March 11, 2005
TEMPE, Ariz. - The 2005 NCAA Indoor Championships opened Friday morning inside the Randal Tyson Indoor Facility in Fayetteville, Ark., with several members of the Arizona State University track and field teams competing for national titles and All-America honors. At the end of the first day, four Sun Devils earned the national accolade with three coming on the men's side, to help both teams into the Top 25 of the standings. The men have accumulated 15 points to put themselves in a tie for fourth place and only five points behind the leader, Oregon. The women have tallied four points are tied for 25th after seven events.
Trevell Quinley led the charge for the Sun Devils as he popped a career-best 7.92m (26-00.00) in the long jump to finish in second place in the event and earn his third All-America honor. The senior was in fourth following the preliminary round of three jumps after recording only one mark, a 7.89m, on his second attempt. In the finals, Quinley was leader heading into the sixth and final jump, but eventual winner Aarik Wilson of Indiana exploded for a mark of 8.12m (26-09.75) to surpass Quinley. Overall, the 26-foot jump by Quinley is the second-longest in school history and puts him elite company with 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist Dwight Phillips as the only two Sun Devil men to break the 26-foot barrier indoors.
Also in the field, sophomore Brandon Glenn captured seventh place in the pole vault for his first All-America honors by clearing the bar set at 5.40m (17-08.50). His mark, which is two inches better than his all-time best of 5.35m (17-06.50), came on his third and final attempt at the height. Glenn bowed out of the event one round later as he could not clear 5.50m. Prior to his final attempts, he cleared 5.15m and 5.30m on his first attempts before moving on to 5.40m.
In what became one of the more exciting races of the night in Arkansas, sophomore Domenik Peterson finished fourth in the 200m dash for the second season in a row as he clocked in at a school record 20.43m. The previous mark was set a year ago by Peterson when he finished fourth at 20.57. In the finals, Arkansas' Wallace Spearmon blazed to an American, Collegiate, Track and Meet record with a winning time of 20.10, bettering the previous standard of 20.26. Walter Dix of Florida State was second at 20.37 and South Carolina's Rodney Martin took third at 20.38. Also in the event, ASU's Seth Amoo competed in the preliminaries with Peterson, but times and placements were not available.
The final All-America honor attained on the evening was by Amy Hastings in the 5,000m run. The accolade marks the second year in a row Hastings has placed among the Top 8 in the national event and also gives her two awards on the season following the honor received during the cross country season. In the race, Hastings crossed the line in 16:06.62 to place fifth overall while intrastate rival Ida Nilsson of Northern Arizona captured the crown in a winning time of 15:50.20.
Several other Sun Devils competed on the day, but did not score or advance in their respective events. Julia Pedersen 15th in the shot put event with a throw of 14.93m (48-11.75); Jason Barton finished third in his heat of the 400m dash, but his overall time of 46.84 ranked him 10th and did not allow him to advance to the finals; Rachel Ellison competed in the mile run and placed 13th at 4:47.75, missing the finals in her first indoor national meet with the Sun Devils; and the final ASU entrants came in the women's distance medley relay that finished 11th at 11:30.69. The relay was composed of Ellison, Cassandra Reed, Jessie McLaughlin and Desiree Davila. Joshua Kinnaman, who traveled to the meet to compete in the heptathlon, had to withdraw from the event after agrivating an injury during the first event of the day, the 60m hurdles.
The NCAA meet concludes Saturday in Fayetteville with the men's 4x400m relay team of Peterson, Amoo, Barton and Lewis Banda taking to the track in the final event of the day.