Feb. 11, 2012
SEATTLE, Wash./BOISE, Idaho – The Arizona State University No. 24 men’s and No. 21 women’s track and field teams wrapped up an eventful weekend of action on Saturday with both teams having student-athletes compete at both the Husky Invitational in Seattle, Wash., and the Boise Team Challenge in Boise, Idaho.
In Boise, junior Jordan Clarke got back to his winning ways with a victory in the men’s shot put at Jackson Indoor Facility – site of the 2012 NCAA Indoor Championships. Clarke’s winning throw of 18.83m (61-9.50) was the second-best mark of the year for the retuning NCAA outdoor champion.
The throw was also good enough to hold of in-state rival Bozidar Antunovic of Arizona by about seven inches.
In the women’s shot put, sophomore Anna Jelmini posted her top throw of the season with a mark of 16.07m (52-8.75) to take runner-up honors.
In Seattle, it was the men’s and women’s distance crews as well as the women’s sprints teams in action.
In the first indoor mile run of her career, freshman Shelby an ASU indoor school record in 4:41.26 against some of the elite middle distance runners in the country, finishing 10th overall. Houlihan’s time was just four seconds off the NCAA auto mark and took down Lisa Aguilera’s 12-year-old school record in the event by over three seconds.
In the women’s 60-meter dash, both Kayla Sanchez and Asiah Gooden set new personal bests as the two both clocked a time of 7.51 to finish in a tie for second place. The times move both Sanchez and Gooden into a tie for sixth on ASU’s all-time list.
Sanchez also won the women’s invite section of the 400-meter dash event in 54.64 while teammate Keia Pinnick was third in 55.32. Sanchez’ time was a huge personal best indoors and the fastest time by a Sun Devil this season.
Pinnick was also seventh in the finals of the 60-meter hurdles in 8.57, setting a new personal best in the process and improving his sixth-place standing all-time on ASU’s descending order list.
In the open 400-meter section, Brianna Tate was second overall in a time of 55.37 while junior college transfer opened up her Sun Devil career with a fifth-place finish in 56.41.
The women’s 4x400-meter relay team, featuring Sanchez, Pinnick, Brierra Winfrey and Sarah Geren, would go on to win the event in a time of 3:44.35.
On the men’s side, Brian Pierre had a strong run in the invite section of the 3,000-meter run, clocking a time of 8:03.47 to finish 17th overall. The time also moved Pierre into ASU’s top-10 list at No. 8 all-time.
Mason McHenry also moved into ASU’s all-time top-10 in the mile, clocking a time of 4:06.47 to finish 21st in the invite section and take over the seventh spot in ASU indoor history.
The Sun Devils will return to action next week with a very small-scale meet as the team competes at the NAU Tune-Up as the squad prepares for the MPSF Conference Championships set to take place the following weekend.