April 20, 2013
WALNUT, Calif. – The Arizona State University track and field wrapped up the second day of competition at the Mt. SAC Relays on Friday in Walnut, Calif.
Ryan Herson was the story of the day as the redshirt freshman crushed his personal best at 5,000 meters by 14 seconds en route to a time of 13:51.00 at the Hilmer Lodge Stadium on Friday evening.
Herson was the fourth-highest finishing collegian in the Elite Olympic Development section – set up as the second-fastest race of the day. Barring other results from the country this weekend, the redshirt freshman’s time would tentatively rank in the top-20 nationally this season.
The time ranks Herson fourth all-time in ASU history and broke the school freshman record. Only Aaron Aguayo and Ryan Warrenburg have run faster times at Arizona State and all went on to professional careers.
In the men’s 1,500-meter Elite section, Darius Terry was 15th in a time of 3:45.69 while Nick Happe took 11th in the Olympic Development section in 3:44.39.
Brian Pierre was 14th in the ‘A’ section of the open 5,000-meter run with a time of 14:12.92 while, over on the women’s side, Adriana Olivas was 13th in her outdoor debut as a Sun Devil in 16:59.17.
In the men’s pole vault, Dylan Austin took second in the ‘B’ section with a clearance of 5.15m (16-10.75) – just shy of his career outdoor best.
Friday’s competition essentially wrapped things up for the Sun Devils in California outside of Shelby Houlihan, who is slated to compete in the elite section of the 800-meter run on Saturday.