May 1, 2007
TEMPE, Ariz. - The championship portion of the 2007 track and field season gets underway this weekend for the Arizona State University program as three Sun Devils will travel to Palo Alto, Calif., for the 2007 Pac-10 Multi-Event Championships, hosted by Stanford, on Saturday and Sunday. Jacquelyn Johnson and Angela Piana will compete in the women's heptathlon while Joshua Kinnaman will compete in the men's decathlon.
SILVER ANNIVERSARY TEAM
A pair of Sun Devil women were selected to the NCAA Division I Silver Anniversary Team that was announced Monday by the USTFCCCA to commemorate the 25th anniversary of women's indoor track and field championships. Current Sun Devil Jacquelyn Johnson was selected as the top athlete in the pentathlon while Maicel Malone was selected in the 400m dash. The complete team consists of the outstanding individuals in each event from over the past 25 years of NCAA Indoor Championships, dating back to the 1983 meet in Pontiac, Mich., through the 2007 edition in Fayetteville, Ark. For more information, visit USTFCCCA.org.
STRONG HONOR
D'Metra Macedon was recently awarded the All-American Strength and Conditioning Athlete of the Year award from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). Macedon was one of only 239 student-athletes from only 165 schools nationally to garner this esteemed award that recognizes a student-athlete's dedication to strength training and conditioning.
THE STAKES
The heptathlon and decathlon events this weekend mark the first chances for individuals to win conference crowns this outdoor season while also scoring valuable points for their teams. The points earned this weekend will count toward the overall team race that will be concluded next weekend in Palo Alto.
THREE FOR HISTORY
Jacquelyn Johnson will look to add to her championship titles this weekend as she competes in the Pac-10 heptathlon event at Stanford after winning crowns in 2004 and 2006. If Johnson is successful in defending her title won last year in Oregon, she will become just the third woman in the history of the conference to take three heptathlon crowns in a career. The first to do so was Tracye Lawyer (Stanford) in 1997, 1998 and 1999 before Ellannee Richardson (Washington State) won in 2001, 2002 and 2003.
MOVING UP?
Joshua Kinnaman has competed in a pair of Pac-10 decathlon events, finishing as the runner-up in both meets. Kinnaman will have a tough competitor to knock off if he wants to win his first conference crown as defending conference and national champion Jake Arnold (Arizona) is in the field once again this year.
LOOKING BACK
Last year, the Pac-10 Championships were held at Oregon where the women won their first league championship, scoring 154 points, while the men place sixth with 76 points. Jacquelyn Johnson earned 10 points toward the team's winning total as she scored 5,987 points, a personal-best and the second-best total in school history. Her point total also was just two-points shy of tying Kelly Blair for the meet record of 5,989 points that were scored to win the 1993 event. On the men's side, Joshua Kinnaman scored 7,207 points to place second in the decathlon and earn eight points toward the Sun Devils' team total.
RECORD RUNS
While the Sun Devils competed in the Double Dual over the weekend, a pair of their teammates made a trip to Stanford and returned with a pair of school records. Amy Hastings placed 11th overall and second among collegiate athletes in the women's 10,000m run with her school-record time of 32:30.37, bettering the previous mark of 32.54.72 run by Victoria Jackson last year to win the national title. Hastings' time also ranks as the second fastest in the history of the Pac-10 Conference. In the men's 5,000m run, Aaron Aguayo placed eighth overall and second among collegiate entries with his time of 13:37.71, bettering his own record time of 13:40.16 run last year. Hastings automatically qualified for the NCAA Championships while Aguayo qualified for the west region championship meet.
IN STATE SWEEPS
At the annual Double Dual in Tempe on Saturday night, the Sun Devils swept their intrastate rivals with the women defeating Arizona, 115-80, and Northern Arizona, 133-57, while the men defeated the Wildcats, 110-86, and the Lumberjacks, 134-59. Overall, the men won 13 events and the women 11 while securing 15 and 17 regional qualifiers, respectively.
MUST BE 18
At the Double Dual, Jessica Pressley won the shot put with a personal best mark of 18.16m (59-07.00), moving her into third on the all-time Pac-10 lists and second all-time at Arizona State behind the 18.40m (60-04.50) toss of Sarah Stevens one week earlier in La Jolla, Calif. The two marks mentioned above rank as the Top 2 in the nation so far this year while ranking fifth and eighth on the world lists in 2007.
