The ASU track and field distance squad took their talents to Walnut, California Thursday, Friday and Saturday for the Mt. SAC Relays on the campus of Mt. San Antonio College. The Sun Devils had a couple of excellent individual performances and a few personal-record times.
The meet began Thursday for ASU with sophomore CJ Albertson competing in the men’s 3000-meter steeplechase. After running the event for the first time back in March, Albertson ran a 9:01.73 time at the Relays. His time was just short of the personal-record mark of 9:01.25 he set back in Tempe on March 28. Albertson finished in eighth place.
Senior Shaina Corbin also took to the track on Thursday night in the women’s 3000 steeplechase. She set her personal best earlier in the year and ran a strong race to finish seventh with a time of 10:44.39.
In the A-section men’s 3000 steeplechase, redshirt junior Daniel Wong ran a career-best time of 8:55.27 to finish third in his heat. Wong’s time places him just outside the top 10 in the school record books for the event. In the same race, freshman J.P. Nelson ran a 9:23.93 in his first-career event as a Sun Devil.
Thursday’s final event for ASU was the men’s 10000 race, which redshirt junior Jeff Bickert competed in. Bickert ran a 30:03.83, which gave him a new personal best and third place in his race. Bickert was also just out of the top 10 in school history, less than a second off the No. 10 mark set in 2013 by current teammate Ryan Herson.
Herson ran the first race by an ASU athlete on Friday in the men’s 5000. Herson ran the second best 5k time of his career, finishing in 13:51.82. His time was good enough for sixth in school history.
Albertson doubled up on the weekend by competing in the open section of the men’s 5000 as well. He finished the race in 14:21.53, which put him in 16th place in his heat.
The final two events of the Relays for ASU were two of the women’s 5000 races. In the C open section race, sophomore Jenna Maack stormed her way to a personal-best time of 16:42.66 Maack’s previous best was 18:09.94, a time she beat on Friday by well over a second. She finished in tenth place in her heat.
The winner of the day was sophomore Chelsey Totten, who won the B open section race of the women’s 5000. Totten ran a 16:19.07 en route to her win, which set a new personal-best time by nearly 30 seconds.
The ASU track and field team has its first split of the outdoor season next weekend. Part of the team will head to Des Moines, Iowa, for the Drake Relays April 23-25. The rest of the crew will be going to San Diego, California for the Triton Invitational April 24 and 25.
Reach the reporter at tjwilkin@asu.edu or follow @TWilkins23 on Twitter
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