Jan. 31, 2004
TEMPE, Ariz. - Bragging rights were on the line once again in Flagstaff, Ariz., Saturday as the Arizona State track and field teams battled both Arizona and Northern Arizona in the Double Dual and, for the second year in a row, the men and women returned to Tempe with sweeps of their intrastate rivals. The women scored convincing victories over the Wildcats, 133.5-108, and the Lumberjacks, 133.5-62.5, while the men handed losses to UA and NAU by scores of 121-103 and 121-84, respectively.
The men had a solid day and were led by the accomplishments of the sprinters. Jason Barton (Jr., Phoenix) won the 400m dash for the second meet in a row (45.80) while Lewis Banda (So., Bulawayo, Zimbabwe) took second (45.82). Both athletes earned automatic berths into the NCAA Championships while becoming the first two Sun Devil men to record sub-46 second times in the event. Barton's mark is the school record, moving past Tony Berrian's 46.16 mark recorded in 2000. But Barton was not the only Sun Devil to set a school record on the day. In the women's pole vault, both Angela Tavlarides (Jr., Phoenix) and Kristi Raban (Jr., Mesa, Ariz.) cleared 3.66m (12-0.00) to tie each other for the school mark, bettering the 3.55m (11-8.00) that Olivia Mazzaglia cleared in 2001.
Barton and Banda also had a hand in the 4x400m relay win, joining teammates Seth Amoo (Jr., Palmdale, Calif.) and Steve Fitch (Sr., San Ramon, Calif.) in provisionally qualifying for the national meet. Amoo also won the 200m dash while Fitch provisionally qualified for the national meet in the 400m. Steven Koehnemann (Fr., Chandler, Ariz.) rounded out the sprints wins as he captured the 55-meter dash (6.28).
Trevell Quinley (Jr., Tracy, Calif.) won a pair of competitions in the field to help pace the Devils as he captured the high jump and long jump. His long jump mark of 7.54m (24-9.0) was 0.01m shy of a provisional qualifier for the NCAA meet. Also winning in the field was Ryan Zimmerman (Jr., Nipomo, Calif.) in the triple jump and Travis Jones (Jr., San Diego) in the shot put.
On the women's side, freshman Jacquelyn Johnson (Yuma, Ariz.) led the charge as she had a hand in three victories, claiming gold in the 55-meter hurdles (7.85), the high jump (1.69m/5-6.5) and was a member of the winning 4x400m relay team with Cassandra Reed (Jr., Avondale, Ariz.), Christina Hardeman (So., Sunnyvale, Calif.) and Kandace Tucker (So., Irving, Texas). Reed also won the 400m dash (54.48) to provisionally qualify in the event. The Sun Devils' final multiple winner was Amy Hastings (Fr., Leavenworth, Kan.), in her first track meet as a Sun Devil. Hastings took the 800m race (2:15.66) and joined Desiree Davila (Jr., Chula Vista, Calif.), Jessie McLaughlin (Fr., Olympia, Wash.) and Katrice Walton (So., Detroit, Mich.) in winning the distance medley relay. ASU's final win on the track came with Liz Lindgren (So., Klamath Falls, Ore.) taking first in the 3,000m run.
In the field, the women shined again with four wins and one provisional mark. Along with Johnson's high jump victory, Jennifer Kowacz (Jr., Goodyear, Ariz.) set a personal best and the No. 2 all-time ASU throw in the shot put to earn a provisional mark in the event (15.64m/51-3.75) while fellow thrower Jessica Pressley (Fr., Elk Grove, Calif.) won the weight throw for the second time this year (18.16m/59-7.0). Tinishia Johnson (So., Reno, Nev.) rounded out the field winners with a victory in the long jump.
Along with Barton, Tavlarides and Raban establishing school records Saturday, several other marks went down as Top 5 entries into the Sun Devil record books. The women's distance medley relay took over fourth in the lists while pole vaulter Michelle Lang (Fr., Phoenix) improved upon her fourth-place standing. Pressley and Kowacz each improved their second and fourth-place standings in the weight throw, respectively. On the men's side, the distance medley relay of Ryan Warrenburg (So., Franklin, Ind.), Jeff Dodge (Jr., Chandler, Ariz.), Greg Halver (Fr., Phoenix) and Roger Cahill (So., Glendale, Ariz.) are now third all-time while Brandon Glenn (Fr., Avondale, Ariz.) equalled his third-place standing in the pole vault he earned last meet.
Overall, both the men and women swept the Top 3 finishes in two events. The men placed 1-2-3 in the 55-meter dash (Koehnemann, Amoo and Bruno G?es (Fr., Brasilia, Brazil)) and the 400m dash (Barton, Banda and Fitch) while the women swept through the long jump (T. Johnson, J. Johnson and Porchea Carroll (Jr., Oxnard, Calif.)) and the weight throw (Pressley, Kowacz and Sandra Orsund (Sr., Plymouth, Ind.)). For the meet, the women won 10 events, took second in five and third in seven with the men winning eight, runners-up in five and third in eight.
The Sun Devils will split their squads next weekend with part of the team traveling to Boise, Idaho, for the United Heritage Invitational, Feb. 7, while the remaining student-athletes make another return trip to Flagstaff for the Mountain 'T' Invitational, also Feb. 7.