Heptathlon, decathlon heat sheets released for Pac-10

May 07, 2008

The 2008 Pac-10 Conference Track & Field Championships presented by 76 Gasoline will get underway this Friday as the women's heptathlon and men's decathlon will open the action on Joe Selleh Track at Sun Angel Stadium in Tempe. The event, which will be held Friday and Saturday, will feature 21 women in the heptathlon and 11 men in the decathlon.<separator></separator>In the heptathlon, Arizona State's <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/johnson_jacquelyn00.htm… Johnson</a> leads a talented field of competitors that features five women with scores that rank among the Top 20 in the nation so far this year. Johnson leads the nation and the world currently with her score of 6,143 points while Arizona's Shevell Quinley's score of 5,635 points ranks fourth in the NCAA and 15th in the world standings. Brianne Theisen of Oregon has scored 5,575 points this year which ranks fifth in the collegiate ranks and 19th in the world. Also nationally ranked are Kalindra McFadden (12th) of Oregon, Lauren Stewart (20th) of Stanford, Whitney Liehr (29th) of Stanford and Keneisha Creary (31st) of UCLA.<separator></separator>Of the 15 women that competed in the even last year, 10 return this year, including six of the eight scorers. Only the Pickler sisters of Washington State, who placed first (Diana) and second (Julie), do not return this year as both were seniors last year. ASU's Johnson is the top returner after placing third last year and is followed by fourth-place Quinley of UA, Shana Woods (fifth) of USC, McFadden (sixth) of UO, Tifani Grimes (seventh) of Cal and Liz Fuller (eighth) of Washington.<separator></separator>On the men's side, the decathlon might be small in field size, but it has a trio of high scorers that could make for an exciting event. While only four competitors are returning from last year's field, three of those men placed high last year, including runner-up Ashton Eaton of UO, third-place finisher Rickey Moody of WSU and sixth-place finisher Josh Hustedt of SU. Those three (in that order) enter the 2008 event with the Top 3 scores of the year with Ashton's 7,792 points ranking fourth in the nation and 10th in the world while Moody (7,787) stands fifth in the NCAA and 11th in the world. Hustedt has scored 7,465 points and ranks 10th nationally.<separator></separator>Historically, this weekend's events will be just the fourth men's Pac-10 event and third women's event at ASU. The previous decathlon victors include Dannie Jackson of ASU in 1979, Pedro daSilva of UO in 1991 and Bevan Hart of Cal in 1999. The previous two times the heptathlon has been held at ASU, the victors were Tonya Sedwick of UCLA in 1991 and Tracye Lawyer of SU in 1999.<separator></separator>Action begins Friday at 4 p.m. with the heptathlon 100m hurdles while the decathlon gets underway at 4:30 p.m. with the 100m dash. On Saturday, the decathlon 110m hurdles leads things off at 3:30 p.m. while the heptathlon long jump opens the final day of action for the women at 5 p.m.<separator></separator>2008 Pac-10 Conference Track & Field Championships presented by 76 Gasoline - Entries by School: Women's Heptathlon Arizona - Shevell Quinley Arizona State - <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/johnson_jacquelyn00.htm… Johnson</a> California - Tifani Grimes, Kristin Holmes Oregon - Brianne Theisen, Kalindra McFadden, Erin Funkhouser Oregon State - none Stanford - Lauren Stewart, Whitney Liehr, Kara Bennett, Alexis Spiranac UCLA - Keneisha Creary, Georgea Richards, Hillary Werth USC - Shana Woods, Nia Ali, Lindsay Oman Washington - Liz Fuller, Daria Amiad-Pavlav Washington State - Jalisa Williams, Angela Jensen<separator></separator>Men's Decathlon Arizona - Chris McGovern Arizona State - <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/hitchcock_kyle00.html">… Hitchcock</a> California - Kyle Mills-Bunje Oregon - Ashton Eaton, Marshall Ackley, Alexey Shkuratov Oregon State - none Stanford - Josh Hustedt, Corey Dysick UCLA - Matt Reuter USC - none Washington - Andrew Ferleman Washington State - Rickey Moody