TEMPE – Arizona State will send a group of men's and women's distance Devils to the Bay Area, and a senior pole vaulter into the heart of Texas this weekend, marking ASU's first outdoor road trip after back-to-back home meets to open competition under the sun.
Out in Palo Alto, Cobb Track and Angell Field, home of the Stanford Invitational, has been a destination for mid-distance and distance athletes looking to set a regional qualifying mark. Although it's still early in the outdoor season with just over eight weeks until the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds, the Devils heading out to the West Coast will get a chance to race against some of the best in the country.
Alexis Nichols and Bianca Tinoco are both seeking return trips to Sacramento for the regional meet and Courtney Lewis was less than two seconds off of the final qualifying place in the women's steeplechase a season ago. All three women will represent ASU at Stanford this weekend.
Tinoco opened her sophomore outdoor season with a personal best in the 1,500 and she'll try her hand at the distance again this week alongside Nichols.
Up the coast in San Francisco, Megan Reniewicki and Daan Haven will toe the line for the 5,000-meter run at the Mike Fanelli Track Classic, formerly the San Francisco Distance Carnival.
On the men's side, 2019 indoor All-American William Paulson leads the charge as he makes his debut in the men's 1,500. John Reniewicki and Fearghal Curtin will move up to the 5,000 after debuting in the 1,500 last weekend, and sophomore Jackson Lewis will return to the 3,000-meter steeplechase, the event in which he won a U.S. Junior title this past summer.
Down in the Lone Star State, Matthew Eckles will be ASU's lone representative at the Nike Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays. The senior and former Pac-12 champion will compete in the men's pole vault Thursday afternoon at Mike A. Myers Stadium.
The Stanford Invitational will be available to watch with a valid subscription on FloTrack, and the Texas Relays can be watched all weekend on the Longhorn Network.
Results and a recap of ASU's weekend will be available on thesundevils.com following the completion of the meets.
Follow @SunDevilTFXC on Twitter and Instagram to keep up with the program this season.
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 Friday in Tempe.
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 at home for the final time this season April 5-6 at the Sun Angel Classic.
Race for the Record
Chuck LaBenz' ASU 1,500-meter record of 3:40.70 has stood for nearly 50 years, but its days at the top could be numbered.
A pair of first-year Sun Devils come into the outdoor season with personal bests faster the LaBenz' 49-year-old mark. Both newcomers do have the two fastest times in school history, but not at ASU, at their undergraduate institution – Princeton University.
William Paulson made a splash when he set the school record in the indoor mile with his time of 3:58.07 on his way to an MPSF crown. The senior would go on to finish fifth in the mile at the NCAA Championships to earn his first, first-team All-America honor.
Paulson's personal best of 3:39.51 is second in Princeton history behind his Tiger and Sun Devil teammate Garrett O'Toole.
O'Toole was a key member of the Sun Devil cross country team this past fall and has been gearing up for his final outdoor campaign since November.
O'Toole owns the Princeton record at 3:39.34 and is seeking his first NCAA Championships appearance after advancing to the East Preliminary Rounds in each of the last three seasons.
Both Devils will try for the record and an NCAA berth this spring.
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.
So far this season, Noennig leads the nation in the discus throw and has yet to enter a shot put contest, but is an early favorite in the event.
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.