SPECIAL DISTINCTION
With both Jessica Pressley (18.16m) and Sarah Stevens (18.40m) both having thrown over 18-meters, Arizona State holds the distinction of being the only women's program in the Pac-10 Conference to have two athletes surpass 18.00m in competition in the same season as well as in the history of the program. The only other program to come close was UCLA in 1995 when Valeyta Althouse set the conference record at 18.86m and Dawn Dumble threw 17.95m.
SEVEN FEET AND UP
Matt Turner saved the best for last at the Double Dual as he put on a show in the high jump, what proved to be the final event of the competition. Already the winner of the event, Turner had the crowd behind him as he attempted to clear 2.16m (7-1.00) and nearly made it on his second attempt before clearing the bar on his third try. He move the bar up to 2.21m (7-3.00) and did the same as the bar before, nearly making the second before clearing the third. Turner also took two attempts at 2.26m (7-5.00) before calling it a night and finishing with a mark that tied him for fourth on the all-time ASU list.
TURNER'S JUMPS
Along with his 2.21m clearance in the high jump, Turner also has a pair of solid marks in the horizontal jumps. He won the long jump with a mark of 7.76m (25-05.25) before finishing second in his first triple jump of the year with a leap of 15.47m (50-09.25). Both marks qualified him for the regional meet.
DOM-INATING
Domenik Peterson played a large role in helping the men defeat their instate rivals as he figured in four victories to collect 20 points in the team standings. Peterson opened the meet on the second leg of the winning 4x100m relay (39.61) before taking the 100m dash in a regional qualifying mark of 10.48. Peterson then won the 200m dash with a qualifying mark of 20.70 before running the second leg of the winning 4x400m relay (3:10.72).
MEET RECORDS
Four Arizona State women not only won their respective events at the Double Dual over the weekend, they did so with meet records. Latosha Wallace won the 400m hurdles in 57.01 while Krystal Duke took the 5,000m run in 17:01.07. In the field, Jessica Pressley set the mark in the shot put with her toss of 18.16m while Sarah Stevens established the new mark in the hammer with her throw of 65.31m.
WINNING HURDLES
At the Double Dual, the Sun Devils swept all the hurdle events. For the women, Jasmine Chaney took the 100m hurdles in 13.99, Latosha Wallace won the 400m hurdles in 57.01 and Anna Masinelli won the 3,000m steeplechase in 10:30.46. On the men's side, Marquis Profit won both the 110m high hurdles (14.35) and the 400m hurdles (51.77) while Kyle Alcorn took the steeplechase in 9:08.48.
LOOKING BACK
Four Sun Devils posted multiple individual victories at the Double Dual, including Sarah Stevens (discus and hammer) for the women and men's winners Domenik Peterson (100m and 200m), Marquis Profit (110m high hurdles and 400m hurdles) and Matt Turner (long jump and high jump).
NATIONALLY KNOWN
In the latest national rankings, the Sun Devil women remained No. 1 according to the USTFCCCA and are No. 2 in the Trackwire projections while the men were ranked No. 6 in both publications.
WEEKLY HONORS
Each week (starting April 9), the Pac-10 Conference will honor four athletes of the week, including one male and one female in both track and field. Last week (April 16-22), the Sun Devils once again had multiple honors attained as Sarah Stevens was selected as the women's field athlete of the week for the second week in a row while Ryan Whiting earned the men's field athlete of the week for his first accolade. Both Sun Devils earned the honor after another impressive shot put competition with Stevens setting the school record and the second-best mark in Pac-10 history at 18.40m (60-04.50) while Whiting recorded the second-best mark in school history at 20.27m (66-06.00). Both marks currently lead the nation and rank among the Top 8 in the world so far this year.
SHOT PUT U.
While ASU has turned in strong performances in several events throughout the years, the shot put appears to be one of the better events this year as three Sun Devils are ranked in the Top 2 nationally in the event according to the latest NCAA order lists (May 1). For the women, Sarah Stevens leads the nation at 18.40m while Jessica Pressley is second with a toss of 18.16m. On the men's side, Ryan Whiting's mark of 20.35m is second in the nation.
MOVING UP THE CHARTS
Along with the school records set by Amy Hastings (10,000m) and Aaron Aguayo (5,000m) at Stanford, seven Sun Devils earned a place on the all-time Top 10 lists with their marks from the Double Dual. Those newest additions to the Top 10 outdoor lists include Jessica Pressley (No. 2 at 18.16m) in the shot put, Tai Battle (No. 3 at 59.46m) in the hammer and Alana Waterford (No. 4 at 3.80m) in the pole vault for the women and Ryan Whiting (No. 2 at 20.35m) in the shot put, Matt Turner (tied for No. 4 at 2.21m) in the high jump, Brad Roth (No. 5 at 68.91m) in the javelin and Tomas Navarro (No. 6 at 58.15m) in the hammer for the men.
