March 24, 2004
TEMPE, Ariz. - Joshua Kinnaman, a freshman on the Arizona State track and field team, competed in the Mike Maynard Combined Events Meet over the past two days, finishing fifth overall and third among collegiate athletes in his first decathlon. The meet was held in Tucson and hosted by the University of Arizona Tuesday and Wednesday.
Kinnaman (Fr., Chandler, Ariz.) finished the first day of action in second place overall with a one day total of 3,877 points before totaling 7,147 points for the event. His decathlon total is the eighth-best in school history and makes him just the ninth Sun Devil to break the 7,000 point barrier. The first Sun Devil to move into the Top 10 lists at ASU since Jim Leeper in 1992, Kinnaman's point total earned him an automatic spot in the Pac-10 Championships while also joining the NCAA provisional list.
On day two, Kinnaman accumulated 3,877 points following his competing in another five events. The action opened with the 110m high hurdles in which he placed 11th overall at 16.16 (715 points) before moving to the field events. First up was the discus where he placed sixth at 37.16m (121-11) to take 607 points before placing eighth in the pole vault with a clearance of 4.15m (13-7.25) to earn 659 points. In the javelin, Kinnaman finished first with a toss of 61.04m (200-03) to take 753 points as the only competitor to throw past the 200-feet mark. In the final event of the day, he clocked a 5:04.18 in the 1,500m run to earn 536 points.
For the competition, Kinnaman broke one school record as he clocked a 10.78 in the 100m dash, breaking the 10.88-standard Dannie Jackson ran in 1981. He also came close to the javelin mark of 64.64m (212-1), just 3.60m away from tying Sammy Bryant (1986).
On the women's side, Jacquelyn Johnson (Fr., Yuma, Ariz.) ended day one of the heptathlon in second place and as the top collegiate athlete before withdrawing from the meet on day two.
The Sun Devils will play host to the ASU Invitational Friday night at Sun Angel Stadium with several other members of the team heading to the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif.