Track & field set to host ASU Invitational

For the second weekend in a row, the Arizona State University track and field team will play host to a meet, this weekend hosting several teams and individuals to the ASU Invitational on Friday and Saturday on Joe Selleh Track at Sun Angel Stadium. Similar to last weekend, the hammer will be held Friday night with Saturday leading off with the women's discus at 10 a.m. and the running events starting at 5:30 p.m. with the women's 100m hurdles.

WELCOME!
Several university teams will have athletes on hand to compete this weekend, including: Air Force, Arizona, Augustana (S.D.), BYU, CS Fullerton, Loyola Marymount, Northern Arizona, Notre Dame, Purdue, Southern Utah, Wayne State (Neb.) and Western State (Colo.).

NATIONALLY KNOWN
The preseason team rankings were released by the USTFCCCA on March 26 with the rankings based upon points earned for an athlete's position on the NCAA descending order list (the final list of 2007 was used for the first ranking of the year). The men open the season ranked No. 8 with 172.36 points with Florida State leading the way with 259.63 points. LSU (247.33), Tennessee (209.00), Florida (195.32) and USC (188.89) round out the Top 5 men's teams. The women, winners of the last three NCAA championships, enters the year ranked No. 2 with 312.98 points while LSU leads with 324.05 points. Virginia Tech (238.37), Texas A&M (237.34) and USC (210.94) round out the Top 5 in the women's rankings.

TOMAS' TRIPLE
Last weekend, the Sun Devils opened the outdoor season by playing host to the Baldy Castillo Invitational. At the meet, Tomas Navarro competed in three throwing events and regionally qualified in all three. Navarro hit marks of 60.74m (the fourth-best in ASU history) in the hammer, 54.11m in the discus and 17.13m in the shot put to punch his ticket to the regional meet in Northridge, Calif., May 30-31.

ONE FOR ONE
April Kubishta opened her outdoor season last weekend by winning the pole vault with a clearance of 4.15m (13-07.25), qualifying for the NCAA West Region meet in the process. After the weekend, Kubsihta, the defending NCAA Outdoor Champion and the 2008 NCAA Indoor runner-up two weeks ago, has taken the national lead, five centimeters ahead of the next three athletes on the list.

FIELD DAY
At the Baldy Castillo Invitational, the field events produced seven of the program's eight region qualifiers. For the women, Kubishta was joined by Alana Waterford (3.85m) in the pole vault while Addison McGrath (see next note) qualified in the javelin (44.34m). On the men's side, Navarro was joined by Brad Roth in the javelin (69.52m).

JUST REMOVE WATER
In the women's javelin, Addison McGrath qualified for the regional meet and finished fifth in the meet with her toss of 44.34m (145-06), the fourth-best throw in school history. The mark, which came on her second attempt, also came on her second attempt ever as she joined the team this season to give the event a try. McGrath was already a student-athlete at Arizona State before joining the team as she is a member of the No. 7-ranked water polo team, leading the team in scoring with 55 goals (seventh in the nation).

RELAY RUNNING WELL
Despite running at the indoor national meet one week earlier, four All-American men got together and qualified the 4x400m relay for the regional meet as the team of Justin Kremer, Darryl Elston, Nectaly Barbosa and Jimmie Gordon ran 3:09.16, the fourth-best time in the nation so far this season.

IN THE STANDINGS
So far this outdoor season, the Sun Devils have a small amount of regional qualifying marks, but several of those marks rank highly on the national lists. April Kubishta is the lone woman in the Top 8 as she ranks first in the pole vault (4.15m) while the men have two marks in the Top 8, including the 4x400m relay (3:09.16) and Brad Roth in the javelin (69.52m), who ranks third overall right now.

AND THE WINNER IS...
At the Baldy Castillo Invitational last weekend, the Sun Devils won five events, including three men's and two women's. On the men's side, the 4x400m relay of Justin Kremer, Darryl Elston, Nectaly Barbosa and Jimmie Gordon was victorious at 3:09.16 while the two other wins came in the field with Tomas Navarro winning the shot put (17.13m) and Brad Roth taking the javelin (69.52m). For the women, April Kubishta won the pole vault (4.15m) while Kari Hardt won the 800m dash in 2:09.86, just 0.06 off of a regional qualifier.

