ASU track & field opens 2008 indoor season in Flagstaff

January 23, 2008

TEMPE, Ariz. - Coming off one of the most productive and winning seasons in program history last year, the Arizona State University track and field team returns to competition this weekend as members of the team will travel north for Northern Arizona's Friday Night Challenge, set to take place Friday night inside the J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome in Flagstaff. Field events are set to start at 4 p.m. with the running getting under way at 6 p.m.<separator></separator>IN THE FIELD Seven men's and seven women's teams are slated to be on hand to compete in Flagstaff this weekend, including all three Arizona schools. The teams scheduled to appear include Arizona State (No. 2 women/No. 19 men), Arizona, BYU (No. 22 women), Cal State Bakersfield, New Mexico, Northern Arizona and Southern Utah.<separator></separator>IN THE RANKINGS Both Sun Devil squads enter the season ranked among the Top 25 in the preseason USTFCCCA rankings with the women ranked No. 2 and the men ranked No. 19. The rankings are calculated not by votes, but by points accumulated based upon where individuals rank on the NCAA descending order lists.<separator></separator>NEW LOOK Joe Selleh Track at Sun Angel Stadium went under the knife recently as the home of Arizona State University track and field was resurfaced with the latest product from Mondo, Mondotrack FTX. ASU's home venue is the first in the world to be surfaced with the product, which also will be installed at Beijing's Olympic Stadium in time for the 2008 Summer Games. Along with the new surface came an expanded shot put area and the addition of a second 'D' zone (at the north end of the infield). The majority of the surface will be maroon/red in color with the only exceptions being the three exchange zones on the track and the non-runway areas of both 'D' zones, which will be gold.<separator></separator>HOME OF CHAMPIONS The Sun Devil women enter the 2008 season as the defending national champions, sweeping both the 2007 NCAA Indoor and 2007 NCAA Outdoor championship meets last year for their first and second national team titles, respectively. The women also won titles in three other championship events they competed, including their first indoor conference crown at the MPSF Championships, their second Pac-10 Championship in a row and their first NCAA West Region Championship.<separator></separator>LOOKING TO REPEAT If the women are successful in their bid to defend their indoor title won at the NCAA Championships last season, it will mark just the sixth time since its inception in 1983 that the same school has won at least two titles in a row. The last to do so was LSU, who won titles in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Others to win twice or more in a row where Nebraska (1983, 1984), LSU (1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997), Texas (1998, 1999) and UCLA (2000, 2001).<separator></separator>RETURNING CHAMPIONS Four women return this year after winning individual national titles during the 2007 season, including one athlete who won a pair of titles. <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/johnson_jacquelyn00.htm… Johnson</a> successfully defended her crowns as she won her second indoor pentathlon title before securing the third outdoor heptathlon title of her career. At the indoor meet, <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/stevens_sarah00.html">S… Stevens</a> won her first national title as she captured the shot put on her final throw of the competition while teammate <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/pressley_jessica00.html… Pressley</a> captured her first title during the outdoor season, also winning the shot put. The final national champion for Arizona State last year came in the pole vault as <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/kubishta_april00.html">… Kubishta</a> was perfect through each height in the finals of the outdoor event to win the crown.<separator></separator>MORE ON JOHNSON The two-time indoor pentathlon and three-time outdoor heptathlon national champion will also be looking to add her name to an elite list come championship time as very few have found as much success as Johnson. Indoors, only eight other women in NCAA history have won the same event three times in a career while outdoors sees a list of just three that are four-time champions.<separator></separator>RETURNING ALL-AMERICANS Nine women and three men return to the track this season with All-America honors earned during the 2007, totaling 14 honors for the women and four for the men. Indoors, <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/johnson_jacquelyn00.htm… Johnson</a> (pentathlon), <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/pressley_jessica00.html… Pressley</a> (shot put) and <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/stevens_sarah00.html">S… Stevens</a> (shot put and weight throw) return and are joined by <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/turner_matt00.html">Matt Turner</a> (long jump) and <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/whiting_ryan00.html">Ry… Whiting</a> (shot put), who also earned the national award at the 2007 NCAA Indoor Championships last year. During the outdoor season, Johnson (heptathlon), Pressley (shot put) and Stevens (shot put and hammer) are joined by <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/battle_tai00.html">Tai Battle</a> (discus), <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/durham_jordan00.html">J… Durham</a> (4x400m relay), <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/elcock_shauntel00.html"… Elcock</a> (4x400m relay) and <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/kubishta_april00.html">… Kubishta</a> (pole vault) as the women's honorees while Whiting (shot put) is joined by <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/alcorn_kyle00.html">Kyle Alcorn</a> (3,000m steeplechase) on the men's list. Two more women bring All-America honors with them to the track that were earned in November as both <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/kingma_jenna00.html">Je… Kingma</a> and <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/kielty_ali00.html">Ali Kielty</a> each earned the national accolade in cross country.