April 4, 2000
This Week
Arizona State men's and women's track teams will head to the 73rd annual Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas, April 7-8. The Sun Devils will not send any athletes to the Hayward Relays in Eugene, Ore., which was previously on the team's schedule for April 7.
National Rankings
The first outdoor rankings for the 2000 season were released April 4 by TrackWire.com. The Sun Devils' men's squad debuted at No. 18, while the women's team was not included. In the men's rankings, seven Pac-10 teams are in the top 25, leading with second-ranked Stanford and fifth-ranked USC, and followed by No. 11 UCLA, tNo. 12 Arizona, No. 18 Arizona State, tNo. 20 Washington State and tNo. 22 Washington. Additionally, all three Arizona universities are represented as Nothern Arizona debuts at tNo. 22. On the women's side, league members USC and UCLA are ranked first and second, respectively, while Arizona is ranked 16th.
Last Outing
All three of women's relay teams posted victories while Kelly MacDonald, Lisa Aguilera and Brianna Torres posted a 1-2-3 finish in the women's 3,000 meter event for Arizona State's track team during the Baldy Castillo Invitational, held March 24-25 at Sun Angel Stadium. The women's 4x100m relay came down to the wire as the Sun Devil squad defeated Tennessee by 0.02 seconds, posting a 45.44. The 4x400m relay also topped Tennessee's squad, but by a larger margin, taking top honors in 3:38.28. That mark provisionally qualifies the relay for the NCAA Championships, to be held in Durham, N.C., May 31 - June 3. The women's distance medley relay recorded a winning time of 11:33.38. MacDonald recorded a time of 9:28.62 with Aguilera finishing just over one second back, at 9:29.63. Both marks provisionally qualify the two for nationals.
The men's relay squads posted one win and two runner-up performances at the meet. The men's distance medley relay won in 9:47.59, while the 4x400m squad placed second to Ohio State with a 3:08.36. The 4x100m relay, already provisionally qualified for the NCAAs, posted a 39.58, placing second to an unattached team.
Other top finishers include Mary Duerbeck's third place in the 5,000 meters (17:12.99), Olivia Mazzaglia's third place in the high jump (5-6.5), Erika Johnson's second place in the triple jump (40-5), and Dwight Phillips' second place in the 100 meters (10.36).
In the men's competition, Brandon Strong won the men's 1,500m for the Sun Devils, with a 3:46.86 time. Teammate Isaiah Festa placed third in that event with a 3:47.63. Other winners include Fasil Bizuneh in the men's 5,000m (14:28.63) and Jeremy Rasmussen in the men's 3,000m Steeplechase (9:03.57).
Multievents were concluded earlier in the day at Mesa Community College. ASU's Elizabeth Arollo placed 10th in the heptathlon, compiling 4365 points. In the decathlon, ASU's Brian Kraemer placed ninth (6391) and Kyle Frerichs placed 17th (5832).
Outdoor NCAA Championships
This year's National Championships will be held at Duke University in Durham, N.C., May 31 through June 3. The Sun Devil men are looking to improve on last year's 18th place finish while the women are looking to place for the first time since 1996. The men's 4x100 relay provisionally qualified for the Championships, posting a 39.33 at the ASU/USTCA Invitational (3/18). Also provisionally qualified are Kelly Mac Donald (9:28.62) and Lisa Aguilera (9:29.63) in the 3000m, Candida Coulson in the 400m hurdles (58.81) and the women's 4x400m relay (3:38.28).
Head Coach Greg Kraft
Greg Kraft, ASU's eighth director of track & field and cross country, has tirelessly rebuilt the Sun Devils' program from probation to prosperity as he enters his fourth year as a Sun Devil. After spending his first two years at ASU rebuilding the program one event at a time, 1999 saw Kraft get some results. During the indoor season, ASU's men finished 11th and the women tied for 32nd at the NCAA Championships. Marcus Brunson (60 meters) and Dwight Phillips (Long Jump) were NCAA runners-up. Six indoor school records were broken. The outdoor season saw three school records fall while the men finished fifth in the Pac-10, just 0.5 points out of fourth place, and 18th at the NCAA Championships. Three conference crowns were won at the Pac-10 Championships. Kraft, 44, was introduced as ASU's head coach July 28, 1996, after spending seven years heading the track & field and cross country programs at the University of South Carolina where he was the 1996 SEC Coach of the Year. During Kraft's tenure at South Carolina, he rebuilt the men's program into a league power and built the women's program from scratch. Kraft also headed the men's program transition from the Metro Conference to the SEC. Kraft, a Cal Poly SLO graduate, is now entering his 20th year of Division I coaching and 11th as a head coach, has long been associated with successful track & field and cross country programs. As an assistant, Kraft tutored 34 All-Americans and individual conference champions while helping guide his schools to four conference championships and three NCAA Top 10 finishes.
