ASU track and field wrapped up the Pac-12 vs. Big Ten Invitational this weekend in Tempe, but not before setting several new meet records in the process.
The invitational began on Friday, and the Sun Devils came out on fire with stellar performances from junior Maggie Ewen and red shirt senior Kyle Long.
"It takes a team effort, so a lot of times you see people making a sacrifice that you don’t really realize," head coach Greg Kraft said. "But they’re stepping up out of their comfort zone because other people need them.”
Ewen showed everyone why she's ranked number one in the country in the hammer throw as she threw for 71.72 meters. That throw earned her first place in the event and set a new meet record.
Long continued his success in the hammer throw with a toss of 65.59. This throw was good enough for a second-place finish and broke the personal record he set last week at the Baldy Castillo Invitational.
Also in the field on Friday, sophomore Jessica Barreira set a new personal record in the javelin with a throw of 44.09 meters. This was good enough for sixth place in the event.
As for the track events on Friday night, the Sun Devils continued their success with two first place finishes in the men’s and women’s 5000-meter run.
Red shirt senior CJ Albertson finished first on the men’s side with a time of 14:28.74. On the women’s side, freshman Megan Reniewicki crossed the line first at the 17:29.90 mark.
This was Reniewicki’s first win in a collegiate race, and she was followed by freshman Samantha Ortega who finished fourth with a time of 17:48.33.
On Saturday the Sun Devils continued their success with Ewen and Long, again, finishing first and second but this time in the discus.
Both Ewen and Long set personal records in the discus with a throw of 59.83 meters for Ewen, and 57.75 for Long.
"I’d like to see Maggie be a little more consistent," assistant coach Brian Blutreich said. "Kyle has been training pretty well lately so that didn’t surprise me, but to start off right here at home is great.”
Staying in the field, the Sun Devils had three top five finishers in the men’s pole vault on Saturday as red shirt senior Garrett Starkey grabbed first place by clearing 5.22 meters.
Starkey made some key adjustments last week's Baldy Castillo Invitational that helped him grab the victory this week.
"We figured out that my pole was actually hitting the pit," Starkey said. "We pushed the pit back as far as the NCAA would let us push it ... that actually gave my pole room to bend and that helped a lot for this meet.”
Starkey’s teammates, redshirt sophomore Liam Henshaw and redshirt senior Jacob Flores, tied for fifth by clearing 4.62 meters.
In the women’s pole vault, junior Kristiana Warth set a new personal record by clearing 4.07 meters which earned her fourth place in that event.
Redshirt sophomore Joey Bryant won the high jump for the second straight week, this time clearing the bar at 2.10 for the win. Bryant(CQ) also placed fifth in the long jump with a leap of 7.27 meters.
Heading over to the track, junior Shaunie Morrison(CQ) followed up her third-place finish last week in the 100-meter hurdles, with a first place finish this week and a time of 13.60.
Junior Drelan Bramwell followed up last weeks success with a third place finish and a time of 21.14 in the 200-meter run.
Bramwell was also a part of the Sun Devils 4x400 team which just edged out a first place finish over rival University of Arizona with time of 3:07.46 setting a new meet record in that event.
.@TheSunDevils over the Wildcats by a head in the 4x4! No other way to finish the #Pac12vsBigTen Invite. ⬇️ #ForksUp pic.twitter.com/d2irN1E4bZ
— SunDevilTFXC (@SunDevilTFXC) March 26, 2017
Saturday was also the first time that the Sun Devils ran the 3000-meter steeplechase in 2017, and they took full advantage of that. Junior Billie Jo Dytrt and freshman Courtney Lewis finished second and third.
Next week a few of ASU's distance runners will travel to California to compete in the Stanford Invitational.
Reach the reporter at jzaklis@gmail.com and follow @JoshZaklis on Twitter.
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