<separator></separator>AND THE AWARD GOES TO... Along with the numerous team titles and All-America honors attained in 2007, several individuals were honored with awards at the conference, region and national levels. During the 2007 indoor season, <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/johnson_jacquelyn00.htm… Johnson</a> (pentathlon) and former NCAA Champion Maicel Malone (400m dash) were selected to the NCAA Division I Silver Anniversary Team, which recognized one outstanding athlete per indoor event from the first 25 years the national organization had conducted championship events. The United States Track & Field, Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) honored a trio of Sun Devils last year as head coach <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/kraft_greg00.html">Greg Kraft</a> was named the USTFCCCA Women's National and West Region Coach of the Year while West Region Athlete of the Year honors went to <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/stevens_sarah00.html">S… Stevens</a> (field events) and <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/hastings_amy00.html">Amy Hastings</a> (track events). Kraft and Stevens also were honored by the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), the indoor conference ASU participates in, by selecting the duo as the MPSF Women's Coach and MPSF Female Athlete of the Year, respectively.<separator></separator>MORE AWARDS The outdoor season saw plenty of other awards garnered by the Sun Devil women, including USTFCCCA Women's National, West Region and West District Coach of the Year honors for <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/kraft_greg00.html">Greg Kraft</a>; Women's National and West Region Assistant Coach of the Year honors for <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/dumble_david00.html">Da… Dumble</a>; USTFCCCA Women's West Region and West District Field Athlete of Year honors for <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/stevens_sarah00.html">S… Stevens</a>; the Pac-10 Medal of Honor for <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/hastings_amy00.html">Amy Hastings</a>; Pac-10 Women's Coach of the Year for Kraft; and Pac-10 Women's Field Athlete of the Year for Stevens. Stevens also was selected as one of three finalists for the Honda Sports Award, given annually to the top athlete in each sport in the NCAA.<separator></separator>IT'S ACADEMIC Athletic honors were not the only awards attained during the year as the Sun Devils placed 20 women and 10 men on the Pac-10 All-Academic lists while seven women and two men earned MPSF All-Academic recognition for the indoor season. A total of 13 student-athletes (10 women and three men) were selected for USTFCCCA National All-Academic honors while three women -- <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/bennett_brooke00.html">… Bennett</a>, <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/kubishta_april00.html">… Kubishta</a> and <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/stevens_sarah00.html">S… Stevens</a> -- earned ESPN The Magazine All-District VIII honors. The USTFCCCA also bestowed three more prestigious academic honors on the Sun Devils following the 2007 season as the women's team earned USTFCCCA Women's Division I All-Academic Team honors before being selected as the 2007 USTFCCCA Women' Indoor and Outdoor All-Academic Team of the Year. Individually, Stevens was selected as the USTFCCCA Women's Indoor Scholar-Athlete of the Year.<separator></separator>CONFERENCE TITLES Starting in 2006, the Sun Devil women have won three conference titles in a row as they have captured the 2006 and 2007 Pac-10 Championships (outdoor) as well as the 2007 MPSF Championship (indoor). Last year, the men nearly gave Arizona State a sweep of the Pac-10 titles, falling three points short of the championship.<separator></separator>HELLO! MY NAME IS... A total of 29 (13 women and 16 men) student-athletes are members of the program for the first time this year, including 15 true freshmen (seven women and eight men). Also in the group of newcomers are five women and eight men that transferred into the program with two of those women and six of the men coming from junior and/or community colleges. The final new addition to the program comes via the Sun Devil water polo program as <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/mcgrath_addison00.html"… McGrath</a> will participate for both teams this spring.<separator></separator>WELCOME ABOARD! While the student-athlete roster welcomed 29 newcomers this year, the coaching staff also added a few new additions with a trio of new coaches now on staff. <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/mcdaniel_kenny00.html">… McDaniel</a> was hired on from Cal State Fullerton and will work with the women's sprints, hurdles and relays following the departure of <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/miller_dion00.html">Dion Miller</a> (Texas Tech). A pair of new graduate assistant coaches are now on staff as <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/cole_ryan00.html">Ryan Cole</a> and former Sun Devil NCAA Champion and All-American <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/jackson_victoria00.html… Jackson</a> joined the program, replacing the departed <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/rasmussen_jeremy00.html… Rasmussen</a> (Illinois) and <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/riley_rhonda00.html">Rh… Riley</a> (Vanderbilt), both of whom attained coaching positions at their respective schools. Both Cole and Jackson will work with the distance, mid-distance and cross country runners throughout the year while also maintaining the day-to-day operations of the program.