The 21st Baldy Castillo Invite was ASU's first home meet and spring track meet of the year, and the Sun Devils did not fail to impress in front of the hometown crowd.
“One of the things when I came here 20 plus years ago was Baldy Castillo was one of the guys that really built the Arizona State track and field," head coach Greg Kraft said. "He was really a bedrock for us and just an incredibly supportive person.”
On Friday the Sun Devils came out strong in the field with record breaking first place throws from redshirt junior Maggie Ewen and redshirt senior Kyle Long.
Ewen broke the American collegiate record and her own personal record on Friday with a throw of 72.81 meters.
"It usually takes about a month to adjust from the 20-pound weight as far as feeling and technique out of your system,” assistant coach Brian Blutreich said. “And to do it within a week and do that is pretty amazing."
This throw also broke the Pac-12 and ASU hammer throw record of 70.50 meters, which Ewen set last year in May 2016.
Long also broke his personal record in the hammer throw with a toss of 62.80 meters and with that throw moved from eighth to sixth in the ASU record books.
Morning after a historical throw ➡️discus practice. #AlwaysGrinding pic.twitter.com/4oFPNz9qlp
— SunDevilTFXC (@SunDevilTFXC) March 18, 2017
Moving over to the track, junior Drelan Bramwell finished in third place for the Sun Devils in the 200-meter sprint with a time of 20.95 seconds — just 0.05 seconds off his PR of 20.90.
On the women’s side, senior Chelsey Albertson led the charge with a first-place finish and a new personal record of 4:20.24, in the 1500 meter.
On Saturday, Long followed up his record breaking performance with a throw of 54.80 meters in the discus, which was good enough for a fourth-place finish.
Redshirt sophomore Joey Bryant started off the season strong by winning the men’s high jump. Bryant was able to clear the bar at 2.14 meters which matched his PR set last year.
Senior Keyasia Tibbs continued ASU's success on the field with a long jump of 5.87 meters to earn her a first place finish.
On the track, junior Shaunie Morrison finished third for the Sun Devils in the women’s 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.63. Morrison was just 0.03 behind the second-place finisher and 0.10 off of her personal record set last year at the Sun Angel Classic.
In the men’s 4x100 meter race, ASU finished in third place with a time of 39.84, just behind the 2017 indoor national champions, Texas A&M as well as the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Bramwell followed up his third-place finish on Friday with a second-place finish of 46.48 in the men’s 400 meter on Saturday. He said the key to his success in these past two days was taking a page out of the Philadelphia 76ers playbook.
“Trusting the process, I know I’m fast right now," Bramwell said. "I just need to execute my technique and time will come."
The Sun Devils next meet will be on Friday, March 23 in the Pac-12 vs. Big-10 challenge at Sun Angel Stadium in Tempe.
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