Track & field plays host to Baldy Castillo Invite


Heat Sheets for the Baldy Castillo Invitational

With the temperatures rising and the sun shining bright, the 2010 outdoor track and field season will get underway this weekend in Tempe as representatives from 18 schools will be on hand at Sun Angel Stadium on Friday and Saturday as the Arizona State University track and field team plays host to the Baldy Castillo Invitational. The hammer throw will be held on Friday starting at 1 p.m. with the rest of the events being held on Saturday starting with the discus at 10 a.m. Running events begin at 6 p.m.

And you are?
The Baldy Castillo Invitational will feature representatives from 18 schools and several other unattached individuals this weekend. Included in that list of schools are: Bethel University, Colorado Mines, Cornell, Dickinson State, Glendale CC, Grand Canyon, Manhattan, Mesa CC, Minnesota, North Dakota, North Dakota State, Northern Arizona, Paradise Valley CC, South Dakota and Western State.

Golden again
Ryan Whiting won the shot put national title on Friday afternoon with a toss of 21.52m (70-07.25) to win his third indoor shot put crown in a row and the fourth overall in his career (also won the 2009 outdoor title). Whiting took the lead in the shot put on his first toss with a mark of 19.16m before improving on each of his final two throws of the preliminary round, advancing to the finals with a top mark of 20.57m. In the fourth round (his first throw of the finals), Whiting hit a mark of 21.52m, which sealed the victory and equaled his season-best toss that also ranks third in the world currently. With his victory, Whiting became just the third man in NCAA history to win the shot put three years in a row at the indoor championships and is the first to accomplish that feat in 35 years as Hans Hogland (UTEP) won the men's shot put in 1973, 1974 and 1975. Whiting also is just the fourth man to win three or more shot put titles indoors in a career and is the first to join that list since Michael Carter (SMU) won his fourth title in 1984.

More on Whiting
With his third indoor national title in a row, Ryan Whiting became just the third Sun Devil track & field athlete overall and the first man to win the same event three times in a row in a career at Arizona State. Maicel Malone was the first to do so as she captured the women's indoor 400m dash in 1990, 1991 and 1992. Jacquelyn Johnson topped that in 2006, 2007 and 2008 as she won the indoor pentathlon and the outdoor heptathlon three times in a row. Whiting is the most decorated man in program history with four total national titles with Kyle Alcorn (indoor 3,000m and outdoor steeplechase in 2008), Herman Frazier (outdoor 4x400m relay in 1976 and outdoor 400m dash in 1977) and Ulis Williams (440y dash in 1963 and 1964) the second-most decorated with two titles each.

Lewis doubles up
Heading into the 2009 NCAA Indoor Championships, Jason Lewis had not earned All-America honors. At that meet last year, he won the weight throw and was fourth in the shot put to collect the first two honors of his career. Then, at the 2009 outdoor championships, he earned All-America status in the discus and hammer with a pair of sixth-place finishes. This past weekend, Lewis doubled again and walked away with a pair of Top 8 finishes as he took sixth in the weight throw with a toss of 21.15m (69-04.75) and seventh in the shot put with a heave of 18.64m (61-02.00) to bring his career All-America total to six.

Moving on up
With their All-America honors earned last weekend, two Sun Devil men rose higher on the all-time honoree list, including Ryan Whiting, who captured the ninth All-America honor in his career, which is the most by a Sun Devil male track and field athlete in program history (five others earned seven in their careers). Jason Lewis, who earned honors five and six, is now tied for the seventh-most in a career with Lewis Banda, Tony Berrian, Nick Hysong (who will be competing in the pole vault this weekend) and Domenik Peterson.

Bethke takes fourth
Brandon Bethke
made it 3-for-3 in his individual Sun Devil career as he earned All-America honors in his third-consecutive NCAA event by placing fourth overall in the 3,000m run with a time of 8:11.61. Bethke first wore the Sun Devil uniform at the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Championships and placed fourth overall in the 5,000m run before running to a seventh-place finish at the 2009 NCAA Cross Country Championships, the best finish by an ASU male in the event in program history. This year's indoor honor is the fourth of his collegiate career as he also was an All-American in the indoor 3,000m run for Wisconsin in 2008.

More All-Americans
Whiting, Lewis and Bethke were not the only All-America award winners on the weekend as four other men and one woman also earned the distinction. The men's 4x400m relay of Donald Sanford, Justin Kremer, Ray Miller and Joel Phillip placed eighth in the event to earn the honor while true freshman Constance Ezugha was selected as an All-American in the women's long jump.

Overall
At the 2010 NCAA Indoor Championships, the Sun Devil men scored 21 points and placed seventh overall in the event while the women did not score. Florida won the men's title with 57 points and was followed in the Top 4 by Texas A&M and Oregon (tied with 44) and LSU (42) while Oregon took the women's crown with 61 points while Tennessee (36), LSU (35) and Florida (33) rounded out the Top 4.

