May 25, 2005
Sun Devil Track and Field Notes (pdf)
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TEMPE, Ariz. - The Arizona State University track and field program will head to Eugene, Ore., for the 2005 NCAA West Region Championships Friday and Saturday at Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus. The regional meet, one of four being conducted this weekend, will serve as a qualifying event for the 2005 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships (June 8-10) in Sacramento, Calif.
THE STAKES
As with any post season meet, individual, relay and team championship titles will be on the line this weekend. More importantly, berths into the national meet two weeks later also will be at stake in Eugene, Ore. In order for an athlete to qualify for the NCAA Championships, he/she must finish in the Top 5 of their respective event, both on the track and in the field. Relays must finish among the Top 3 in order to punch their ticket to the national meet.
HEADING IN ON TOP
Throughout the season, the Sun Devils have turned in marks to qualify them for the regional meet. Heading into the event, four of ASU's entries on the men's side are ranked No. 1 in the west. Those entries include Domenik Peterson in the 400m dash, Trevell Quinley in the long jump and both the 4x100m and 4x400m relays.
CLOSE TO THE TOP SPOT
The four top entries for the Sun Devils also are accompanied by six entries that rank as the second-best in the West. For the men, Seth Amoo holds the No. 2 position in the 200m dash while the women have Cassandra Reed in the 400m dash, Jessica Pressley in both the shot put and the hammer, Victoria Jackson in the 5,000m run and the 4x100m relay.
GETTING IN A LIGHT WORKOUT
The ASU contingent heading to Eugene this weekend is made up of 17 women and 16 men with seven and nine, respectively, set to compete in more than one event. Of all competitors, Porchea Carroll will see the most action for the team as she is slated to compete in the 100m dash, the 200m dash, the 4x100m and the long jump.
THREE FOR ME
Carroll will not be the only student-athlete competing in several events. Of the Sun Devils making the trip, three men and one woman also are set to be a part of three events. For the men, Seth Amoo is slated for the 200m dash and legs of both relays, Domenik Peterson also will run with both relays while entering into the open 400m dash and Tomas Navarro, a redshirt freshman, will enter into the three weight throwing events: hammer, discus and shot put. The lone woman in a trio of events is another redshirt freshman, Jessica Pressley, who also will throw the hammer, shot put and discus.
A QUICK LOOK BACK
In 2004, Cal State Northridge played host to the West event where the ASU men finished tied for fourth with 63 points and the women placed fifth with 47 points. The men captured a trio of titles as Aaron Aguayo won the 3,000m steeplechase while the relays were swept by the Sun Devils. The women captured a pair of titles of their own as they too swept both relay events.
WINNERS OF THE PAC
Two weeks ago at the 2005 Pac-10 Championships held on the UCLA campus, Arizona State competitors captured six titles (two women's, four men's) to help both the men and women to third-place finishes in the team race. For the women, Anna Masinelli continued ASU's tradition of success in the steeplechase event as she captured her first conference crown and the school's fifth in a row before the 4x400m relay of Cassandra Reed, Christina Hardeman, Porchea Carroll and Kandace Tucker brought home the gold in the final event of the meet.
On the men's side, Seth Amoo had a hand in three titles as he won the 200m dash and was a member of the championship 4x100m and 4x400m relays. His teammates included Steven Koehnemann, Domenik Peterson and Kelvin Love in the short relay and Peterson, Jason Barton and Lewis Banda in the longer relay. Trevell Quinley also won his first title as he captured the long jump.
TAKE FIVE - PART I
In 2001, the Pac-10 Conference added the 3,000m steeplechase to the list of events in the women's championship meet. That year, ASU's Kelly MacDonald brought the title back to Tempe. The crown has stayed in town since then as Lisa Aguilera won it in 2002 and 2003 before Amy Hastings was victorious in 2004. This year, Anna Masinelli made if five-for-five for the Sun Devils as she recently won the title in Los Angeles.
TAKE FIVE - PART II
The Sun Devil men also have pulled off a five-peat of their own as the 4x400m relay title has remained in Tempe for the past five years. The streak began in 2001 when Marcus Brunson, Michael Campbell, Jason Barton and Tony Berrian took first place. They were followed by the quartet of Lorenzo Parham, Steve Fitch, Pete Lopez and Seth Amoo in 2002; Lewis Banda, Barton, Amoo and Fitch in 2003; Amoo, Banda, Barton and Domenik Peterson in both 2004 and 2005.
