Track & field heads to Tucson for double dual

Sun Devil Meet Notes and Season Stats/Top Marks (pdf)

State bragging rites are back on the line this Saturday at Drachman Stadium in Tucson as the Arizona State University track and field team travels south to take on Arizona and Northern Arizona in the Double Dual. All events will be held on Saturday with the hammer leading off the meet at 4 p.m. The scoring format will see head-to-head team scoring take place, including results for ASU vs. UA, ASU vs. NAU and UA vs. NAU.

Down to the wire
The Double Dual will mark the final competition for the Sun Devils before they begin the postseason over the next two weekends with the Pac-10 Conference Championships, which open with the heptathlon and decathlon on May 8-9 in Berkeley, Calif. (all other events are May 15-16 also at California). Two weeks after the Pac-10 meet concludes, those that qualify will travel to Austin, Texas, for the NCAA First and Second Rounds (May 28-29).

Nationally known
The Sun Devil men moved up to their highest national ranking this outdoor season as they climbed to No. 4 in this week's USTFCCCA Top 25 rankings that were released on Tuesday. The women are not ranked in the Top 25 this week. The men follow Texas A&M, LSU and Florida in the Top 4 while the women's Top 4 is LSU, Texas A&M, Oregon and Oklahoma.

Regionally known
Along with the national rankings, the USTFCCCA released it's latest Top 7 regional rankings with the men remaining No. 2 in the West while the women remained at No. 5. The men's Top 5 is comprised of Oregon, ASU, USC, Stanford and UCLA while the women's Top 5 is Oregon, USC, Arizona, Stanford and ASU.

Who is in: Double Dual
The Double Dual features full squads from Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University and University of Arizona. Only athletes from those three schools will be able to compete in the meet (no professionals, no unattached and no redshirting athletes).

Men's history: ASU vs. UA
Arizona State and Arizona have met for a men's track meet every year since the 1963 season (except for 1989) with the two rivals meeting in head-to-head duals and as part of triangular competitions. Over that span of time, the Wildcats lead the overall series, 32-30, while the Sun Devils hold a 24-23 advantage in head-to-head competitions. The Sun Devils have won each of the last three duals, including a 109-89 decision in Tempe last year, and have won six of the last seven and eight of the last 11.

Women's history: ASU vs. UA
The women's rivalry meet began in 1983 with a non-scored meet before dual scoring was used in the 1984 meeting that ASU won, 81-63. Since then, the two sides have met 25 total times with the Sun Devils holding a 14-11 advantage and have won the last nine in a row, including a 107-93 decision last year in Tempe.

Sweeps week: ASU vs. UA
Since 1984, the ASU-UA rivalry meet for the men and women have been held 25 times with the meet ending with one school sweeping both genders on 15 occasions. While Arizona holds an 8-7 advantage in sweeps, Arizona State has swept the Wildcats each of the last three years and six of the last seven years in a row.

Men's history: ASU vs.. NAU
The series with Northern Arizona began in 1967 in a triangular meet with Oklahoma with the first head-to-head dual taking place in 1974. The Sun Devils hold a 35-5-1 record all-time against the Lumberjacks and have won the last 12 meetings in a row. Prior to that, NAU won two in a row and also forced a 92-92 tie in the 1994 dual. Overall, ASU is 27-5-1 in duals and 8-0-0 in triangular meets that NAU is involved. The Sun Devils won the last meeting, 134-51, in Tempe last year.

Women's history: ASU vs. NAU
Starting in 1986, the Sun Devils and Lumberjacks began holding duals with one another on the women's side of the rivalry with NAU taking the first meeting before ASU won twice and NAU won again. After the Lumberjack win in 1990, the Sun Devils have won 19 in a row, including a 116-68 decision last year in Tempe.

Sweeps week: ASU vs. NAU
The Sun Devils have swept the men's and women's dual from the Lumberjacks in each of the last 12 years and have swept their northern rivals 16 total times while being swept just once (1990).

Still leading
Two of the top men's shot put athletes in the world opened their outdoor season over the past two weeks with Ryan Whiting still remaining ahead of them on the world lists in the event. Whiting's toss of 21.71m (71-02.75) at the 31st Sun Angel Track Classic continues to lead all marks recorded this year, is one of only two marks over 70-feet and is one of only four holders of a mark over 21-meters. Christian Cantwell, the 2010 indoor world champion, is just behind Whiting at 21.69m (71-02.00), a mark he attained at the Drake Relays over the weekend, and Reese Hoffa, a two-time world champion, who is third in 21.14m (69-04.25).

Bethke brings it
At the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif., on April 17, Brandon Bethke competed in the invitational section of the men's 5,000m run and took fourth overall behind a trio of professional runners with a time of 13:27.83. That time, which was just 0.04 seconds off the school record he ran last year, remains one of the best in the world as it stands 14th once again this week. His mark also is the second-best time in the collegiate ranks behind only David McNeill of Northern Arizona, meaning the Top 2 times in the nation are from Arizona schools.

