Sun Devil T&F impresses in season opener
Ryan Milus set the fastest 60-meter dash time in the country and several members of the Arizona State University track and field team set some of the top early season marks in the country in the Sun Devils 2012 opener at the Lumberjack Invitational in Flagstaff, Ariz., Jan. 14.
Milus obliterated his personal record in the 60-meter dash in the finals of the event at the J.L. Walkup Skydome, winning the evening in 6.59 seconds and earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships in March. The time was adjusted for altitude to 6.63 seconds, which means Milus didn't quite meet the NCAA automatic qualifying mark.
For Milus it was the second-fastest indoor time in school history and is the fastest time in the event clocked by any collegiate athlete in the country early this season.
Chris Benard set the school indoor record in the triple jump, winning the event with a jump of 16.14m (52-11.50), taking down Dwight Phillips’ 12-year-old record in the event by about three inches. Like Milus, Benard’s mark would rank as the top-mark in the country barring any better results from other events in the country this weekend.
Chris Burrows, running in his first race as a Sun Devil, clocked a time of 21.39 in the 200-meter dash for the fastest collegiate time and the eighth-fastest indoor time in school history. The time will likely rank in the top-25 in the country when all the results pour in from the weekend.
William Taylor, another newcomer to the team, clocked the second-fastest 60-meter hurdle time in school history with his 8.00 second performance in the preliminary round before he would go on to be the runner-up in the final.
In the 800-meter run, Mason McHenry opened up the season with a top-10 national time in 1:50.46 to win the event.
In the shot put, returning NCAA outdoor champion Jordan Clarke had the top collegiate mark with a throw of 19.13m (62-09.25) to finish second overall. The throw ranks in the top-10 in the country this season and was a new career indoor best for Clarke, who earned second-team All-America honors in the event last season.
Nick Happe was also the individual winner in the mile run in a time of 4:18.13 while the men’s 4x400-meter relay team of Burrows, Allante Battle, John Kline and Kelsey Caesar also took the victory in 3:14.53.
On the women’s side, UNLV transfer Chelsea Cassulo showed her importance to the depth of the throwing team in winning the weight throw with a mark of 18.93m (62-01.25), though she competed unattached at the competition.
Keia Pinnick ran a new career best in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.56 in the prelim round to improve her sixth-place standing all-time on ASU’s career list. She would go on to finish third overall in the event. Pinnick also added a second-place finish in the long jump with a leap of 5.96m (19-06.75).
The Sun Devils also saw victories from Sarah Geren in the 400-meter dash, Shelby Houlihan at 800-meters and Anna Jelmini in the shot put.
The Sun Devils will be back in action in two weeks at the Texas A&M Challenge in College Station, Texas, on Jan. 27-28.