NCAA Indoor Championships Recap
The men's track and field team recorded its first top-10 finish in the program's history at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., tying for 10th with 16 points to surpass the previous school-best of 11th at last year's event. The Lady Sun Devils tied for 23rd with eight points, the team's best finish since placing 19th in 1995 and only two points away from a top-10 finish. In the process, four school records were broken. Sprinter Tony Berrian broke his own school record in the 400m event, placing third with a 46.16, topping his record-breaking preliminary (46.26). Dwight Phillips also broke his own school record, placing eighth in the triple jump ( 52-8.75). Phillips earned runner-up honors in the long jump competition for the second straight year, breaking his own school record by almost 1 foot. The distance medley relay placed eighth. Berrian, Phillips and the relay of Brandon Strong, LaVell Robinson-Blanchard, David Burke and Garrett Jensen earned All-America honors. In the women's competition, Lisa Aguilera placed seventh in the mile (4:48.77), while Kelly MacDonald broke her own school record in the 5,000m (16:13.41) to place seventh. Valerie Williams placed sixth with a season-best 20-10.5 in the long jump while teammate Tiffany Greer placed eighth in the same event (20-6.5). All four women earned All-America honors. Host Arkansas won its fifth straight, and 16 of the last 17 titles, in the men's team competition. On the women's side, UCLA took the title while two-time defending champion Texas tied for fifth.
NCAA Outdoor Championship Qualifiers
MEN
Provisional Qualifiers
| Name | Event | Mark |
| ASU Relay | 4x100 | 39.33 |
Women
Provisional Qualifiers
| Name | Event | Mark |
| Kelly MacDonald | 3000m | 9:28.62 |
| Lisa Aguilera | 3000m | 9:29.63 |
| Candida Coulson | 400mH | 58.81 |
| ASU Relay | 4x400 | 3:38.28 |
The NCAA Outdoor Championships will be held May 31 through June 3 in at Duke University in Durham, N.C.
Trackwire.com Rankings (as of 4/4/00)
Men
| 1. | Arkansas | 69 |
| 2. | Stanford | 61 |
| 3. | Florida | 49 |
| 4. | Auburn | 46 |
| 5. | USC | 40 |
| 6. | Louisiana State | 34 |
| Baylor | 34 | |
| 8. | Southern Methodist | 30 |
| 9. | Tennessee | 29 |
| 10. | Texas Christian | 25 |
| 11. | UCLA | 21 |
| 12. | South Alabama | 20 |
| Clemson | 20 | |
| Texas | 20 | |
| Arizona | 20 | |
| 16. | UTEP | 19 |
| 17. | South Carolina | 18 |
| 18. | ARIZONA STATE | 16 |
| 19. | Alabama | 15 |
| 20. | Washington State | 12 |
| Georgia | 12 | |
| 22. | Colorado State | 11 |
| Northern Arizona | 11 | |
| Washington | 11 | |
| 25. | Nebraska | 10 |
| Texas A&M | 10 |
Women
| 1. | USC | 58 |
| 2. | UCLA | 57 |
| 3. | Louisiana State | 56 |
| 4. | South Carolina | 49 |
| 5. | Texas | 47 |
| 6. | Arkansas | 34 |
| 7. | Southern Methodist | 33 |
| 8. | UTEP | 31 |
| 9. | Villanova | 28 |
| 10. | BYU | 26 |
| 11. | Kansas State | 20 |
| 12. | Ohio State | 19 |
| 13. | Florida | 16 |
| Syracuse | 16 | |
| Minnesota | 16 | |
| 16. | Arizona | 15 |
| Harvard | 15 | |
| 18. | Auburn | 14 |
| Florida State | 14 | |
| 20. | Nebraska | 13 |
| Baylor | 13 | |
| 22. | Houston | 12 |
| 23. | Purdue | 10 |
| Manhattan | 10 | |
| Georgia | 10 |