NCAA TOP 5
Along with the two top-ranked marks by Sarah Stevens (shot put) and Ryan Whiting (shot put), 10 other marks are currently ranked in the Top 5 nationally. On the men's side, Kyle Alcorn ranks fourth in the 3,000m steeplechase (8:41.45) and Matt Turner is fifth in the long jump (7.79m). On the women's side, Jessica Pressley (17.93m) in the shot put and Stevens (56.39m) both rank second in their events while April Kubishta is tied for third in the pole vault (4.20m). Latosha Wallace (56.75 in the 400m hurdles) and Jacquelyn Johnson (5,681 points in the heptathlon) are both ranked fourth while fifth-place rankings are held by Amy Hastings (15:50.19) in the 5,000m run, Pressley (54.70m) in the discus and Stevens (65.43m) in the hammer.
CHAMPIONS
Over the weekend of March 9-10, the ASU women scored 38 points and captured their first national team crown by winning the 2007 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Fayetteville, Ark. The title, the first for the University since the women's golf team in 1998, is the second in track and field history at ASU after the men captured the 1977 outdoor crown under the direction of legendary Sun Devil coach Senon "Baldy" Castillo.
INDIVIDUAL GOLD
For the second NCAA indoor meet and the third NCAA track & field event in a row, the Sun Devil women captured two individual championships. This year, Jacquelyn Johnson successfully defended her 2006 pentathlon crown while Sarah Stevens won her first national title by capturing the shot put. Last year, Johnson was joined by Amy Hastings, the winner of the 5,000m run. Outdoors last year, Johnson won her second hep crown while Victoria Jackson took home gold in the 10,000m run.
ALL-AMERICAN WOMEN
Four women earned six total All-America honors over the weekend with both Amy Hastings and Sarah Stevens earning two accolades each. Stevens won the shot put and placed fifth in the weight throw to earn All-America status while Hastings was fourth in the 5,000m run and sixth in the 3,000m event. Jacquelyn Johnson (pentathlon) and Jessica Pressley (shot put) also earned their honors by placing among the Top 8 as they finished first and third, respectively.
ALL-AMERICAN MEN
All four men that competed in the NCAA Championships earned All-America honors, led by the third-place finish of Ryan Whiting in the shot put. Matt Turner finished seventh in the long jump and Joshua Kinnaman took eighth place in the heptathlon for the second year in a row to garner their awards while Aaron Aguayo earned the honor in the 3,000m run. Aguayo, who placed 10th overall in the race, was the seventh American to finish.
ALL-TIME ALL-AMERICANS
With their honors attained, several Sun Devils moved up the all-time All-American list in Sun Devil history. Aaron Aguayo received his fifth honor, moving him in to a tie for ninth all-time on the men's list while four women climbed higher as well. Amy Hastings received accolades eight and nine to move into a tie for second all-time and one All-America honor away from tying Maicel Malone for the most all-time. Jacquelyn Johnson (five), Jessica Pressley (four) and Sarah Stevens (three) are tied for 12th, 15th and 19th, respectively.
HASTINGS SETS RECORD
At the Husky Classic, Amy Hastings not only broke her own school record in the women's 5,000m run, she also broke a 26 year old America collegiate record in the event. Her time of 15:30.17 bettered her previous school mark of 15:45.45 set last year in the same meet and also was faster than the previous mark of 15:34.5 run by Margaret Groos of Virginia in 1981.
SUN DEVILS IN THE RECORD BOOK
Hastings' American collegiate record in the 5,000m run (15:30.17) at the Husky Classic last weekend made her the third Sun Devil to currently hold an overall and/or American collegiate record. Indoors, she joins the men's 4x400m relay of Jason Barton, Steve Fitch, Seth Amoo and Domenik Peterson who set the mark of 3:03.43 in Ames, Iowa, on March 6, 2004. Another relay holds the collegiate mark on the outdoor surface as the 4x800m squad of Pete Richardson, Eddie Davis, Treg Scott and Mike Stahr ran 7:08.96 on April 7, 1984.
NEXT TIME OUT
The Sun Devils will head to Palo Alto, Calif., for the 2007 Pac-10 Track & Field Championships, set for May 12-13, on the Stanford campus.