<separator></separator>MORE TROPHIES Several of those newcomers have already made an impact this year as members of a cross country program that qualified both a women's and men's team to the 2007 NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind. At the meet, the women finished fourth overall to earn their second trophy (Top 4 finishers) in three years while the men, who entered the meet ranked 30th, finished 26th overall. Dating back to the 2005 cross country national meet (three cross country seasons, two indoor track & field seasons and two outdoor track & field seasons), the Sun Devil women have accumulated six trophies, including two national titles (2007 indoor and 2007 outdoor), one third-place finish (2006 indoor) and three fourth-place showings (2005 and 2007 cross country and 2006 outdoor).<separator></separator>ALMOST ANOTHER TITLE While several Sun Devils won national titles at the collegiate level last year, one former Sun Devil nearly captured a U.S. championship of her own recently as <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/davila_desiree00.html">… Davila</a> placed second at the 2008 USA Half Marathon Championships in Houston on January 13. Davila, an All-American once in cross country and once in the outdoor 10,000m run, was in seventh place at the eight-mile mark before passing runners to finish second in 1:12.10. Another former Sun Devil, <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/torres_brianna00.html">… Torres</a>, also competed in the race, finishing 24th overall (1:17.07).<separator></separator>RECORD RUNS A pair of former Sun Devils turned in record performances last year on the track with <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/hastings_amy00.html">Amy Hastings</a> setting the American collegiate record in the indoor 5,000m run while the outdoor season saw Lisa Galaviz (formerly Aguilera) set the America record in the 3,000m steeplechase. Hastings, a 10-time All-American including three in 2007, ran 15:30.17 at the Husky Classic in Seattle during the indoor season which was the fastest time run by an American collegiate women in NCAA history as Kim Smith of Providence (foreign athlete) holds the NCAA record at 15:14.18. Outdoors, Galaviz traveled to a meet in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium, and clocked in at 9:28.75 to set the new standard among American women.<separator></separator>FOR THE RECORD - INDOOR During the 2007 indoor season, three women's marks and one men's mark broke the school record with three coming in field events. On the women's side, <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/stevens_sarah00.html">S… Stevens</a> hit a mark of 18.16m (59-07.00) to win the NCAA shot put crown, surpassing the 17.03m (55-10.50) set by Leslie Deniz in 1983. The shot put also produced the lone men's record as <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/whiting_ryan00.html">Ry… Whiting</a> surpassed a 21 year-old mark of Jim Camp (19.77m/64-10.50 in 1986) with his third-place toss of 20.01m (65-07.75) at the NCAA Championships. The women also saw <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/kubishta_april00.html">… Kubishta</a><a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/hastings_amy00.html">Amy Hastings</a> running 15:30.17 to break the 5,000m run mark while also setting the American collegiate record. break the pole vault mark on four occasions, ending the year with a mark of 4.30m (14-01.25) to become the only Sun Devil to break 14-feet in competition. The final record came on the track with<separator></separator>FOR THE RECORD - OUTDOOR Five women's and two men's marks fell during the outdoor season with a pair of Sun Devils breaking two records each. On the men's side, <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/aguayo_aaron00.html">Aa… Aguayo</a> ran 8:27.01 and 13:37.71 to set the standard in the men's 3,000m steeplechase and 5,000m run, respectively, while <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/stevens_sarah00.html">S… Stevens</a> set the marks in the shot put and hammer at 18.40m (60-04.50) and 66.34m (217-08), respectively. Also setting records for the women were <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/hastings_amy00.html">Amy Hastings</a>, who ran 32:30.37 in the 10,000m run; <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/kubishta_april00.html">… Kubishta</a> with a clearance of 4.26m (13-11.75) in the pole vault; and <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/regets_lissa00.html">Li… Regets</a> in the javelin with her toss of 45.59m (149-07).<separator></separator>OSAKA At the end of August, Osaka, Japan, played host to the 11th IAAF World Championships in Athletics with five athletes with ties to the Arizona State program competing. Current Sun Devil <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/stevens_sarah00.html">S… Stevens</a> placed third at the USA Championships in the shot put to earn a World berth, where she placed 22nd overall. Her teammate, <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/pressley_jessica00.html… Pressley</a>, placed fourth in the U.S. meet, missing the World team by one place. On the men's side, <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/phillips_dwight00.html"… Phillips</a> earned a bronze medal in the long jump after winning the U.S. meet while <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/quinley_trevell00.html"… Quinley</a> (third at the U.S. meet) was 12th in Osaka. <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/aguayo_aaron00.html">Aa… Aguayo</a>, who placed second at the U.S. meet, finished 20th in the 3,000m steeplechase, while <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/amoo_seth00.html">Seth Amoo</a>, who was representing Ghana, advanced to the qualifying rounds of the 200m dash.<separator></separator>2008 PAC-10 HOSTS The 2008 Pac-10 Championships will be held at Joe Selleh Track at Sun Angel Stadium this year with events being contested on two separate weekends. The women's heptathlon and men's decathlon will take place on May 9-10 with the remainder of the events being held one week later, May 16-17.<separator></separator>IN THE BLOCKS A pair of meets await the Sun Devils next weekend with members of the team traveling to Seattle, Wash., for the Washington Invitational (February 1-2) while others will remain in state and return to Flagstaff for the Mountain 'T' Invite (February 3).