BRINGING OUT THE BROOMS
At the 2005 Pac-10 Championships, the Sun Devils dominated a pair of events as the titles were won by ASU student-athletes in both steeplechase events as well as both 4x400m relay events. The sweep of the relays marked the first time that had happened since the 1995 season and the sweep of the steeplechases was a repeat performance of a year ago as Aaron Aguayo successfully defended his men's title and Anna Masinelli won her first in the women's race.
MORE GOLD THAN KING MIDAS
Seth Amoo captured three titles this year at the Pac-10 Championships and, in the process, etched his name in school history as he became the Sun Devil male athlete with the most conference crowns since the institution joined the Pacific-10 in 1979. Along with his 200m, 4x100m and 4x400m crowns in 2005, Amoo earned gold in the 4x100m and 4x400m events in 2004 after winning titles in the 4x400m in both 2003 and 2002. His seven titles are the second most in school history among men and women with ASU Hall of Famer and Olympic Gold Medalist Maicel Malone leading the way with 10. In her stellar career, she won the 200m and 400m dashes in 1988, 1990 and 1991 and added relay titles each of those three years: 4x100m in 1988 and 1991 and the 4x400m in 1988 and 1990.
ASU'S PAC-10 HIGH POINT AWARD
The Sun Devil coaches hand out a Pac-10 High Point Award each year with a pair of seniors collecting the honor in 2005. Based upon the amount of points earned by each individual, the awards were given to Porchea Carroll for the women and Seth Amoo for the men. Carroll collected 22.5 points, the third-most in school history, as she finished second in the 200m dash (8 points), third in the long jump (6) and 100m dash (6) and ran a leg on the winning 4x400m relay (2.5).
Amoo, who recorded two more points than runner-up Domenik Peterson's 19 points, scored points in the 200m dash (10), third in the 100m dash (6) and was a part of two championship relays, the 4x100m (2.5) and 4x400m (2.5). Amoo's point total also ranks as the third-highest in school history.
PAC-10 HONORS
ASU had several of its track and field members honored as Pac-10 Athletes of the Week. Trevell Quinley started the trend as he earned the honor (April 11) after winning the Texas Relays with a national-leading and Top 5 in the world long jump of 8.17m. Aaron Aguayo was next (April 23) following a 13:49.11 in the 5,000m run, breaking a 15 year old school record. Jessica Pressley reset the school record in the hammer at 63.51m to earn the women's field honor while the men's 4x100m relay of Steven Koehnemann, Domenik Peterson, Seth Amoo and Kelvin Love earned the track honor after breaking a 26 year old school record with the fifth-fastest time in the world, 38.71.
STEPPING UP IN TUCSON
As a final tune-up for the regional event, several Sun Devils traveled to Tucson last weekend to compete in the Tucson Elite Invitational with two ASU representatives returning with stellar marks. Jessica Pressley posted a personal best mark in the shot put with a mark of 17.02m (55-10.25), making her just the second woman to surpass 17 meters in ASU history. Her mark, which cannot be used in qualifying for the regional, is one centimeter shy of the school record of 17.03m (55-10.50), set in 1983 by Leslie Deniz. If the mark could be used for regional consideration, Pressley would remain No. 2 in the West, but move up to fifth in the nation.
On the men's side, a pair of Sun Devils recorded season-best marks. Lewis Banda broke 46 seconds with a time of 45.94 in the 400m dash while freshman Brad Roth recorded a javelin throw of 63.12m (207-01) which would have qualified him for the regional meet this weekend had it been one week earlier.
HISTORY: NCAA WEST REGION
The 2005 meet will mark the 75th year the men's teams have come together to compete, dating back to the first event, held May 27-28 in Seattle, Wash., where USC won the five team event. The women will meet for the 19th time, dating back to the first meet in 1987 as UCLA won the event in Corvallis, Ore., May 18-19.
Historically, the meet will mark the fifth time UCLA has played host to the men's meet and the third for the women. The City of Angeles has played host to the men's meet nine previous times and the women's edition on three previous occasions.
WHERE IN THE WORLD
In the latest world lists, a trio of Sun Devil entrants remain among the Top 20. The men's 4x100m relay of Steven Koehnemann, Domenik Peterson, Seth Amoo and Kelvin Love leads the way as the fifth-fastest on the planet while one of the individual members of the relay, Peterson, is ranked 13th in the world in the 400m dash. The final entrant is Trevell Quinley, who ranks No. 8 in the long jump.
