April 26, 2000
This Week
The Sun Devils will compete in two meets this weekend, the Oregon Invitational in Eugene, Ore., and the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Pa.
Oregon Invitational
The Oregon Invitational will take place Sat., April 29 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. The meet is divided into two sessons. The Day session begins at 9:45 a.m. with running events, followed by the first field event at 10:15 a.m. The evening session's first field event is at 3:30 p.m. with running events beginning at 5:15 p.m. More than 20 collegiate teams will be participating, including Boise State, New Mexico, Utah State, Washington and Weber State. Arizona State will send 18 atheltes to the Invitational (Lineup on page 2).
Penn Relays
The 106th Penn Relays take place Thursday through Saturday, April 26-29 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, Pa. More than 250 colleges and universities will have athletes on hand. and more than 100,000 spectators are expected during the week. The Sun Devils will send 11 atheltes to the Relays (Lineup on page 2).
National Rankings
The Sun Devils' men's squad dropped one spot in the fourth edition of TrackWire.com's rankings and is currently tied for 13th with UTEP. The women remain unranked. In the men's rankings, seven Pac-10 teams are in the top 25, leading with second-ranked Stanford and fourth-ranked USC, and followed by Arizona tied at 15th, California in 18th, UCLA tied at 19th and No. 22 Washington State. Additionally, all three Arizona universities are represented as Nothern Arizona is tied at 19th. On the women's side, league members USC is ranked third, followed by UCLA in fourth, Stanford in the 13th spot and Arizona in 15th.
Arizona Elite Classic Recap
Jodi Smith was the only Sun Devil to bring home an event victory at the Arizona Elite Classic as she won with a high jump of 5-7. The two-day event was held at Roy P. Drachman Stadium April 21-22.
Teammate Erika Johnson posted a 5-5 to take second place in that same event. Also scoring a second-place finish for the Lady Devils was Adrienne Judie in the women's discus with a distance of 154-2.
On the men's side, quarter-miler Tony Berrian placed second in his signature event, clocking a 46.38.
First-day action saw the Devils post five top-three finishes.
The men's squad was led by Casey Clark's second-place finish in the high jump, with a 6-8.75 leap. Eric Logvin placed third in the men's discus with a throw of 173-07. On the women's side, Adrienne Judie notched two third-place performances in the shot put and hammer throw events. Her shot put mark measured 45-11.25 while her hammer throw was recorded at a distance of 162-08, Elizabeth Arollo rounded out the Sun Devil top-three placings with her third place in the women's javelin throw, posting a 119-10 mark.
In all, the Sun Devils notched 16 top-five placings.
Events over the 1,500m distance were not run during the two-day sprint and field meet.
Pac-10 Athlete of the Week
Senior Dwight Phillips earned this season's first Pac-10 athlete of the week honors on April 11 as he placed third in the 100m at the Texas Relays with a wind-aided 10.12. In the previous day's qualifier, he clocked a wind-aided 10.11 to win his heat. As the wind was above the NCAA-allowable 4.0 mps in both events, he cannot use those times to qualify for the NCAA Championships. His time was the second fastest in ASU history. The senior from Tucker, Ga. is a six-time All American, holds four school records and is a two-time NCAA runner-up in the indoor long jump.
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. Tiffany Greer (women's long jump), Kelly MacDonald (women's 5,000m) and the men's 4x100m relay are already automatically qualified. The Sun Devils are also provisionally qualified in seven men's and eight women's events.
Track & Field News
Track & Field News' John Auka and Jack Pheifer are posting updated predictions on the magazine's website for the Outdoor NCAA Championships. Although neither ASU men's or women's teams crack the top 10, a handful of individuals are listed as predictions for top-10 finishes. The include Dwight Phillips (LJ - 2nd, TJ - 7th), Tony Berrian (400m - 8th) and both relays (4x400 - 2nd, 4x100 - 7th) for the men and Lisa Aguilera (1,500m - 7th), Tiffany Greer (LJ - 8th), Kelly MacDonald (5,000m - 9th) and a relay (4x400 - 10th) for the women.
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's in 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.
Into the Indoor Record Books
The women's squad broke five Sun Devil records this season, more than any other year in ASU record books and the most successful season since four records fell in 1991. The men broke three records during the five-week indoor season, breaking those records multiple times.
Dwight Phillips initially broke the long jump record at the MPSF Championship (2/25) when his 25-9.5 leap broke a 16-year-old record by .5 inch. He topped that leap two weeks later at NCAAs (3/10) with a 26-7.25 mark. In the triple jump, Phillips set a new mark at a Last Chance Meet (3/3) in Baton Rouge, La., of 52-7.5, only to break that one week later (3/11) at nationals with a 52-8.75. Tony Berrian set the standard in the 400m in 1999 with a 46.29, breaking a 21-year-old record. He topped that in the NCAA preliminary (3/10) with a 46.26. In the next evening's finals (3/11), he bettered that mark with a 46.16. Kelly MacDonald set a school standard in the 5,000m the first time she ran the event, at a Last Chance Meet (3/3) in Ames, Iowa. That time of 16:25.35 only lasted seven days, as she bettered it with a 16:13.41 at the Championship. She also posted an ASU-best 9:34.56 in the 3,000m, at a regular season meet, also in Ames. That same event, the Cyclone Classic (2/11-12), Lisa Aguilera posted a 4:44.44 in the mile for a spot in Sun Devil lore. Two school field recrods were broken Feb. 18 at the ASU/UA/NAU Double Dual in Flagstaff, Ariz. Tiffany Greer recorded a long jump of 21-4 to set a new Sun Devil mark while Valerie Williams posted a new high in the triple jump with a 41-0.5.>