All season, ASU head coach Greg Kraft has cited the 38th Sun Angel Classic as a key measuring point for the Sun Devils' season.
The Sun Devils started out hot on Friday with three top-five performances in the field.
Junior Maggie Ewen, and redshirt senior Kyle Long continued their early season success finishing first and second respectively in the women’s and men’s hammer throw.
Ewen hit a mark of 69.27 meters, while Long threw for 65.43 — missing a personal record by 0.1 meters.
Staying the field, redshirt senior Jacob Flores set a new outdoor personal record in the men’s pole vault. Flores cleared 4.95 meters to beat his previous best of 4.62.
Heading into Saturday’s action, the Sun Devils continued to succeed on the field.
In the field events, Long and Ewen carried over their success from Friday. Long earned a fifth-place finish and a throw of 53.29 meters in the discus.
Ewen hit 56.87 in the discus which was good enough for a second-place finish. She also threw for 17.07 in the shot put earning her second place and her third top five finish of the weekend in as many events.
Ewen's throw in the shot put moved her into sole possession of fourth place in the Sun Devil record books.
In the women's shot put, the three-headed monster @MagdalynMaeEwen hits new PR of 17.07m (56-00) & moves into 4th all-time! #SunAngelClassic pic.twitter.com/TPxAQGQUri
— SunDevilTFXC (@SunDevilTFXC) April 9, 2017
Redshirt sophomore Joey Bryant continued his success this season as he set a new personal record in the men’s high jump by clearing the bar at 2.15 meters, which also propelled him into second place in the event.
Bryant also finished second in the high jump clearing 2.15 meters and breaking the personal record he had set in the Baldy Castillo Invitational.
He continued his spectacular showing in the long jump pit where he set a new personal best of 7.44 meters, earning another second-place finish.
Even though he set multiple personal records during the meet, Bryant was still not satisfied with his performance.
"I had a lot of PR’s (personal records) today and I still made a lot of mistakes," Bryant said. "So I have some things I can fix, and hopefully, I’ll get better if I change all that.”
Redshirt senior and Stanford transfer Garrett Starkey, hit a new personal best in the pole vault clearing the bar at 5.50 meters which resulted in a fourth-place finish for him.
This vault put Starkey’s name in the ASU record books as he is now tied for second place all time in the event.
“I felt really good, I felt like it is been a long time coming, I feel like I have been slowly chipping away making progress and I just haven’t lined up right," Starkey said. "The height has been there, so it was nice today to finally have my standards in place and the right pole, grip choice, and everything like that. Just have it all line up to make the 18 feet.”
ASU's field team didn't stop there, redshirt senior Thomas Anderson placed second in the men's shot put with a toss of 17.90 meters. Anderson was followed by his teammate Long, who finished in fourth-place giving Long this third top five finish of the weekend.
Senior Keyasia Tibbs also got in on the fun as she finished second in the triple jump and hit 12.82 meters.
On the track Saturday, junior Shaunie Morrison started things off for the Devils with fourth place in the 100 meter hurdles as she hit a time of 13.72.
However, the meet ended on a bad note for the Sun Devils as Oregon State transfer, freshman Paul Lucas went down with an injury on the third leg of the Devils 4x400 relay.
Kraft said Lucas pulled a hamstring and with likely be out for three weeks.
"That is discouraging for Paul," Kraft said. "(He's) obviously a guy that came in here mid-year from Oregon State, it just bums you out for the kid."
Reach the reporter at jzaklis@gmail.com and follow @JoshZaklis on Twitter.
Like State Press Sports on Facebook and follow @statepresssport on Twitter.
