Sun Devil track & field dominates in Double Dual

The Arizona State University track and field program put on a strong display in Tucson Saturday night as the Sun Devils defeated intrastate rivals Arizona and Northern Arizona in the annual Double Dual. Overall, the Sun Devils won 26 events and collected 43 regional qualifiers with both genders winning 13 events while the women secured 23 regional berths.

The women had a remarkable day as they won all six sprint events contested, swept the throws and posted six marks that rank highly on the school's lists. Charonda Williams won the 100m dash (11.41) and 200m dash (23.38) while Dominique' Maloy was second in both (11.60 and 23.53, respectively). Williams' 100m time ranks third all-time in ASU history while Maloy's times rank 10th and ninth, respectively. Also victorious in the sprints was Jeavon Benjamin (53.48) in the 400m dash, Jacquelyn Johnson (13.27) in the 100m hurdles, Roshawnda Brown (1:03.76) in the 400m hurdles and the 4x400m relay (3:50.57).

In the field, April Kubishta won the pole vault with a school-record clearance of 4.32m (14-02.00) to not only take over the national lead, but also move into a tie for the sixth-best clearance in conference history. Johnson added two more crowns with wins in the high jump (1.80m) and long jump (6.26m) while placing second to teammate Lissa Regets (44.93m) in the javelin. The final victorious Sun Devil woman was Jessica Pressley, who captured the remaining three throwing events, including the shot put (17.62m), the discus (54.24m) and the hammer (68.31m). Her hammer mark is a school record and stands as the second-best in the history of the Pac-10 while her shot put mark is the national leader amongst collegiate competitors.

The men also turned in stellar marks as Calvin Abram swept the short sprints with victories in the 100m dash (10.45) and the 200m dash (21.00) while Marquis Profit swept the hurdles with wins in the 110m hurdles (14.21) and the 400m hurdles (51.17) with the seventh-best time in school history. Teammate Joel Phillip took second in the 400m hurdles with the ninth-fastest time in school history at 51.44. Other wins on the track came from Nectaly Barbosa in the 800m run (1:51.54), Alonso Contreras in the 5,000m run (15:03.36) and Ben Engelhardt in the 3,000m steeplechase (9:18.04).

In the field, Matt Turner and Ryan Whiting each won a pair of events with Turner taking the long (7.96m) and triple jumps (15.67m) and Whiting winning the shot put (20.22m) and discus (54.10m). Turner's long jump mark and Whiting's shot put mark both rank second in the NCAA this year while Turner's leap is the fifth-best in ASU history. Corey Phallen won the pole vault (4.90m) and Brad Roth took the javelin (67.96m) to round out the victories.

The hammer also produced two more Top 10 marks in school history as Tai Battle moved up to No. 3 in the women's event with her mark of 63.16m while Jeff Helwig improved his No. 10 mark to 56.55m.

All told, the men and women each added 11 runner-up finishes apiece while securing third place four times each. Combined, the Sun Devils placed in the Top 3 on 56 total times, 28 times in each gender.

The championship season begins next weekend in Tempe as the Sun Devils play host to the start of the 2008 Pac-10 Track & Field Championships presented by 76 Gasoline on May 9-10 with the heptathlon and decathlon. The remaining events of the Championships will be held the following weekend.