Chaney leads the way
At the Sun Devil Open over the weekend, the women's team was led by another outstanding performance from Jasmine Chaney as the junior posted two individuals victories to sweep the short sprints while also running on both relays. Chaney posted a time of 11.56 in the 100m dash into a slight head wind, missing the Top 10 list at ASU by just 0.03 seconds, before taking the 200m dash in 23.58. In the relays, the Sun Devils ran on their own as the other schools pulled out. Despite that, Chaney and her teammates posted solid times, including a season-best time of 45.61 in the 4x100m relay.

More on Chaney
Looking at the latest update of the Pac-10 Conference order lists, Chaney currently ranks among the Top 4 in four individual events and has helped one relay into the Top 4 as well. Individually, Chaney currently ranks second in the 400m hurdles (58.01) and 200m (23.44), third in the 100m dash (11.56) and fourth in the 100m hurdles (13.40) while helping the 4x400m relay to No. 3 on the list (3:37.36).

Another deep toss
Several Sun Devils traveled to La Jolla, Calif., last weekend for the Triton Invitational at UC San Diego with Jason Lewis again improving his best mark in the discus, this time throwing 59.78m (196-1), which is a three-foot personal-best. That mark, which ranks him fourth all-time at ASU, also ranks him fourth overall in the NCAA so far this year. Lewis, who also stands eighth on the latest hammer list, is a returning All-American in both the discus and hammer after placing sixth in both last year at the NCAA meet. Similar to Chaney, Lewis also ranks highly in the Pac-10 Conference as he currently leads the league in the discus and stands second in the shot put and the hammer.

On the list
Lewis' toss in the discus was not the only mark attained over the weekend that put a Sun Devil on the school's all-time Top 10 list. In the women's 400m hurdles, freshman Keia Pinnick added her name at No. 9 by running 59.44, making her the 11th different woman to run faster than 60-seconds in the event in program history.

More world marks
Bethke (5,000m) and Whiting (shot put) are not the only athletes with ties to the program that are currently ranked among the Top 20 on the world lists as three women are the charts in four events, including Charonda Williams, who is ranked among the best in the 100m and 200m events. Williams currently stands fourth in the 200m at 22.97 and eighth in the 100m at 11.28. Latosha Wallace moved up in the 400m hurdles as she now stands fifth overall at 56.38 while Sarah Stevens is 14th in the shot put with her toss of 18.23m.

In the NCAA Top 10
Along with Whiting in the shot put (No. 1), Lewis in the discus (No. 4) and hammer (No. 8) and Bethke in the 5,000m run (No. 2), the Sun Devils have two other marks that rank among the Top 10 in the NCAA currently with both coming in the sprints. Donald Stanford stands seventh overall in the 400m dash (45.72) and joins Justin Kremer, Ray Miller and Joel Phillip with the fifth-best time in the 4x400m relay (3:03.78).

Leaders of the Pac(-10)
The Sun Devil men currently hold four marks that rank as the best in the Pac-10 Conference with Jason Lewis' toss of 59.78m (196-1) in the discus over the weekend putting him into the overall lead in the event. The three other marks have been the Pac-10's leaders for several weeks, including Brandon Bethke in the 5,000m run, Ryan Whiting in the shot put and the men's 4x100m (39.60) of Ray Miller, Allante Battle, Michael Stokes and Lawrence Trice.

Closing in
Nine marks held by the Sun Devils also rank as the second-best so far this year in the Pac-10, including five for the women and four for the men. The women include Jasmine Chaney in the 200m dash and 400m hurdles, Constance Ezugha in the long jump (6.45m/21-2.00), Cj Navarro in the discus (51.24m/168-1) and Keia Pinnick in the heptathlon (5,017 points). The men include Donald Sanford in the 400m, the 4x400m relay and Jason Lewis in the shot put (18.87m/61-11.00) and the hammer.

Relay close finishes
The men's sprinters competed in a pair of invitational runs at Mt. SAC two weeks ago and finished second overall in both by the slimmest of margins. First, in the 4x100m relay, the team of Michael Stokes, Ray Miller, Allante Battle and Lawrence Trice combined to run 39.97 with a professional squad from HSI International winning in 39.90, just 0.07 ahead of ASU. Then, in the final event of the weekend on the track, the 4x400m relay of Justin Kremer, Miller, Donald Sanford and Joel Phillip combined to run 3:03.78 to finish 0.08 behind race winner and Pac-10 foe USC (3:03.70).

