TEMPE — In early March, Sun Devils' Indoor Track and Field team history was made in Boston. The relay squad of Jayden Davis, Gamali Felix, Justin Robinson and Kaleb Simpson won the NCAA championship in the 4x400 meter in 3:02.35. They defeated Florida and Texas A&M to secure the first indoor relay championship in Arizona State history.
However, the story of this historic race actually started when the team had to qualify. In February, at the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas, the team took down Florida for the first time, beating the Gators by .05 of a second to earn the nation's fastest time - for the moment.
When the trip to Boston came around, the team knew they had to be even better to complete something that no one at Arizona State had ever done. At the NCAA Championship race, they clocked a time that was .38 of a second faster while securing their NCAA championship and a place in Sun Devils' track and field history. Freshman Jayden Davis, a Gilbert native, summed it up perfectly.
"It felt like a dream. I didn't comprehend it until a couple of hours later that we really were able to win a championship," Davis said. "It was just an amazing feeling to do that with people I've been working out with for months and putting in the work. So it's been really special for us."
This is the first year the four athletes have been running together as a team. Davis is a freshman, and Simpson transferred to Arizona State from Eastern Michigan before this season.
Felix is from Grenada, a country in the Caribbean with a population of 125,000. He earned a scholarship to Barton Community College in Kansas. After spending two years there running track, Felix committed to Arizona State. Although it's been a road different from most, he wouldn't want it any other way.
"I was fortunate enough to get a full scholarship to ASU. The transition has been really good for me. I've learned a lot since being in the US, and the diversity of everything and the culture," Felix said.
Robinson, now an ASU senior, brings a swagger to the four-man team. He prides himself on his leadership, which he does through mentorship. Davis, the freshman, has been someone he's been looking out for this season.
"We like to pick on Jayden, the freshman, a little bit, showing him the ropes - especially because we've been here for a while," Robinson said. "It's simply just teaching them how to get through the NCAA ranks and stuff like that."
Robinson also runs the 400m, where he advanced to nationals. With a time of 45.30, he broke a Sun Devils school record in qualifying. He also set the mark for the world's fastest 400m time in 2020 when he ran a 44.91.
Simpson has a great story of his own, spending his first three years at Eastern Michigan before transferring to ASU. Hearing that he was part of a record-setting team shocked him.
"To come out here and have things come full circle and now becoming a national champion in that specific event really surprised and shocked me. I'm still in awe about it, to be honest," Simpson said.
The 4x400m was not an event Simpson was fond of earlier in his career. He ran the 400m, but his coaches would put him in the relay event due to his success at the 400m.
"Coaches described me as a 400-meter runner. I got thrown into the relays, and they always said that it was my event, but I never really believed it," the sprinter said.
With it being his first year in Tempe, Simpson said it all came back to the people around him.
"We broke the record, and to be honest, I didn't realize we were the first relay team to win something. None of this was planned for me," Simpson said.
The indoor season ended in the perfect way, capturing the national championship and breaking school records, but the outdoor season has already gotten underway. The athletes believe that success in the indoor season will translate to outdoor.
"I'm expecting good things from me and from my teammates - and just participating in what I can do best," Felix said.
The team will head to Ontario, California, for the Mt. Sac Relays on April 17-20.