FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -APRIL 4, 2012 SUN DEVIL TRACK & FIELD SID Contact: Jeremy Hawkes | [email protected] | (480) 965-9544 | thesundevils.com SEASON WEEK 12 • OUTDOOR WEEK 4 ASU Track & Field To Host 33rd Sun Angel Classic Meet #12 (Outdoor #4) The Sun Devils will welcome some of the top high school, collegiate and post-colle- at 33rd Sun Angel Classic giate competitors in the state, country and world to Tempe this weekend. April 6-7, 2012 Sun Angel Stadium - Tempe, Ariz. hosted by Arizona State University TEMPE -The Arizona State University track and field team will host the 33rd Sun Angel Classic at Sun Angel Stadium on April 5-7 in Tempe. The annual event 2012 INDOOR SEASON SCHEDULE welcomes some of the top high school, collegiate and post-collegiate competitors Date Meet Location in the nation to Phoenix in the largest event the Sun Devils will host this season. J 14 at Lumberjack Invite Flagstaff, AZ 27-28 at Texas A&M Invite College Station, TX The #10 men’s team and #19 women will be in action on Friday and Saturday with F 4 at NAU Open Flagstaff, AZ just the hammer throw and 5,000-meter runs taking place on Friday before a all- 10 at Kirby Invite Albuquerque, NM day affair on Saturday. Saturday’s events will be split into an open and a premier 10-11 at Boise Team Challenge Boise, ID section with the open section getting under way with field events at 10 a.m. PT and at Husky Invite Seattle, WA running events at 2 p.m. PT. The premier section, featuring the top collegiate and 18 at NAU Tune-Up Flagstaff, AZ post-collegiate athletes in the meet, as well as the championship high school races, 24-25 at MPSF Championships Seattle, WA will get underway at 5 p.m. PT. M 5 at Last Chance Meets TBD 9-10 at NCAA Champs. Boise, ID OUT OF THE BLOCKS 2012 OUTDOOR SEASON SCHEDULE • The Sun Devil men are coming off a trophy-earning fourth-place finish at the Date Meet Location NCAA Indoor Championships in Boise earlier in March. The men saw two national M 16-17 Baldy Castillo Invite Tempe champions crowned in Jordan Clarke in the shot put and Mason McHenry at 800 23-24 ASU Invitational Tempe meters. 29-30 at Jim Click Multis Tucson, AZ • The Sun Devil women return two first team outdoor All-Americans this season in A 6-7 at Stanford Invitational Palo Alto, CA 6-7 Sun Angel Track Classic Tempe Anna Jelmini (discus) and Christabel Nettey (long jump). 14 Arkansas/LSU Tri-Meet Tempe • Head coach Greg Kraft is in his 16th season at Arizona State, the third-longest 20-21 at Mt. SAC Relays Walnut, CA tenure of any of ASU’s current sports coaches. 28 at Double Dual (NAU-UA) Tucson, AZ • Keia Pinnick had a career weekend in Tucson last week, setting a score of 5,622 M 5-6 at Pac-10 Multis Eugene, OR in her 2012 heptathlon opener. The score is the third-best all-time at ASU and 13-14 at Pac-10 Champs. Eugene, OR would have finished fourth at last year’s NCAA Championship 18-19 at Tucson Elite Throws Tucson, AZ • Jordan Clarke is the NCAA”s returning shot put champion outdoors and will be the 24-26 at NCAA Prelims - West Austin, TX 6-9 at NCAA Champs. Des Moines, IA returning champion when the team reaches the 2013 indoor season as well after 22-30 at USATF Champs. Eugene, OR his performance in Boise earlier this year. • Christabel Nettey is currently ranked 4th in the nation in the long jump and 13th All dates and sites subject to change; home meets in maroon in the triple jump Check host team web sites for meet schedules for each event • Derick Hinch is looking to become a dark horse at the championship level after soaring 5.50m (18-00.50) at the ASU Invite in the pole vault, the second-best mark in school history. IN THE RANKINGS: USTFCCCA TOP 25 The USTFCCCA released its first set of rankings based on 2012 results and the Arizona State men’s team reaped the benefits. The Sun Devils climbed from No. 20 in the preseason poll to No. 10 when the computer rankings were released earlier this week. It’s the first time the Sun Devils have been ranked in the top 10 since finishing fourth at the 2010 NCAA Championships. The ASU women dropped two positions to 19th in the rankings. FOLLOW THE SUN DEVILS ONLINE IN THE RANKINGS: USTFCCCA WEST REGION FACEBOOK • https://www.facebook.com/sundeviltfxc The Sun Devil men currently lead the NCAA West Region computer rankings with 628.34 points and lead second-ranked UCLA but about 60 points. The ASU women sit third in the region