Whiting honored
For his accomplishments at the SATC, Ryan Whiting as selected as the Pac-10 Men's Field Athlete of the Week. Along with his outstanding mark in the shot put, Whiting also posted a toss of 56.94m in the discus at the Mesa Classic on April 9, a mark that stands currently as the 10th-best in the NCAA.

Academically sound
The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) announced its annual list of MPSF All-Academic honorees for the indoor season with 13 Sun Devil men and eighth women named to the list. The men honored included Brandon Bethke, Ian Caracciolo, Ben Engelhardt, Kyle Fugit, Duggan Grant, Justin Kremer, Jason Lewis, Jeremy Marcinko, Mason McHenry, Jamie Sandys, Michael Stokes, Lawrence Trice and Ryan Whiting while the women's honorees included Courtney Golden, Ashley Lampley, Dominique' Maloy, Cherise McNair, Cj Navarro, Lisa Navarro, Lisa Nelson and Ashley Wimmer.

Super sprints
A trio of sprinters also had a solid weekend as the three posted fast times in the 400m dash while also posting a top time in the 4x400m relay. Individually, Donald Sanford ran 45.72, Joel Phillip ran 46.32 and Justin Kremer ran 46.97 in the premiere section with Sanford beating everyone except Lancford Davis, the Jamaican 4x400m World Indoor Championships member that ran 45.45. Currently, Sanford ranks 12th in the world while standing fourth in the NCAA while Phillip is 13th in the collegiate ranks. The trio, along with Ray Miller, closed out the meet with a winning time of 3:05.94 in the 4x400m relay, posting the eighth-best time in the college ranks.

Sun Angel produces
At the 31st Sun Angel Track Classic, the action was outstanding as 23 different marks recorded in Tempe ranked among the Top 20 on the world lists this season with four of those marks recorded by former Sun Devil women and three total by current Sun Devils. On the track, Charonda Williams ran 11.34 in the 100m dash and 22.97 in the 200m dash to post a pair of Top 10 times, including the 10th-best in the 100m and the second-best in the 200m. Also on the track, meet honoree Desiree Davila clocked a personal-best time of 15:55.81 to run the 15th-best time in the world and also lower the meet and venue record in the 5,000m run. Sarah Stevens improved her standing on the world list to No. 10 in the shot put with her personal-best toss of 18.23m.

World report: take three
On March 28, former Sun Devil All-American Amy Hastings represented the U.S. at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, where the American women finished third overall as a team to capture the team's first medal since 2003. Hastings was the fourth finisher for Team USA, covering the 8,000m course in 26:20 to finish 25th overall. This most recent race was Hastings' third at the world level in cross country as she also had competed in the 2008 senior meet (68th) and the 2003 junior world meet (20th).

Returning champion
Heading into the outdoor season, one Sun Devil returns to competition as the defending national champion and that is Ryan Whiting in the men's shot put. The senior captured his first outdoor title last year in Fayetteville, Ark., and the middle of what is three in a row overall (2009 indoor, 2009 outdoor, 2010 indoor). Whiting won the competition with a heave of 20.11m (65-11.75) and gave him a sweep of the indoor and outdoor crowns, marking the 18th time in the past 45 years a man has accomplished the sweep. He is the 12th different man to do so and the first since 2007.

More on Whiting
With his indoor shot put championship back in March, Ryan Whiting now has four total NCAA titles in the event, including a three-peat in the indoor event and one outdoors. In the history of the shot put at the NCAA meets, Whiting is currently tied for fifth all-time with Carl Myerscough (Nebraska), who won two indoors and two outdoors, and a title outdoors this year for Whiting would move him into a three-way tie for third-most with Hans Hogland (UTEP) and Janus Robberts (SMU). Whiting concluded his indoor campaign with three titles, making him one of four men to win at least three in a career. Should he win the outdoor title this year, his two crowns would tie him 11 other men that won twice and make him the 19th man to win two or more in a career.

Returning All-Americans: men
Three men return for their senior seasons after earning All-America honors outdoors. Ryan Whiting is back to defend his shot put title and improve upon his second-place finish in the discus while Jason Lewis, the only man in the nation last year to qualify for all three weight events outdoors, is back after sixth-place showings in the discus and hammer. Brandon Bethke also is back after taking fourth place in the 5,000m run.

Returning All-Americans: women
Four women that earned All-America honors last year are back this season, including two with individual honors. On the track, the returning All-Americans include Jasmine Chaney (4x100m and 4x400m relay), Dominique' Maloy (200m, 4x100m and 4x400m relay) and Kayla Sanchez (4x100m relay) while the lone returning field event All-American is Cj Navarro (discus).

Next time out
The first weekend of action in the Pac-10 Championships gets underway next weekend in Berkeley, Calif., with the women's heptathlon and men's decathlon that will be held on Saturday and Sunday. The remaining events of the Pac-10 Championships will take place one week later and also will be hosted by California.