March 23, 2006
Day One Meet Results (pdf)
TEMPE, Ariz. - In their first multi-event competition of the season, three members of the Arizona State University track and field team has opened with solid marks on the first day of the Jim Click Combined Events meet in Tucson on the University of Arizona campus. NCAA indoor national champion Jacquelyn Johnson leads the women's heptathlon while Joshua Kinnaman is third and Ryan Ehler is sixth in the decathlon.
On the women's side, Johnson has accumulated a personal-best first day total of 3,561 points to lead the heptathlon by 383 points over Sara Jane Baker of Nebraska. Johnson opened the day with 1,028 points earned by running 13.65 in the 100m hurdles and followed that with 941 points earned in the high jump by clearing 1.77m. Her high jump mark is the best she has recorded during a heptathlon competition, as is the 12.20m throw in the shot put that earned her 674 points. In the fourth and final event of day one, Johnson clocked in at 24.66 to garner another 918 points for her total.
Kinnaman, who earned All-America honors by placing eighth at the NCAA Indoor Championships in the heptathlon two weeks ago, has accumulated 3,959 points to sit third overall in the `A' flight of the decathlon and stands as the top collegiate competitor as the first and second-place athletes are unattached, post-collegiate athletes. Darius Draudvila leads the way with 4,120 points. Kinnaman opened the day with 845 points in the 100m dash with a time of 11.07 before collecting 781 points with a mark of 6.86m in the long jump.
He then garnered 714 points for his toss of 13.76m in the shot put, just over a six-inch improvement for Kinnaman in the event during a decathlon competition. He also set a personal best mark in the decathlon high jump with a clearance of 1.98m for 785 points before closing out the day with a time of 49.59 in the 400m dash for 834 points.
Ehler, in just his second decathlon as a collegiate competitor, sits sixth in the `B' flight of the event as he set four personal best marks on the day. After opening with 789 points in the 100m dash (11.33), Ehler jumped 6.02m for 591 points for his first leap past six meters. After scoring 663 points in the shot put with a toss of 12.93m, Ehler again improved in the high jump as he collected 731 points by clearing 1.92m, up from his best of 1.80m. In the final event of the day, Ehler ran 54.28 in the 400m dash for 628 points and an improvement of nearly seven seconds. His first day total of 3,402 points is 387 better than his first decathlon event last year.
The trio of competitors will conclude their stay in Tucson on Friday while the remainder of the squad prepares for the 2006 ASU Invitational this weekend. The women's hammer leads off the competition at 5 p.m. Friday night followed by the men to close out the first day. On Saturday, the women's discus leads the main day of competition on Joe Selleh Track at Sun Angel Stadium with the running events getting underway at 5:30 p.m.