TWICE AS NICE
On March 14-15, the Sun Devils traveled 21 student-athletes to the 2008 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships and returned with both the men's and women's national team titles, accomplishing the feat for just the second time in NCAA history (LSU did so in 2004). The women scored 51 points with LSU finishing second with 43 points in the women's race while the men edged out favorite Florida State, 44-41, for their first indoor team crown.

BY THE NUMBERS
The titles earned by the Sun Devil men and women are the 134th and 135th national titles captured by Arizona State in school history. The wins are the 39th and 66th national titles for the men and women, respectively, while 30 other titles were won in coed events (20 in mixed archery and 10 in mixed badminton).

REPEAT
With the team victory, the Sun Devil women successfully defended their first national tittle won last year when the team captured the 2007 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Fayetteville, Ark. The Sun Devils, ranked No. 1 last year, edged No. 2 LSU, 38-33, to win their first indoor crown. This year, the rankings were reversed, but the Sun Devils still won.

STREAKING
Arizona State's women have been dominant over the course of the past year as the Sun Devils have won seven championship meets in a row. Those meets include the 2007 MPSF Indoor Championships, the 2007 NCAA Indoor Championships, the 2007 Pac-10 Championships, the 2007 NCAA West Region Championships, the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Championships, the 2008 MPSF Indoor Championships and the 2008 NCAA Indoor Championships.

FIRST AND SECOND TIMES
With 44 points, the Sun Devil men won their first indoor championship and became the 14th different men's program to capture the indoor crown since the NCAA began sponsoring an indoor meet in 1965. The title is the second in program history for the men as the 1977 team captured the outdoor championship, the first team title in ASU track & field history.

NOT SINCE...
The men's team victory at the NCAA Indoor Championships marked the first men's team title earned for the Sun Devil athletic department since 1996 when the men's golf team captured their second championship (also won in 1990). Prior to the women winning last year and this year, the previous Sun Devil national champions were the 1998 women's golf team.

ELITE COMPANY
The women's team, which is one of only seven programs to win an NCAA indoor title since the association began sponsoring the event in 1983, repeated as national champions, marking just the fifth time in NCAA history that a team has won back-to-back titles. The last to do so was LSU (2002-2003-2004). The other schools to do so were UCLA (2000-2001), LSU (1993-1994-1995-1996-1997) and Nebraska (1983-1984).

THREE-PEAT
The women's team was not the only repeat winners on the weekend for the Sun Devils as Jacquelyn Johnson secured her third indoor pentathlon crown in a row, scoring a collegiate and meet record 4,496 points. In her career, Johnson has three titles and one runner-up finish (took second as a true freshman in 2004).

MORE ON JOHNSON'S TRIPLE
When Jacquelyn Johnson successfully defended her indoor pentathlon crowns she won at the 2006 and 2007 NCAA meets, she became just the ninth woman to win the same event three times in a career at the indoor championships and the second Sun Devil, joining Maicel Malone, who won the 400m dash in 1990, 1991 and 1992. Other three-time champions include Regina Cavanaugh of Rice (shot put, 1984-85-86), Suzy Favor of Wisconsin (mile, 1987-89-90), Vicki Huber of Villanova (3,000m, 1987-88-89), Carlette Guidry of Texas (55m, 1988-90-91), Amy Wickus of Wisconsin (800m, 1993-94-95), Amy Acuff of UCLA (high jump, 1994-95-96) and Trecia Smith of Pittsburgh (long jump, 1997-98-99).

MORE CHAMPIONS
The teams and Johnson were not the only champions over the weekend as two men captured individual titles in remarkable fashion. Ryan Whiting led off by winning the shot put with a huge toss of 71-03.50 (21.73m) to set the collegiate record in the event. In the second-to-last event of the meet, Kyle Alcorn stormed to the front of the pack late in the 3,000m race to capture the national crown and put the Sun Devils in a position to win the team title.

FOR THE RECORD - JOHNSON
Jacquelyn Johnson and Ryan Whiting both set collegiate records in winning their national crowns over the weekend. Johnson, who entered the meet with a best of 4,312 points in the pentathlon, ended the meet with 4,496 points, breaking the collegiate record of 4,439 points set in 2002 by Austra Skuyte (Kansas State) and bettering the meet mark of 4,412 points scored by Hyleas Fountain (Georgia) in 2004 when she defeated Johnson for the first NCAA pentathlon crown.