MORE ON THE RELAY
Only four other times recorded in the world this season are faster than that of the Sun Devil 4x100m relay, all of which are made up of some of the fastest professional athletes in the world. Some of those runners include Maurice Greene, Leonard Scott, Justin Gatlin and Shawn Crawford, all of who have times of 10.14 or faster in the 100m dash this year.
MORE RECORDS THAN THE BEETLES
During the 2005 outdoor season, school records in five events were established with two of those events seeing the record rewritten on two other occasions. On the track, Amy Hastings set the standard in the women's 10,000m run (33:19.32) while Aaron Aguayo rewrote the mark for the 5,000m run (13:49.11) and the 4x100m relay of Steven Koehnemann, Domenik Peterson, Seth Amoo and Kelvin Love ran 38.71. In the field events, Angela Tavlarides broke her own pole vault mark on three occasions with her latest clearance of 4.10m being the best yet. Likewise, Jessica Pressley set the mark in the hammer a trio of times with a best of 63.51m.
THROWING IM-PRESSLEY
Jessica Pressley has been very dominant in her first collegiate outdoor season with the Sun Devils in 2005. So far this season, Pressley not only threw her way onto the Top 10 lists at ASU, she has set one record and put all three of her marks among the Top 6 all-time. In the hammer, her mark of 63.51m (208-04) not only is a school record, but also marked the first time that an ASU woman has thrown past the 60m mark and broken 200 feet. Last weekend, she moved to No. 2 on the shot put list with a mark of 17.02m (55-10.25), just one centimeter off the school record. Her discus mark (4th) is 55.07m (180-08).
THE J'S HAVE IT!
The women's throws have been paced by a trio of athletes with names starting with the letter J: Jessica, Julia and Jennifer. Jessica Pressley has set the school record in the hammer and ranks highly in the shot put and discus events. Julia Pedersen also ranks among the best Sun Devils of all-time in the shot put and the discus while Jennifer Kowacz has made her mark in the hammer and shot put.
KEEPING UP WITH JONES
Speaking of success in the field events, Travis Jones also is having a stellar start to his outdoor season as he has punched his ticket to Eugene, Ore., in the hammer, shot put and discus. At the Double Dual, he won the hammer with a personal best mark of 58.90m (193-03) to move into the No. 4 spot on the all-time ASU lists. Last weekend at the Tucson Elite event, Jones increased his personal best mark in the hammer as he recorded a throw of 59.50m (195-02), the fourth-best in school history.
KING OF THE (SAND) CASTLE
At the 2005 Texas Relays (April 7-9), Trevell Quinley won the men's long jump in his first outdoor competition since finishing as the national runner-up indoors in March. Not only did he win, he won big as he recorded a mark of 8.17m (26-09.75), the best collegiate mark in 2005. His leap also ranks him second all-time on the ASU lists behind 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist Dwight Phillips, who set the bar at 8.21m. Quinley went on to win his first Pac-10 title in the event this year as he recorded a mark of 7.77m on his final attempt.
DOM-INATING PERFORMANCES
Domenik Peterson has put together yet another solid season on the outdoor track following two All-America honors during the indoor season. His time in the 400m (45.15) is the 13th-fastest in the world to date and it also ranks him No. 8 on the all-time ASU lists. At the Pac-10 Championships, Peterson contributed greatly to the team's success as he finished second in the 400m dash and third in the 200m event while running legs on the winning 4x100m and 4x400m relays.
SPEEDY SPRINTERS
Arizona State's sprinting corps has been its strength over the years and 2005 is no different. At this year's conference meet, seven men's finishes and six women's finishes were among the Top 8, including a four victories and two runner-up finishes. Overall, the sprinters collected 37 of the women's 118 points and 59 of the men's 122 points in the meet.
LOTS OF MILES ON PORCHEA
Senior Porchea Carroll had a few things to do at the Pac-10s as she entered into five events in the two-day meet. All told, Carroll ran the 100m dash twice (prelims and finals), the 200m dash twice, ran the opening 100m of the 4x100m relay, ran the third leg of the champion 4x400m relay and attempted six jumps in the long jump.
GOING THE DISTANCE
The Sun Devil distance runners also have been faring well in 2005. For the women, Amy Hastings leads the conference in the 10,000m run while Victoria Jackson, who entered the meet ranked third, finished second in the race. Anna Masinelli occupied the same rank in the 3,000m steeplechase (third) before going to win the race. On the men's side, Ryan Warrenburg ranks third in the steeple event with defending champion Aaron Aguayo ranking fourth. Aguayo managed to win the race for the second time in as many years while Warrenburg took fourth. Casey Burchill rounds out the high ranking distance runners as he ranks fourth in the 10,000m run, an event he finished fifth in at the conference meet.
