May 9, 2008
TEMPE, Ariz. - The first day of action in the women's heptathlon and men's decathlon at the 2008 Pac-10 Track & Field Championships presented by 76 Gasoline came to a close Friday night on Joe Selleh Track at Sun Angel Stadium with Arizona State University senior Jacquelyn Johnson leading the heptathlon and sophomore Kyle Hitchcock standing ninth in the decathlon.
Through four of seven events, Johnson has scored 3,691 points to take an 85 point lead over USC's Nia Ali (3,606) while Oregon's Brianne Theisen stands third with 3,369 points (322 behind Johnson). In the decathlon, Hitchcock has scored 3,228 points and is 32 points out of eighth place (Chris McGovern of Arizona). Ashton Eaton of Oregon leads the decathlon with 4,069 points and is closely followed by Rickey Moody of Washington State (4,030).
Johnson, who is 76 points ahead of her school-record pace, won two events and placed in the Top 4 in the other two. Her 3,691 points is a school first-day record, surpassing the 3,659 points scored by Gea Johnson in 1990. The younger Johnson opened the day with a pair of ASU heptathlon records as she placed second in the 100m hurdles at 13.21 to score 1,093 points before tying for first in the high jump with an ASU heptathlon record clearance of 1.81m (5-11.25) to add 991 points. The previous records were 13.34 by Johnson in 2006 and 1.71m in the high jump by Gea in 1990.
The six-time national champion followed up her performance with a mark of 11.93m (39-01.75) in the shot put for the event victory and another 656 points. She closed out the day with a time of 24.31 in the 200m dash to add 951 points after running fourth in the race.
Hitchcock, who is one point ahead of his personal-best score through day one, opened with 705 points in the 100m dash with his time of 11.73, the 10th-fastest in the race. He placed ninth in the long jump with a leap of 6.24m to collect another 639 points before placing seventh in the shot put with a heave of 11.55m for 579 points. He again finished seventh, this time in the high jump with a clearance of 1.83m to score 653 points before closing the day with a time of 53.70 in the 400m dash, the ninth-best in the field, for 652 points.
Competition continues Saturday in Tempe with the final three women's events and the final five men's events. The men lead off with the 110m hurdles at 3:30 p.m. while the wome start at 5 p.m. in the long jump.