behind Southern Cal and Arizona with 616.53 points. TWITTER • @SunDevilTFXC FOLLOW LIVE ARIZONA STATE NCAA Due to insufficient Internet connection at the track, there will be no live results from • TheSunDevils.com • NCAA.com Saturday’s competition. However, there will live blog available to all that will serve as ‘live coverage’ in its stead. The blog will begin around 1 p.m. PT on Saturday PACIFIC-12 MPSF and can be found at the following link: http://www.thesundevils.com/sports/c-track/ • Pac-12.org • MPSports.org spec-rel/031712aaa.html 2012 ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY TRACK & FIELD 1 Coach Kraft / Notes HEAD COACH GREG KRAFT THROWING THEIR WEIGHT Greg Kraft is in his 16th year with the Sun Devil program Over the past 10 years, David Dumble has continued to bring in top talent and build and has built it into a national power. During the 2008 season, his men and women captured the NCAA Indoor the throws program at Arizona State, which has collected 13 total national titles, Championships, only the second time in the history of including the shiny new trophy earned by Jordan Clarke at the NCAA Indoor Cham- the event that the same school swept both titles. The title pionships just two weeks ago. With Clarke the defending indoor AND outdoor na- was the second in a row for the women and their third overall (2007 outdoor) and the first for the men. Dating tional champion and Anna Jelmini the top returning discus thrower in the nation, the back to the 2006 seasons, the Sun Devil women have ASU throws team looks to continue their perennial dominance of the event into the won the Pac-10 three times, the MPSF twice, the NCAA outdoor season. indoor twice, the NCAA outdoor once and the NCAA West Region outdoor once. The men have added one NCAA indoor and one NCAA West Region outdoor crown to that NETTEY POT collection as well. Christabel Nettey looked up to snuff with her outdoor long jumping self that earned Individually, athletes have excelled under the 2008 Men’s and Women’s USTFCCCA National Indoor Coach first-team All-America honors last season as she soared 6.58m (21-07.25) in the of the Year, including seven-time NCAA multi-event cham- team’s season opener at the Baldy Castillo Invitational for a new career best and pion Jacquelyn Johnson, who also advanced to the improved her second-place hold on ASU’s all-time list in the event. Nettey also Olympic Games in the heptathlon after winning her fourth NCAA heptathlon title. In 2009, two men captured three moved into second all-time at ASU in the triple jump with her leap of 12.80m (42- NCAA titles, including Ryan Whiting sweeping in the 00.00) at the ASU Invite - the 13th-best mark in the country this year. indoor and outdoor shot put crown and Jason Lewis won the indoor weight throw. In 2010, Whiting swept the shot put once again and added a discus crown before being RUNNING RELAY FAST name a finalist for the Bowerman Award. Jordan Clarke The ASU men’s relay teams strutted their stuff at the ASU Invite with the men’s followed Whiting’s footsteps in 2011, winning the NCAA outdoor shot put crown himself. 4x100m of Daniel Auberry, Chris Burrows, Rashad Ross and Ryan Milus clocking At the conference level, the Sun Devils have dominated a time of 39.38 that ranks sixth in the country thus far. The 4x400m team of Kelsey on the women’s side with three titles in a row (2006-08) Caesar, Chris Burrows, John Kline and Will Henry currently sits sixth as well with while the men have finished as the meet runner-up three straight years from 2008-10. His athletes have collected their season opening time of 3:05.29. 66 individual titles and added another 14 relay crowns in the Pac-10 before going on to collect 171 All-America NOT CAUGHT IN A HINCH honors individually and another 25 in relays. Along with Johnson, other impressive names that have Before the 2012 season even got underway, head coach Greg Kraft said that De- been coached by Kraft include 2004 Olympic Long Jump rick Hinch, a junior college pole vault transfer out of Cuesta College in California, Champion Dwight Phillips and 2008 U.S. Long Jump would be one of the team’s dark horse as it fights for Pac-12 dominance this year. Champion Trevell Quinley. Hinch looked to be playing the part at the ASU Invite as he soared 5.50m (18-00.50) BY THE NUMBERS for the second-best jump in school history and the current third-best pole vault in Athletic Honors M W the nation.