HELLO, MY NAME IS ...
Several Sun Devils have made immediate impacts in their first campaigns at ASU this year. Victoria Jackson and Rachel Ellison, who transferred in from North Carolina and Mississippi, respectively, have qualified in a pair of events following successful seasons with the cross country team. On the rookie front, Kelvin Love Jr. has bolstered the sprint corps as he has anchored the school record 4x100m relay and regionally qualified for two other events. In the field, Tomas Navarro has earned regional berths in the shot put, hammer and discus while football standout Rudy Burgess turned in solid marks in his first meet in two years, just missing qualifying standards in both the long jump and triple jump events at the Double Dual. Burgess then made the finals in both events at the Pac-10 Championships where he placed eighth in the long jump and ninth in the triple jump.
RUNNING RELAY FAST
Last year, the men's 4x400m relay team of Seth Amoo, Domenik Peterson, Jason Barton and Steve Fitch clocked a school and collegiate indoor record of 3:03.43 at the Iowa State Last Chance Meet to solidify the relay as one of the best of all-time. With their performance at the Double Dual, the men's 4x100m relay of Steven Koehnemann, Peterson, Amoo and Kelvin Love added their group to the list of top relays. The quartet set the school record and ran the fifth-fastest loop in the world at 38.71. The first three legs of the relay, along with Lewis Banda, finished second at the NCAA meet in 2004.
CLIMBING NEW HEIGHTS
Two years ago, the school record in the women's pole vault was 3.51m (11-06.00) and was held by Olivia Mazzaglia, the only Sun Devil woman at the time that had cleared higher than nine feet in competition. Last year, Angela Tavlarides shattered that record as she cleared 3.80m (12-05.50). This year, Tavlarides was up (no pun intended) for higher marks as she set the school record three times, including clearances of 3.90m (12-09.50), 4.00m (13-01.50) and most recently, 4.10m (13-05.25). She is not alone, though, as Cara Walker has climbed to 3.80m as well while redshirting vaulter April Kubishta has cleared 4.00m as an unattached entry.
WATCH OUT BEHIND YOU!
Many Sun Devils have done very well this season, but there are several members of the team that are redshirting this season and should add to the depth of the team in 2006. Along with talented pole vaulter April Kubishta, another field event female to look out for is Sarah Stevens, the No. 1 ranked high schooler in 2004. So far this season, Stevens has equalled or bettered some of the team-leading throws. Several talented distance runners also are awaiting their turns to compete.
THIS YEAR'S ALL-AMERICANS
On March 11-12, the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships were held in Fayetteville, Ark., with 12 members of the ASU program participating in the national event. When the two-day national meet concluded, four Sun Devils emerged as All-Americans, including Trevell Quinley in the long jump (2nd), Domenik Peterson in the 200m dash (4th) and Brandon Glenn in the pole vault (7th) for the men and Amy Hastings in the 5,000m run (5th) for the women. Four months prior to that Hastings and Aaron Aguayo earned the national honor in cross country for their performances at the national meet.
RETURNING ALL-AMERICANS
Including the 2004 cross country season, the Sun Devil track and field program will see 11 of its student-athletes return to the track this season following a 2004 season in which they collectively earned 13 All-America honors.
Outdoors, Seth Amoo, Lewis Banda, Jason Barton, Domenik Peterson and Steven Koehnemann each return following a stellar spring that saw awards earned in both relays, as well as individual awards from Banda and Barton, both in the 400m. The women's 4x400m relay returns, minus one runner. Christina Hardeman, Cassandra Reed and Kandace Tucker were members of the relay while the third leg, Marcia Smith, graduated. Jaquelyn Johnson also returns after garnering the national honor in the heptathlon.
A trio of cross country runners with All-America honors return to the track this year, including two-time award honoree Amy Hastings. She is joined by Desiree Davila and Aaron Aguayo.
LONG JUMP SUCCESS
Arizona State long jumping has seen success in the past year with a trio of solid finishes in competitive meets. Most recently, Trevell Quinley won his first Pac-10 title at the meet held at UCLA. Quinley also finished second at the NCAA Indoor Championships in March with a leap of 7.92m (26-00.00) and earned the third All-America honor of his career. More recently, he recorded the longest leap in the collegiate and American ranks in 2005 (8.17m) outdoors at the Texas Relays (April 8). Seven months prior to Quinley's indoor meet performance, former Sun Devil jumper Dwight Phillips captured gold at the Athens Olympics with a mark of 8.59m.
