Pinnick, Sandys named ASU Athletes of the Week


Women's track heptathlon athlete Keia Pinnick has been named ASU's Female Athlete of the Week for the week ending May 15th. Pinnick, a freshman from Aurora, Ill., saved her best performance for the Pac-10 Championships as well, as she posted a personal best by scoring 5,219 points in the heptathlon. Her remarkable performance included two personal bests and she now sits fourth on the ASU all-time heptathlon lists. The next event for the Sun Devils will be the NCAA Preliminary Rounds that will be held on May 28-29 in Austin, Texas, for the western schools. The meet at Texas will serve as the first and second rounds of the NCAA Championships that will be held in Eugene, Ore., June 6-9.

Pinnick placed third in the heptathlon in her first Pac-10 Championships appearance with a personal-best score of 5,219 points, which was a 166-point improvement on her lifetime best. In the seven events, Pinnick recorded two personal bests, including the shot put (10.14m/33-03.25) and the long jump (5.70m/18-08.50) while also posting heptathlon personal best marks in the 100m hurdles (14.22). In the final event of the heptathlon, she broke a 30-year old record by running 2:13.99 in the 800m run to better the time of 2:14.50 that Gea Johnson ran in 1990. Pinnick also moved up to fourth on the ASU all-time heptathlon chart with her overall score and became the fifth different Sun Devil to score 5,200 points or more in the event.

Men's track decathlon athlete Jamie Sandys has been named ASU's Male Athlete of the Week for the week ending May 15th. Sandys, a sophomore from Phoenix, saved his best performance for the Pac-10 Championships as he posted a personal best by scoring 6,909 points in the decathlon. His remarkable performance included personal bests in a number of events, all while beating his overall score in the decathlon by 552 points. The next event for the Sun Devils will be the NCAA Preliminary Rounds that will be held on May 28-29 in Austin, Texas, for the western schools. The meet at Texas will serve as the first and second rounds of the NCAA Championships that will be held in Eugene, Ore., June 6-9.

The sophomore posted a career weekend at the Pac-10 Championships in the decathlon by scoring 6,909 points to place fifth overall. He improved his career best score in the event by 552 points and was 44 points away from making the ASU all-time Top 10 list while also nearly breaking the 7,000-point barrier. In the 10 events, he recorded lifetime bests in the 100m dash (11.56), long jump (6.66m/21-10.25) and 400m dash (51.40) on the first day before adding personal bests in the javelin (48.69m/159-9) and the 1,500m run (4:31.05) on the second day. Sandys also posted three decathlon personal best marks, including the high jump (1.94m/6-04.25), 110m hurdles (15.57) and the pole vault (4.25m/13-11.25).