Williams, Lewis named ASU Athletes of the Week

March 18, 2009

Two ASU Track and Field Athletes: <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/williams_charonda00.htm… Williams</a> and <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/lewis_jason00.html">Jas… Lewis</a> have been named ASU's Athletes of the Week for the week ending March 21. Both demonstrated outstanding athleticism over the weekend.<separator></separator>Williams played a huge role in the women's team finishing fifth at the NCAA Indoor Championships as she collected three All-America honors and was a part of three finishes among the Top 6 overall. Entering the weekend, Williams was ranked No. 12 in the 60m dash and No. 8 in the 200m dash while joining with the 4x400m relay to rank No. 8 as well. On the first day of the meet, Williams crushed the school-record in the 200m dash (was 23.23) by running 22.89, the fourth-fastest time in the world this year, to win her heat and place third overall in an event that she didn't make the finals in one year ago. She also placed sixth among the entries in the 60m dash preliminaries on Friday, running a school-record 7.30 to advance to the finals. On Saturday, she raced in the finals of the 60m dash, an event she didn't qualify for last year, and placed sixth to earn three more team points. In the final event of the day and in her fifth race, Williams ran with <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/maloy_dominique00.html"…; Maloy</a>, <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/benjamin_jeavon00.html"… Benjamin</a> to finish second in their heat of the relay in 3:34.30, which stood up through the final two heats as the second-best time on the day to give the team a national runner-up finish. Williams made history at ASU not only with two school-record times, but also by becoming the first Sun Devil woman to earn All-America honors in both the 60m dash and the 200m dash. <separator></separator>Lewis scored a team-high 15 points at the NCAA Indoor Championships over the weekend by winning his first national title in the weight throw and taking fourth in the shot put. Entering the weekend, the junior was ranked fourth in both events before taking fourth in the shot put with a toss of 19.11m. On the final day of competition, Lewis moved from fourth in the preliminaries to the overall lead on his fifth throw, launching the 35-pound weight to 22.88m (75-00.75), which landed three feet past his previous school-record and personal-best mark. With both of his finishes, the former walk-on earned the first two All-America honors of his career and, with 10 points from fellow thrower <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/mtt/whiting_ryan00.html">Ry… Whiting</a>, helped the men's team place fifth in the nation with only two scoring athletes.