 in the region in the 100 and the top-10 in the 20, and Bianca Tinoco clocked a top-25 time in the 800 at the Sun Angel Classic and another top-40 1,500-meter time a few weeks ago.
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.