FOR THE RECORD - WHITING
While Johnson broke a record that was set a few years ago, Whiting broke the 31 year-old mark of Terry Albritton (Stanford), who threw 70-06.50 (21.50m) in 1977. Whiting, who recorded a toss of 71-03.50 (21.73m) on his final throw of the competition, is now the collegiate, meet and Pac-10 indoor record holder while ranking third all-time on the Pac-10 lists as two marks recorded outdoors are ahead of Whiting.

LATE HEROICS
Needing some big points in the 3,000m run at the end of the meet, Kyle Alcorn stepped onto the track as the 14th-ranked runner in the race. Alcorn surged ahead mid-way through the race and took the lead before relinquishing it. Sitting in fifth place with two laps to go, Alcorn again surged ahead and captured the lead that he held onto for the remainder of the race, crossing the line in 8:00.82 to not only win his first national title, but giving ASU 10 team points and tying it with Florida State at 38 points heading into the 4x400m relay.

SEALING THE DEAL
With the team race down to ASU and FSU and only the 4x400m relay remaining, all the Sun Devils had to do was finish ahead of the Seminoles in the standings of the race to secure a team crown. In the three-heat race, FSU ran first and clocked a time of 3:07.47, meaning ASU had to finish faster, which it did as Jimmie Gordon, Darryl Elston, Justin Kremer and Joel Phillip clocked in at 3:06.34 to win the third heat and place third overall, pushing FSU to sixth in the race and giving ASU the team title.

NATIONAL HONORS
The United States Track & Field, Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced its national award winners following the NCAA Indoor Championships with four Sun Devils garnering five of the eight national accolades available. Greg Kraft was selected as the Women's National and Men's National Coach of the Year; David Dumble was voted the Women's National Assistant Coach of the Year; Jacquelyn Johnson was named the Women's National Field Athlete of the Year; and Ryan Whiting was selected as the Men's National Field Athlete of the Year.

CLOSE TO THE TOP
The women had three runner-up finishes and the men added a pair to help both teams to victory in Fayetteville. On the men's side, second-place finishes were recorded by April Kubishta (pole vault), Sarah Stevens (shot put) and Jessica Pressley (weight throw) while the men's second-place finishers included Joel Phillip (400m dash) and the distance medley relay of Joey Heller, Justin Kremer, Nectaly BarbosaKyle Alcorn. and

MORE RECORDS
From the results recorded at the NCAA Indoor Championships, five women's marks and three men's rank among the Top 5 all-time in ASU history, including three women's and two men's school records. On the women's side, school-records went to April Kubishta in the pole vault (4.30m), Jessica Pressley in the weight throw (22.04m) and Jacquelyn Johnson in the pentathlon (4,496 points) while the men's records included Ryan Whiting in the shot put (21.73m) and the distance medley relay of Joey Heller, Justin Kremer, Nectaly Barbosa and Kyle Alcorn. Both 4x400m relays rank among the Top 3, including the second-best time of 3:33.53 by the women (Dominique' Maloy, Shauntel Elcock, Jordan Durham, Jeavon Benjamin) and the third-best time of 3:06.34 by the men (Jimmie Gordon, Darryl Elston, Kremer, Joel Phillip). The final Top 3 mark came from Johnson in the 60m hurdles (8.23).

ALL-AMERICANS
Overall, nine women and nine men each earned All-America honors from the USTFCCCA, including two women and four men that earned two honors each. Multiple honors were earned by Jacquelyn Johnson (pentathlon & long jump) and Jessica Pressley (shot put & weight throw) for the women and men's competitors Kyle Alcorn (3,000m & DMR), Jimmie Gordon (400m & 4x400m), Justin Kremer (4x400m & DMR) and Joel Phillip (400m & 4x400m). Other women's All-Americans included Jeavon Benjamin (4x400m), Jordan Durham (4x400m), Shauntel ElcockStephanie Garnett (long jump), April Kubishta (pole vault), Dominique' Maloy (4x400m) and Sarah Stevens (shot put) while the men included Nectaly Barbosa (DMR), Darryl Elston (4x400m), Joey Heller (DMR), Matt Turner (long jump) and Ryan Whiting (shot put). (4x400m),

WORLD COMPETITION
On March 30, former Sun Devil Amy Hastings will represent the United States as a member of the 2008 Team USA World Cross Country squad that will head to Edinburgh, Great Britain, for the 36th IAAF World Cross Country Championships. Hastings, a 10-time All-American at Arizona State, will be running for Team USA for the first time in her career.

