May 8, 2010
TEMPE – The Pac-10 Championships got underway in Berkeley, Calif., with the first day of the women’s heptathlon and men’s decathlon being contested on Saturday afternoon with five members of the Arizona State University track and field team posting several season and personal-bests at the meet being hosted by California. Samantha Henderson currently stands second in the heptathlon to lead the Sun Devils while Jamie Sandys is the top ASU man in the decathlon through four and five events, respectively.
Henderson, a two-time NJCAA heptathlon All-American at Mesa CC before coming to Tempe, scored 3,262 points on the first day, which is a personal-best score 237 points, and trails overall leader Brianne Theisen (Oregon) by 338 points through four events while rookie Keia Pinnick currently stands fourth overall with 3,089 points. On the men’s side, Ashton Eaton (Oregon) leads the decathlon with 4,220 points while Sandys stands fifth with a personal-best score of 3,572 points (253-point PR), Austin Prince is ninth overall with 3,365 points (a personal-best by 36 points) while Jeremy Marcinko stands 11th with 3,099 points.
Henderson opened her day with a heptathlon personal-best time of 14.15 in the 100m hurdles to score 957 points before clearing 1.67m (5-05.75) in the high jump to add 818 points. She then threw 11.87m (38-11.50) in the shot put for another 653 points before closing out the day with a career-best time of 25.58 in the 200m dash to collect her final 834 points of the day.
Pinnick opened the day with a heptathlon personal-best time of 14.22 in the 100m hurdles to score 947 points before adding 712 points in the high jump with a clearance of 1.58m (5-02.25). She then threw an overall personal-best 10.14m (33-03.25) in the shot put for another 539 points before closing out the day with a time of 24.95 to score her final 891 points of day one.
Sandys first day personal-best score was aided by three overall personal best marks and one decathlon personal best, starting the day with two personal-bests, including the 100m dash in 11.56 for 740 points and the long jump with a leap of 6.66m (21-10.25) for 734 points. After a mark of 11.86m (38-11.00) in the shot put yielded 598 points, he scored 749 points with a decathlon personal-best clearance of 1.94m (6-04.25) in the high jump and then closed out the day with a personal-best time of 51.40 in the 400m dash for 751 points.
Prince opened and closed the day with personal-best times as he scored 765 points in the 100m dash in 11.44 and closed out the first day with a time of 51.02 and 768 points in the 400m dash. Between the two events, he scored 704 points in the long jump with a mark of 6.53m (21-05.25), 509 points in the shot put with a toss of 10.39m (34-01.25) and a decathlon personal-best clearance of 1.79m (5-10.50) in the high jump that secured 619 more points.
Just like Prince, Marcinko scored a pair of personal bests at the open and close of the day, starting with a time of 11.61 in the 100m dash for 730 points and ending with a time of 51.62 in the 400m dash for 741 points. He also added 537 points in the long jump with a leap of 5.77m (18-11.25) in the long jump, 571 points with a mark of 11.42m (37-05.75) in the shot put and 520 points in the high jump with a clearance of 1.67m (5-05.75).
The heptathlon and decathlon will conclude on Sunday in Berkeley with all other events being contested next weekend on Saturday and Sunday. On the second day, the women’s heptathlon will consist of the long jump, javelin and 800m run while the decathlon will include the 110m hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1,500m run.