May 25, 2012
AUSTIN, Texas – The Arizona State University track and field team continued its strong run through the NCAA West Prelims on Saturday in Austin, Texas, with three more student-athletes punching their tickets to the NCAA Championships in Des Moines, Iowa.
Like Thursday, it was sophomore Anna Jelmini getting things rolling for the No. 11 Arizona State women at Mike A. Myers Stadium. A day removed from earning a qualification in the shot put, Jelmini posted the top throw of the discus competition on Friday with a toss of 57.49m (188-07) to topple her competition by two meters.
With the throw, Jelmini guaranteed that she would return to the throwing ring in both the discus and shot put in Des Moines for the second consecutive year. Jelmini is undefeated against collegiate competition outdoors this season in the discus.
In the men’s triple jump, senior Chris Burrows posted the top leap of the competition as he soared 16.73m (54-10.75) on his third attempt to continue his undefeated streak against collegiate competition this outdoor season. Benard also posted his second ticket to Iowa with the mark, following his long jump qualification yesterday.
In the men’s hammer throw, Jordan Clarke also earned his second qualification of the weekend as he finished 10th overall with a throw of 62.26 (204-03) to earn one of the 12 qualifications available to the NCAA Finals.
The Sun Devils also saw a lot of success in the men’s 200-meter dash as the team advanced all three competitors in action to tomorrow’s quarterfinal. Junior Chris Burrows was second in his heat and clocked the fourth-fastest time of the opening round in 20.68.
Teammates Rashad Ross and Daniel Auberry both clocked a career-best in all conditions in a wind-aided 20.96 to advance on time while Daniel Auberry was just off his career best in a time of 20.99 as both advanced on time.
Auberry showed off his short-term memory with the performance as well, bouncing back from taking a 14th-place finish in the men’s 100-meter dash and just missing advancing to the NCAA Championships in the event. Auberry came in as the 22nd seed in the region.
Alycia Herring earned a ticket to Saturday’s 200-meter final as well as she clocked a time of 24.17 to earn one of nine time qualifications into the quarterfinal event.
The mens 100m race was also detrimental to Arizona State’s cause as Ryan Milus was forced to pull up with a leg injury after an impressive start in his heat. While his status is unknown, he did not compete in the men’s 200-meter dash and likely won’t compete in the men’s 4x100-meter relay on Saturday.
One of the day’s other close calls came in the women’s discus event as senior Cj Navarro narrowly missed a top-12 finish after setting a huge season best with a mark of 51.24m (168-01). That mark put Navarro in 13th-place overall and just six centimeters out of 12th, despite entering the weekend ranked 38th in the event in the West Region and having to throw out of the first flight. Navarro will still get a chance to keep her season going in the hammer throw tomorrow.
Kayla Sanchez also finished in the spot nobody likes as she, too, finished in 13th place in the women’s 400-meter hurdles. Sanchez ran a season’s best time of 58.14 in her heat and came just four hundredths of a second shy of the coveted 12th spot. Nevertheless, Sanchez will also have a chance to keep her season going tomorrow as part of the women’s 4x100-meter relay.
Sophomore Asiah Gooden did not advance in the 100-meter dash after finishing 23rd overall in Friday’s quarterfinal but she, like Sanchez, will compete in tomorrow’s quarter-mile relay. Freshman Cameron Taylor came just five hundredths of a second of advancing in his first NCAA Preliminary appearance as he clocked a time of 14.20 to finish 32nd overall in the opening round.
Will Henry took 17th overall in the men’s 400-meter quarterfinal in 46.73 while teammate Kelsey Caesar was 21st in 46.97 so neither will advance in the quarter-mile but both will have a chance to keep their season alive in the 4x400-meter relay tomorrow.
Events are set to begin on Saturday – the final day of the three-day competition – at 11 a.m. CST with the field events with running events commencing at 6 p.m. A complete recap will be available at www.TheSunDevils.com at the conclusion of the day’s competition while a live blog can be found here: /ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=30300&ATCLID=207852020.