TEMPE -- The Arizona State track and field program wraps up their outdoor regular season with the annual Duel in the Desert against the University of Arizona in Tucson on Saturday, April 30.
"It's always an interesting weekend across the Pac-12 as programs are having their traditional duals," said director of track and field Greg Kraft. "It's a nice way to end the outdoor season and have everyone on your team be relevant. We'll go down to Tucson and take more people than we will at the Pac-12 meet, and for a lot of athletes, this is their big meet of the year to experience a rivalry match-up. It's always exciting and always extremely close."
The Sun Devils enter the 2016 series with a 24-20 record on the men's side and 16-14 advantage for the women. The men have defeated the Wildcats in nine-straight seasons while the women have won three of the last five meetings.
While the meet doesn't have Territorial Cup implications, the bragging rights and historical rivalry fuels the competitive juices more than enough.
In the two's last meeting -- at the MPSF Conference Indoor Championships -- the ASU men cruised to a 59-43 victory while the Sun Devil women barely clinched the Territorial Cup point with just one event to go, 43-42.
Kraft expects a similar nail-biter in the dual meet along with the Pac-12 Outdoor Championships.
"On the men's side we may have the upper hand in the short sprints, but they'll have the upper hand in the long sprints and the hurdles," said Kraft. "It'll be pretty even in the throws, but they have an outstanding discus thrower and shot putter. While we have a great hammer and javelin thrower, they have better depth, so it should balance out. They also have an outstanding decathlete and he'll have a big impact on this meet.
"Traditionally, the program that has the upper hand in the dual meet has typically performed better in the Pac-12 Championships. It does give quite a bit of insight into both teams."
The Sun Devil men will be rejoined by redshirt junior Tim White after nearly two months away from the pit due to spring football practice.
"This will be his first meet back since really Mountain Pacific as he was injured at the Indoor National Championships," said Kraft. "I think he will be in the top-48 in the west in his first jump."
While the purpose of the meet is competing to win as a team, several of the Sun Devils will also use the competition as preparation for the Pac-12 Championships in just two weeks and qualification for the NCAA Regional meet.
As of April 28, 100-meter sprinters Isaiah Underwood, Reggie Lewis and Jamol James are all within the top-48 in the west at 23, 29 and 39 respectively. However, on the women's 100-meter list, senior Jasmine Gibbs is right on the cusp with a mark of 11.66. She will need to move up to at least a 11.62 to qualify for the regional meet.
Lewis, Underwood and James team up with freshman Brandon Hasson in the men's 4x100 relay and currently hold the 11th best time in the west region.
In the men's 200, Lewis is well within the qualifying mark, but Underwood sits just outside at No. 49 with a time of 21.12.
Junior LaTroya Franklin and freshman Sierra Irvin have all but punched their ticket in the 400-meter dash with marks inside the top-40.
On the distance side, graduate senior Jen Owen may have a qualifying mark in the women's 1,500-meter run, but she's just on the outside looking in in the women's 800-meter event.
Redshirt junior C.J. Albertson is currently inside the top-48 in three events -- the 1,500-meter, the 5K and the 3,000-meter steeplechase with times of 3:45.06, 13:56.89 and 8:48.50, respectively.
In the pole vault, junior Nathan Hiett's mark of 5.20m (17-0.75) is inside the top-30, while redshirt freshman Matt Eckles is just over an inch away from qualifying.
Jumpers Keyasia Tibbs and Josh Dixon both hold the sixth and seventh best marks in the region, respectively, in the triple jump. Tibbs set the new ASU outdoor record at the Mt. SAC Relays with a mark of 13.10m (42-11.75).
Throwers Thomas Anderson, Ahmed Hassan and Kyle Long all are currently qualified in the shot put, while Long is also in the top-15 in the men's discus and top-25 in the hammer throw.
Redshirt sophomore Maggie Ewen is qualified in the women's shot put, discus and hammer, with top-five marks in the discus and hammer events. She is top-15 in the shot put.
You can follow live results for the Dual in the Desert at FinishedResults.com.