WHERE IN THE WORLD
Following the NCAA Indoor Championships last weekend, two men and three women ended the indoor season with marks ranking in the Top 20 on the world lists. For the men, Ryan Whiting ranks third in the shot put with a toss of 21.73m while Joel Phillip stands 10th in the 400m dash at 46.27. On the women's side, Jessica Pressley and Sarah Stevens both are Top 15 in the weight throw with Pressley ranking fourth at 22.04m and Stevens in 13th at 20.94m. Jacquelyn Johnson is 16th in the pentathlon with 4,496 points.

REGIONAL HONORS
Heading into the national meet, a trio of Sun Devils were honored with awards for their performances so far this indoor season. The United States Track & Field/Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) selected Jacquelyn Johnson as the Women's West Region Field Athlete of the Year, picked head coach Greg Kraft as the Women's West Region Coach of the Year and chose throws coach David Dumble as the Women's West Region Assistant Coach of the Year. All three are now eligible for the national honor that will be announced following the NCAA Indoor Championships this weekend.

WAIT, THERE IS MORE...
The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) announced its annual awards Tuesday with the Sun Devils taking three of the four honors. Greg Kraft was selected as the MPSF Women's Coach of the Year while Jacquelyn Johnson was named the MPSF Women's Athlete of the Year and Ryan Whiting was named the MPSF Men's Athlete of the Year. The honor is the first for Whiting and Johnson and the second in a row for Kraft. Sarah Stevens won the women's athlete honor last year.

THEY HAVE A SHOT (PUT)
The shot put event has been good to the Sun Devils in recent years and this year looks to be no different this year under coach David Dumble. Last season, six All-America honors were earned with Sarah Stevens, Jessica Pressley and Ryan Whiting each earning the accolade at both the NCAA Indoor and NCAA Outdoor meets. During the indoor season, Ryan Whiting led the nation and set a collegiate record with the third-best throw in the world so far this year at 21.73m while Sarah Stevens (second) and Jessica Pressley (fifth) also finished well at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

ON TOP AGAIN
With 154.5 points and seven individual champions, the Sun Devil women won their second MPSF Championships in a row, beating out runner Stanford, who scored 141 points. The win also was the sixth team title in a row for ASU, building off the five they won in 2007.

ANOTHER REPEAT
While the women's team captured its second MPSF Championships title in a row, Sarah Stevens did a repeat performance of her own as she won the shot put and the weight throw for the second year in a row.

MORE CHAMPIONS
Stevens was joined by Jacquelyn Johnson as the only multiple victors for the Sun Devils. Johnson won the 60m hurdles and the long jump individually before joining Jeavon Benjamin, Shauntel Elcock and Dominique' Maloy in taking the 4x400m. Other champions for the team included April Kubishta (pole vault) and Charonda Williams (200m).

VICTORIOUS MEN
Three men's titles were won as well, including Ryan Whiting (shot put), Jeff Helmer (5,000m) and the 4x400m of Jimmie Gordon, Joel Phillip, Darryl Elston and Justin Kremer.

STRONG DEBUT
Jeff Helmer made his first collegiate race a memorable one as he clocked a time of 14:01.83 to win the MPSF Championship in the 5,000m run and provisionally qualify for the NCAA Championships. Currently, he ranks 18th in the nation.

KRAFT'S KIDS
The shot put is not the only field event that has been producing lately. Under coach Greg Kraft, the long jump has been a strong event for ASU and that trend looks to continue this year. Currently, Matt Turner is ranked fourth in the NCAA (7.85m) while Jacquelyn Johnson (6.50m) and Stephanie Garnett (6.42m) are fifth and ninth, respectively. Outside the NCAA, Kraft has worked with 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist Dwight Phillips and, most recently, former Sun Devil Trevell Quinley won the 2008 USATF Indoor Championships before placing 13th at the IAAF World Championships in Valencia.

