May 17, 2000
TEMPE, Ariz. - This year's Pac-10 Championships are being hosted by the University of Oregon at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., May 20-21. A schedule of events is on page four of this release while ASU's qualifiers are located in the sidebar on page three.
Pac-10 Championship Standings
Last week, Oregon hosted the first portion of the Pac-10 Championships, the heptathlon and decathlon. For the first time in league history, both titles were won by the same team. California's Brevan Hart won his second straight decathlon title while Missy Vanek earned the heptathlon win for the Bears. The Sun Devils sent a freshman trio of Elizabeth Arollo, Jodi Smith and Brian Kraemer. Smith scored ASU's first two points of the Pac-10s with her seventh-place finish in the heptathlon, with 4,545 points. Teammate Arollo placed right behind her in eighth, with 4,427 points, scoring one point for the Devils. In the decathlon, Kraemer placed 10th with 6,308 points. A breakdown of their events is on the following page. Below are the team standings so far in the quest for the 2000 Pac-10 title:
| Men | Women | ||
| California | 13 | Stanford | 12 |
| Oregon | 13 | California | 10 |
| USC | 7 | Washington State | 9 |
| Washington | 6 | Oregon | 5 |
| ARIZONA STATE | 3 | ||
Pac-10s on FSN
The 2000 Pac-10 Championships will be broadcast on FoxSportsNet on a tape-delayed basis Fri., May 26 at 10 a.m. (PDT).
ASU Men in the Pac-10s
Since joining the league in 1979, ASU's men have five upper-division finishes, including its only Pac-10 title in 1981. Arizona State has finished in the top four three times, but not since 1983. The Sun Devils had finished last in their last three league championships (1995, '96, '98) before posting a fifth-place finish last year. ASU has had 29 Pac-10 individual or relay champions, including two-time 1999 winner Dwight Phillips.
ASU Women in the Pac-10s
ASU's women have compiled five top-three finishes since the women's championships began in 1987. The Lady Devils finished eighth in last year's event and are still aiminig toward their first title. Arizona State has had 30 Pac-10 individual or relay champions, the most recent being former Devil Fiona Daly in 1999.
A Rising Dawn
Assistant Throws Coach Dawn Dumble knows a thing or two about the Pac-10 Championships, as she earned seven individual conference titles while at UCLA. She three-peated in both the shot put and the discus between 1991-93 and added a fourth discus crown in 1995. Dumble is one of only nine women in Pac-10 history to have won three straight individual conference titles in any single event and joins Janeene Vickers as the only women to have won three straight in two different events. She won an NCAA title in the shot in 1993 and became the national champion in discus in 1995. Wrapping up her first year as assistant coach for the Devils, Dumble is also training for the U.S. Olympic Trials, coming up in Sacramento, Calif., in July. Her personal bests are 59 feet 6 inches in the shot put and 201 feet in the discus. She's listed on Track & Field News' Top 10 U.S. list in both events (5th-shot, 7th-discus).
1999 Pac-10 Championship Notes
ASU men placed fifth in last year's event, the program's highest finish since 1992. Senior Dwight Phillips looks to repeat his 1999 victories in both the long and triple jumps. Also returning is Tony Berrian, Maurice Lee, Jim McGee and LaVell Robinson-Blanchard, all who placed in the top 10 last season. The women placed eighth in last year's competition for the league title. Jennifer Bridgeman, Mary Duerbeck, Erika Johnson, Kelly MacDonald and Olivia Mazzaglia competed in last year's event and will be looked up to for leadership as the Devils try to return to the top five for the first time in six years.
National Rankings
The Sun Devils' men's squad dropped out of the rankings in the seventh edition of TrackWire.com's rankings after being ranked as high as 12th earlier in the season. The women have not been ranked this year. In the men's rankings, seven Pac-10 teams are in the top 25, leading with second-ranked Stanford and ninth-ranked USC, and followed by California at 15th, Arizona at 16th, Washington State tied at 19th, and UCLA and Oregon tied at 22nd. On the women's side, league member UCLA is ranked second, followed by USC in sixth, Stanford tied at 16th and Arizona tied at 21st.
Wildcat Qualifier Recap
The Sun Devils posted four top-two finishes at the Wildcat Qualifier at Roy P. Drachman Stadium on May 13.
Tamara Espinoza led all Devils with her victory in the triple jump. Second-place finishes were recorded by Teniqua Broughton in the women's 400m, Undrekus Easter in the men's 400m and Olivia Mazzaglia in the high jump.
At the Qualifier, no races over 800m were contested.
Pac-10 Athlete of the Week
Senior Dwight Phillips earned this season's first Pac-10 athlete of the week honors on April 11 as he placed third in the 100m at the Texas Relays with a wind-aided 10.12. In the previous day's qualifier, he clocked a wind-aided 10.11 to win his heat. As the wind was above the NCAA-allowable 4.0 mps in both events, he cannot use those times to qualify for the NCAA Championships. His time was the second fastest in ASU history. The senior from Tucker, Ga. is a six-time All American, holds four school records and is a two-time NCAA runner-up in the indoor long jump.
Outdoor NCAA Championships
This year's National Championships will be held at Duke University in Durham, N.C., May 31 through June 3. The Sun Devil men are looking to improve on last year's 18th-place finish while the women are looking to place for the first time since 1996. Tiffany Greer (women's long jump), Kelly MacDonald (women's 5,000m), Dwight Phillips (LJ) and the men's 4x100m relay are already automatically qualified. The Sun Devils also have nine men and nine women provisional entries.
