Sun Devil women claim third Pac-10 track & field title

May 18, 2008

The Arizona State University women's track and field team scored 186.5 points to claim its third title in a row while the men place second as the 2008 Pac-10 Conference Championships presented by 76 Gasoline came to a close Saturday night on Joe Selleh Track at Sun Angel Stadium in Tempe. The women claimed crowns in four events on the day and seven overall to become only the second women's team to win three in a row in the Pac-10 while the men won four events on the final day and six overall.<separator></separator>In the team race, the throws pushed the Sun Devil women out to a big lead that the team built into the second-most points scored at the Pac-10 meet and only three points off the meet record of 189.5 scored by UCLA. Stanford was second with 117 points while Oregon (100), USC (91) and UCLA (80) rounded out the Top 5. The Sun Devil men came up short to the Ducks for the second year in a row as UO scored 144.5 points to ASU's 134. UCLA (108), California (81.5) and Stanford (79) rounded out the Top 5 in the men's standings.<separator></separator>ASU saw four its competitors make history on Saturday as all four joined an elite group of double winners. On the women's side, <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/williams_charonda00.htm… Williams</a> made an impressive debut in her first Pac-10 meet by winning both the 100m and 200m events. She won the 100m in 11.45 before running 23.09 to take the 200m, the third-best time in school history. Her teammate, <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/maloy_dominique00.html"…; Maloy</a>, also in her first Pac-10 meet, added points in both events by placing eighth in the 100m (11.71) and second in the 200m (23.28, the sixth-best time in program history). Williams' double marked the ninth time in Pac-10 history the sweep had been recorded and the first for a Sun Devil.<separator></separator><a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/pressley_jessica00.html… Pressley</a> continued her solid meet as she captured the discus with a winning mark of 55.93m to lead a sweep of the Top 3 with <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/stevens_sarah00.html">S… Stevens</a> (55.68m) and <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/battle_tai00.html">Tai Battle</a> (54.51m) taking second and third, respectively. Pressley also won the shot put one day earlier, making her the ninth woman to win the shot put and discus in the same meet and the second year in a row for the Sun Devils as Stevens accomplished the feat last year.<separator></separator>On the men's side, <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/alcorn_kyle00.html">Kyle Alcorn</a> continued his championship meet success as the indoor 3,000m champion picked up his second Pac-10 title in as many days by winning the 5,000m run in 14:12.76. Alcorn, who added the 5,000m crown to his 3,000m steeplechase title from Friday, became the ninth man to win both events in the same meet since the 1976 meet switched to a 5,000m race instead of the 2-mile run.<separator></separator><a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/turner_matt00.html">Matt Turner</a> scored in a pair of events on the final day as he won the triple jump with a leap of 15.63m while teammate <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/egboro_jeremy00.html">J… Egboro</a><a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/phillips_dwight00.html"… Phillips</a> pulled off the double in 1999. placed eighth at 14.59m. Turner, who also finished eighth in the high jump on the day (2.05m), became the fifth man since 1960 to win both the long jump and triple jump in the same meet. He is the second Sun Devil to accomplish the feat as<separator></separator>The winning did not stop there, however, as both teams captured the 4x400m relays to end the meet. The team of <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/benjamin_jeavon00.html"… Benjamin</a>, Maloy, <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/elcock_shauntel00.html"… Elcock</a> and <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/durham_jordan00.html">J… Durham</a> ran a winning time of 3:34.45 for the women while the men's team of <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/profit_marquis00.html">… Profit</a>, <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/kremer_justin00.html">J… Kremer</a>, <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/elston_darryl00.html">D… Elston</a> and <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/phillip_joel00.html">Jo… Phillip</a> combined to run 3:04.75. It was the second crown of the day for Elston who just 25 minutes prior to the relay won the 200m dash with a time of 20.91.<separator></separator>Following the meet, the Pac-10 honored a pair of Sun Devils with the Pac-10 Athlete of the Meet Award which is given to the one man and one woman that score the most points in the Championships. Based on their finishes, <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/johnson_jacquelyn00.htm… Johnson</a> scored 33.5 points to earn the award while Turner's 21 points earned him the men's honor.<separator></separator>The Sun Devils will take a weekend off from competition before heading to Northridge, Calif., on May 30-31 for the NCAA West Region Championships.