Feb. 25, 1998
Arizona State travels to Reno, Nev., for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Indoor Championships this Friday and Saturday, February 27-28. The MPSF includes teams from the Pac-10, Big West and West Coast Conferences. ASU will send 16 men and 16 women this year, an increase of three and seven, respectively, from last year. It is the final opportunity to better or set qualifying marks for the NCAA Indoor Championships, held March 13-14 in Indianapolis.
This Year at MPSF Championships . . .
Arizona State's NCAA provisional qualifiers are among the favorites to capture MPSF individual crowns. Dawnyell Linder has clocked the fastest 55 meter (6.84) and second-fastest 200 meter (24.22) times of MPSF participants. Joronda White has the fastest time coming into the women's 400 (53.41) while Tony Berrian has the third-fastest time entering the men's 400 (47.33). In the field events, Mika Laiho registered the second-best weight throw of the season (20.34m). In addition, ASU's 4x400 teams for both the men and women come in with the second-fastest times.
. . . and Last Year at MPSF Championships
Three Sun Devils return to the MPSF's that finished among the top 8 in their events at the 1997 MPSF Championships. Fiona Daly placed second in the high jump, Mika Laiho finished seventh in the weight throw and Priscilla Hein finished seventh in the 800 meter run. Laiho captured the weight throw MPSF championship in 1996 en route to a fifth-place finish at the NCAAs. As a team, ASU's women finished 10th last year with 25 points while the men finished in an 11th-place tie with 11 points.
NCAA Provisional Qualifiers
Five Sun Devils have reached provisional qualifying scores for the NCAA Indoor Championship meet. Junior Dawnyell Linder's 6.84 in the 55m, junior Joronda White's 53.41 in the 400m, junior Fiona Daly's 1.77m (5-9.75) high jump and Mika Laiho's 20.34m (66-8.75) weight throw put them on the board. Laiho and White's marks most likely will get the two to the Championships as both surpass the lowest qualifying marks of any NCAA participant in the last four years. Daly and Linder will each need to improve upon their marks to make the NCAAs as neither provisional mark would earn them an invite. Linder's 55m time is 0.01 seconds away from an automatic qualifying mark, which she'll need to participate at the NCAAs.
Return of the ASU Relay
At Arizona State, superb relay teams are as much a tradition as superb weather. At last week's Flagstaff Invitational, ASU returned to form with outstanding 4x400 performances from both its men and women. Due to an oversized track, ASU's times narrowly missed NCAA qualifying standards, but they were still impressive. ASU's men's team of LaVell Robinson-Blanchard, Tony Berrian, Brian Raspberry and Vondra Armour came within 0.13 of defeating the relay team for top-ranked Arkansas and recorded the third-fastest relay time (3:10.77) in ASU Indoor history. The women's squad of Arlaina Davis, Joronda White, Christy Winkle and Dawnyell Linder came in at 3:41.88.Kraft-ing ASU's Program
Head coach Greg Kraft brought to ASU a reputation as a tremendous program builder after taking South Carolina's men to unprecedented heights and creating a national power on the women's side during a seven-year stint in Columbia. With its program in need of a major overhaul, there was not a better man for ASU's job than the 1996 SEC Coach of the Year. ASU's eighth head coach, Kraft is in his second season at ASU and is in the process of rebuilding ASU one step at a time. "You need to build it one step at a time," Kraft has said. "When I look at our team, obviously depth is not going to be one of our strengths. What we've tried to do is develop pockets of excellence in one particular area and move on from there."
Youth Movement
As Greg Kraft and his staff mold the ASU program, youth is an obvious trait and focus. After just seven scholarship freshman came to ASU in the three years previous to their arrival, the ASU coaching staff has littered the roster with freshmen. Twenty-six freshmen are on the current ASU roster - comprising half the ASU roster. In fact, 64 percent of ASU's roster is either freshmen or sophomores.
Nifty Notes
The ASU men's 78-77 win over Arizona on February 7 was the first win for the Sun Devils over their arch-rival, indoor or outdoor, since 1992 ... after sitting a year ago, for one reason or another, Vondre Armour, Andy Carusetta, Brian Raspberry, Matt Repak and Maris Doty are key additions to this year's squad ... Also competing this season in the shot put and discus for the Sun Devils is football standout Jeremy Staat ... Freshman Arlaina Davis is one of two female Indiana athletes to be the state champion in the 100m, 200m, 400m in the same meet. The other? Former ASU great and Olympic gold medalist Maicel Malone ... sophomore Mary Duerbeck heads the female distance crew after leading the Sun Devil pack at every cross country meet in 1996, including a first-place finish at the ASU Invitational.
Men Defeat UofA
ASU began its indoor season last Saturday with a double dual at Flagstaff, Ariz., against in-state foes Arizona and Northern Arizona. The Sun Devils 78-77 win over the Wildcats was their first victory over their arch-rival, indoor or outdoor, since 1992 when ASU beat the 'Cats both inside and out. The Sun Devil men narrowly lost to NAU, 78-73. ASU's women lost to both the UofA and NAU: 86.5-60.5 and 80-57, respectively.
Inside the Numbers
A closer look at ASU's double dual against Arizona and NAU is quite revealing. ASU's men won a majority of events against both Arizona and NAU - capturing eight of 15 against the Lumberjacks and nine of 15 against the 'Cats. However, in a sign of depth problems, the events ASU lost - they lost big. Against NAU, the 'Jacks outscored the Devils 8-3 in five of the six events they won. Of the five events Arizona won, three were by an 8-3 count and another was 8-2. Meanwhile, of the 17 events ASU won against both schools, ASU scored 8 points just once.
Dancing Again
In basketball, they call it "The Big Dance," and if the same were true in track & field, Arizona State is able to return to the dance floor in 1998. Sanctions levied against the program for violations of a previous coaching staff included a one-year ban from conference and NCAA postseason meets last year. The two-year probation, which ends following this season, also included recruiting visit and scholarship restrictions. After being limited to 18 official visits and as few as 20 total scholarships, ASU's recruiting for next year will not be restricted in any way as Kraft will have the full compliment of visits and scholarships (30.6) to grant.
All-American Acclaim
Prior to last year's post-season ban, ASU had at least one female and one male indoor All-American for the previous seven seasons. Mika Laiho and Fiona Daly each earned All-American acclaim in 1996. Laiho placed fifth at the NCAAs with a toss of 66-0 in the 35-pound weight throw. His personal-best weight throw of 67-2 3/4, an ASU record by over 11 feet, came that season in the NAU/UofA Double Dual. Daly placed sixth in the high jump at the NCAAs in 1996 with a leap of 5-11 1/2. Daly's personal-best mark of 6-0 1/2 is the second-best mark in ASU indoor history.