Streaking
With their seventh-place finish over the weekend, the Sun Devil men have place in the Top 10 in five-consecutive NCAA Championships. The men placed first and sixth (indoor and outdoor, respectively) in 2008 and fifth and eighth in 2009 before this weekend. For the men, their Top 10 finishes in each of the last three indoor seasons marked just the second, third and fourth time, respectively, that the program has done so with the only other instance coming in 2000 (tied for 10th).

First awards
The USTFCCCA released its first awards of the track and field season on Tuesday and named assistant coach David Dumble as the 2010 USTFCCCA Men's West Region Assistant Coach of the Year. Dumble, who also earned this award on the women's side indoors (2008) and outdoors (2006, 2008), heads to Arkansas this weekend with a pair of defending national champions in Ryan Whiting (shot put) and Jason Lewis (weight throw). Lewis also will be competing in the shot put, where he placed fourth one year ago.

Nationally known
The USTFCCCA released the final rankings for the indoor season that have the Sun Devil men ranked fourth heading into the national championships, up from the fifth position they had held for the past month. Florida, Oregon and Texas A&M are the three teams ranked ahead of the Sun Devils. The ASU women are not among the Top 25 listing that has Oregon, Texas A&M, LSU and Florida in the Top 4 heading into the NCAA Championships.

Watching Whiting
The USTFCCCA announced last week the latest update to the Bowerman watch list with Ryan Whiting remaining among the 10 men to watch this season. The watch list for the 2010 awarding of The Bowerman, as selected by The Bowerman Men’s Watch Committee, is designed to keep tabs on the top collegiate athletes in track & field with an award that will be given to the top male and top female collegiate track & field athlete at the end of the season. (TheBowerman.org) Whiting is the two-time defending indoor shot put national champion and recently finished second in the shot put at the 2010 USATF Indoor Championships.

It's academic
Last week, the USTFCCCA released its national academic honorees for the 2009 cross country season and the Sun Devils earned mention on three lists. Individually, Brandon Bethke was selected to the men's academic team before both Sun Devil teams earned spots on the academic list based on their overall grade-point average.

On the world charts
Three current Sun Devils have posted marks that rank highly on the world lists, including Ryan Whiting, who stands third in the men's shot put with a toss of 21.52m. Fellow thrower Jason Lewis is 13th on the weight throw list at 21.92m while Donald Sanford has run 46.19 in the 400m dash, which stands as the 14th-best time in the world. Also holding positions on the world list are Trevell Quinely (long jump, 20th, 7.99m) for the men and women's athletes Amy Hastings (3000m, 21st, 8:58.45) and Sarah Stevens (shot put, 19th, 17.99m).

National reps
With the conclusion of the USATF Indoor Championships over the weekend, Team USA for the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Doha, Qatar, have been set with one Sun Devil earning a position in the world event set for March 12-14. That qualifier, Ryan Whiting in the men's shot put, will not be competing for Team USA, however, as the NCAA Indoor Championships will be taking place the same weekend in Arkansas where Whiting will try to win his third indoor shot put title in a row. While Whiting will not be representing the U.S., former Sun Devil Desiree Davila will as she was selected to compete in the 3,000m run in Qatar. Another former Sun Devil, Amy Hastings, also will wear the red, white and blue, only she will do so at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships later in the month (March 28) in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Hastings competed at the USATF Cross Country Championships in Spokane, Wash., on February 13, and finished third overall in the women's open race with a time of 26:06. The Top 7 finishers qualified for the national team.

Conference recap
The Sun Devils competed in the MPSF Indoor Track & Field Championships with both squads placing fourth overall in the team standings as the men scored 79 points and the women 75 while UCLA (108.5) and Oregon (133) took the team titles in the men's and women's races, respectively. Overall, the Sun Devils collected seven total conference crowns and posted 17 marks that qualified for the NCAA Championships, including two automatic qualifiers in the women's long jump, seven total provisional qualifiers for the women and eight provisional qualifiers for the men.

MPSF Champions
Five individual and two relay titles were captured by the Sun Devils at the MPSF Championships, including a sweep of the open 400m dash and the 4x400m relay. For the women, true freshman Constance Ezugha jumped 6.45m (21-02.00) to win the long jump and automatically qualify for the NCAA meet while Jasmine Chaney took the 400m dash in 53.83. Chaney, who was second in the 60m hurdles, came back later in the meet and joined Dominique' Maloy, Keia Pinnick and Kayla Sanchez to win the 4x400m relay in 3:38.40. For the men, Lawrence Trice took the title in the 60m dash (6.68), Donald Sanford won the 400m dash (46.19) and Mason McHenry repeated as the 800m dash champion (1:48.89). Sanford also helped the team of Allante Battle, Justin Kremer and Joel Phillip win the 4x400m relay with a time of 3:07.38.

Next time out
The 2010 outdoor season continues at home next weekend as the Sun Devils play host to Arizona State Invitational on Friday and Saturday, March 19-20, at Sun Angel Stadium. Representatives from the following schools are scheduled to compete: Boise State, Colorado, Colorado State, Cornell, Duke, Georgia, Grand Canyon, Kansas State, Iowa State, Nebraska, Northern Arizona, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Purdue, Southern Utah, Texas A&M, UC Riverside, Utah Valley, Weber State and Wyoming.