Track & Field News
Track & Field News' John Auka and Jack Pheifer are posting updated predictions on the magazine's website for the Outdoor NCAA Championships. Although neither ASU men's or women's teams crack the top 10, a handful of individuals are listed as predictions for top-10 finishes. As of May 4, they include Dwight Phillips (LJ - 3rd, TJ - 7th), Tony Berrian (400m - 8th) and both relays (4x400 - 4th, 4x100 - 5th) for the men and Lisa Aguilera (1,500m - 7th), Kelly MacDonald (5,000m - 6th) and Tiffany Greer (LJ - 8th) for the women.
Into the Outdoor Recordbooks
Senior Erika Johnson broke a school record May 6 at the Double Dual in Tucson, Ariz. Her second-place finish in the triple jump broke a 16-year-old school record. Johnson recorded a leap of 12.57 meters, or 41 feet, three inches, to top Anna Van's 1984 mark of 12.37 (40-7.25). But Johnson is not the only Devil to reach the top of school annals this season as two other records were broken on April 14 at the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif. Redshirt freshman Fasil Bizuneh broke a 31-year-old school record in the men's 10,000m run, posting a 29:13.61 to place 18th. His time was five seconds better than the mark Jerry Jobski posted for Arizona State in 1969. Bizuneh's mark also provisionally qualifies him for the NCAA Championships and his time was just seven seconds away from qualifying for the Olympic Trials. Junior Kelly MacDonald qualified for the NCAA Championships and the Olympic Trials with her 15:55.90 performance in the women's 5,000m. That time placed her 10th in the meet and broke Lynn Nelson's 1984 school standard by three seconds. MacDonald's record-setting performance was her third this season, as she also holds ASU record in the indoor 3,000 and 5,000 meter events.
Adrienne Judie (HT) Olivia Mazzaglia (PV), Marcus Brunson (100m) and Dwight Phillips (LJ) are current Sun Devils that also hold school records.
Kraft-ing ASU's Program
Greg Kraft, ASU's eighth director of track & field and cross country, has tirelessly rebuilt the Sun Devils' program from probation to prosperity as he's in his fourth year as a Sun Devil. After spending his first two years at ASU rebuilding the program one event at a time, 1999 saw Kraft get some results. During the indoor season, ASU's men finished 11th and the women tied for 32nd at the NCAA Championships. Marcus Brunson (60 meters) and Dwight Phillips (Long Jump) were NCAA runners-up. Six indoor school records were broken. The outdoor season saw three school records fall while the men finished fifth in the Pac-10, just 0.5 points out of fourth place, and 18th at the NCAA Championships. Three conference crowns were won at the Pac-10 Championships. Kraft, 44, was introduced as ASU's head coach July 28, 1996, after spending seven years heading the track & field and cross country programs at the University of South Carolina where he was the 1996 SEC Coach of the Year. During Kraft's tenure at South Carolina, he rebuilt the men's program into a league power and built the women's program from scratch. Kraft also headed the men's program transition from the Metro Conference to the SEC. Kraft, a Cal Poly SLO graduate, is now entering his 20th year of Division I coaching and 11th as a head coach, has long been associated with successful track & field and cross country programs. As an assistant, Kraft tutored 34 All-Americans and individual conference champions while helping guide his schools to four conference championships and three NCAA Top 10 finishes.
Pac-10
Championship
Qualifiers
Eugene, Ore.
May 13-14, 20-21
| Men | |
| Kris Alexander | 3,000m StCh |
| Tony Berrian | 200m, 400m |
| Fasil Bizuneh | 5,000m, 10,000m |
| Marcus Brunson | 100m, 200m |
| Ronnie Buchanan | 5,000m |
| David Burke | 1,500m |
| Michael Campbell | 400m |
| Casey Clark | HJ |
| Isaiah Festa | 1,500m, 5,000m |
| Kyle Frerichs | Decathlon |
| Garrett Jensen | 800m, 1,500m |
| Vince Jones | 100m |
| Brian Kraemer | Decathlon |
| Maurice Lee | 200m |
| Eric Logvin | DT |
| Pete Lopez | 200m |
| Jim McGee | 100m |
| Dwight Phillips | 100m, LJ, TJ |
| Jeremy Rasmussen | 3,000m StCh |
| LaVell R-Blanchard | 200m, 400m |
| Brandon Strong | 800m, 1,500m, Mile |
| ASU Relay | 4x100, 4x400 |
| Women | |
| Lisa Aguilera | 1,500m, Mile, 3,000m |
| Elizabeth Arollo | Heptathlon |
| Jennifer Bridgeman | 800m |
| Candida Coulson | 400mH |
| Candi Criscione | 1,500m |
| Arlaina Davis | 400m |
| Mary Duerbeck | 5,000m, 10,000m |
| Tiffany Greer | 100m, LJ |
| Erika Johnson | TJ |
| Adrienne Judie | SP, DT, HT |
| Kelly MacDonald | 1,500m, Mile, |
| 3,000m, 5,000m | |
| Olivia Mazzaglia | HJ, PV |
| Courtnie Ratliff | 400m |
| Jodi Smith | HJ, Heptathlon |
| Joni Smith | 400m |
| Brianna Torres | 1,500m, 3,000m |
| Sharesa Turner | 100m, 200m, LJ |
| Valerie Williams | LJ, TJ |
| ASU Relay | 4x100, 4x400 |