KREMER GETTING GRAND
Justin Kremer came to Tempe from a small school in Grand Canyon, Ariz., and has blossomed into one of the top quarter-milers in the nation this year. Kremer played a role in helping the 4x400m relay qualify for the NCAA Championships, and when he arrived at the meet, helped both the 4x400m and distance medley relays place among the Top 3 nationally, earning his first two All-America honors. On the first day, Kremer ran the sprint leg of the DMR, helping the Sun Devils to a school-record time of 9:32.49 and a national runner-up placement before running the third leg of the third-place 4x400m relay that secured the team title for the Sun Devils.

MORE OF THE BEST
The United States Track & Field, Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced their cross country academic honorees this week with the Sun Devil women garnering accolades. Individually, Ali Kielty and Jenna Kingma were two of the 91 women to earn USTFCCCA All-Academic honors and joined their teammates as one of 35 teams nationally to earn team distinctions with a 3.50 grade point average or higher.

ALCORN GOES SUB-FOUR
At the Washington Invite (Feb. 2), Sun Devil senior Kyle Alcorn clocked a time of 3:59.82 in the mile to become only the third Sun Devil runner to break the four-minute mark in the event and just the second indoors. Alcorn is second on the ASU indoor lists behind Brandon Strong, who ran 3:59.59 in 2002, and is third overall in ASU history behind the 3:56.4 turned in by Chuck LaBenz in 1970.

NEW LOOK
Joe Selleh Track at Sun Angel Stadium went under the knife recently as the home of Arizona State University track and field was resurfaced with the latest product from Mondo, Mondotrack FTX. ASU's home venue is the first in the world to be surfaced with the product, which also will be installed at Beijing's Olympic Stadium in time for the 2008 Summer Games. Along with the new surface came an expanded shot put area and the addition of a second 'D' zone (at the north end of the infield). The majority of the surface will be maroon/red in color with the only exceptions being the three exchange zones on the track and the non-runway areas of both 'D' zones, which will be gold. The project was complete Jan. 29.

IT'S ACADEMIC
Athletic honors were not the only awards attained during the year as the Sun Devils placed 20 women and 10 men on the Pac-10 All-Academic lists while seven women and two men earned MPSF All-Academic recognition for the indoor season. A total of 13 student-athletes (10 women and three men) were selected for USTFCCCA National All-Academic honors while three women -- Brooke Bennett, April Kubishta and Sarah Stevens -- earned ESPN The Magazine All-District VIII honors. The USTFCCCA also bestowed three more prestigious academic honors on the Sun Devils following the 2007 season as the women's team earned USTFCCCA Women's Division I All-Academic Team honors before being selected as the 2007 USTFCCCA Women' Indoor and Outdoor All-Academic Team of the Year. Individually, Stevens was selected as the USTFCCCA Women's Indoor Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

MORE TROPHIES
Several of the team's newcomers have already made an impact this year as members of a cross country program that qualified both a women's and men's team to the 2007 NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind. At the meet, the women finished fourth overall to earn their second trophy (Top 4 finishers) in three years while the men, who entered the meet ranked 30th, finished 26th overall. Dating back to the 2005 cross country national meet (three cross country seasons, two indoor track & field seasons and two outdoor track & field seasons), the Sun Devil women have accumulated six trophies, including two national titles (2007 indoor and 2007 outdoor), one third-place finish (2006 indoor) and three fourth-place showings (2005 and 2007 cross country and 2006 outdoor).

2008 PAC-10 HOSTS
The 2008 Pac-10 Championships will be held at Joe Selleh Track at Sun Angel Stadium this year with events being contested on two separate weekends. The women's heptathlon and men's decathlon will take place on May 9-10 with the remainder of the events being held one week later, May 16-17.

IN THE BLOCKS
The Sun Devils hit the road next weekend for a pair of meets as many of the team's members will head to Tucson for the Jim Click Multis (April 3-4) and the Jim Click Invitaitonal (April 5) while a handful of athletes will travel to Palo Alto, Calif., for the Stanford Invitational (April 4-5).