IT'S BEEN A LITTLE WHILE SINCE ...
Brandon Glenn finished seventh in the indoor pole vault competition at the NCAA meet (March 11) to capture his first All-America honor. Glenn's accolade also was the first since 1994 when Nick Hysong captured the national honor. That same year, Glenn was nine years old. More recently, Glenn captured a second-place finish at the Pac-10 Championships.
A TRIPLE CROWN ... OF SORTS
Amy Hastings is two-thirds of the way toward history following her All-American performance at the NCAA Indoor Championships (March 11) where she placed seventh in the 5,000m run. Prior to the track season, she garnered the accolade in cross country. If she attains All-America honors during this outdoor season, she would do what only one other Sun Devil, male or female, has ever done: earn All-America honors in cross country, indoor and outdoor track in one season.
NATIONAL RECORD
Last season, Seth Amoo helped the men's 4x400m relay set the NCAA indoor collegiate national record as he and his teammates clocked a 3:03.43 at the Iowa State Last Chance Meet. On Feb. 11, Amoo, the former school record holder in the 200m dash, set a national record on his own by finishing second in the 200m at the Holiday Inn Team Invitational in 20.95. The time made him the first representative of Ghana to run under 21 seconds, giving the senior the national record.
AND THE AWARD GOES TO ...
On Jan. 29, junior All-American and 2004 Olympian Lewis Banda returned to his native Zimbabwe where he was honored as the nation's Sportsman of the Year. Banda finished ninth at the Summer Olympiad after helping the Sun Devil men to a tie for 10th at the NCAA meet and anchoring the 2004 NCAA runner-up 4x100m relay team.
ALL RECORDS GO THROUGH JB
Looking over the men's record book for the indoor season, several impressive things standout. One of those is the men's 4x400m relay of Jason Barton, Steve Fitch, Seth Amoo and Domenik Peterson, who stand No. 1 on the lists with a collegiate record 3:03.43. Looking at all five of the top times for the relay event, one name keeps appearing: Jason Barton. In his four years in Tempe, Barton has helped his teammates record the fastest times around while securing All-America honors and Pac-10 titles.
TAKING OVER
The indoor men's 200m dash record section looks almost like a shortened version of the team roster as all five ranks are currently occupied by student-athletes on the 2005 team roster. Domenik Peterson leads the group at 20.43 set this season while placing fourth at the NCAA meet.
JOHNSON TAKES INDIVIDUAL TITLE
No Sun Devil had brought home a nation title since 1996. No woman had done so since 1992. That all changed when true freshman Jacquelyn Johnson went to Austin, Texas, and won the NCAA heptathlon crown. Johnson showed why she was touted as one of the premier athletes in the nation as she finished first at the outdoor national meet in the heptathlon, second in the national indoor pentathlon and added conference championships in both the heptathlon and the high jump. Johnson did not compete during the indoor season this year as she was playing for Charlie Turner Thorne and the Sun Devil women's basketball team. ASU advanced to the Sweet 16 of the tournament.
HISTORICAL HARRIER
Amy Hastings accomplished a feat that no other Sun Devil cross country student-athlete, male or female, had in school history: win a conference title. Hastings led the women to a runner-up team finish as she won the Pac-10 championship crown, and earning the first conference gold of any kind for the program as neither the men nor women have won a team title either.
MAROON AND GOLD (MEDAL)
Arizona State was represented by one current and two former student-athletes at the Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. Lewis Banda, who is the lone current runner, competed for Zimbabwe in the 400m dash and finished in ninth place, one spot shy of making the finals on the largest stage of athletics.
Although Banda fared well, one former athlete stole the spotlight. Dwight Phillips, the world leader in the long jump for the entire year, did not disappoint as he won the gold medal on his first jump of the competition. His win was the 10th gold medal won by a Sun Devil track and field athlete and also marked the third Summer Olympiad in a row that a former ASU standout returned home with gold after Nick Hysong won the pole vault in 2000 and Maicel Malone helped the 4x400m relay win in Atlanta in 1996.
The final 2004 Olympian with ASU ties was Michael Campbell. Representing Jamaica, Campbell ran in the 4x400m relay, but his team was disqualified in the first round of competition.
NEXT TIME OUT
Following one week off from competition, the members of the team that qualify will travel to Sacramento, Calif., for the 2005 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, hosted by Sacramento State, June 8-10. The site of the 2003 NCAA meet and the 2004 USA Olympic Team Trials, Sacramento State's Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex.