The ASU track and field squad will engage in its first team split of the 2015 outdoor season this weekend.
Half of the team will head to Drake University to compete in the Drake Relays in Des Moines on Friday. Both national champions for ASU, seniors Shelby Houlihan and Bryan McBride, will be there.
The other half of the crew will be going to San Diego to the campus of UC San Diego for the Triton Invitational. All of the throwers for ASU will be there at Triton Stadium for that meet.
Friday begins with a lot of star power for ASU. At the Drake Relays, both Houlihan and McBride will be set to start in the women’s 800-meter and men’s long jump, respectively.
Houlihan has a bit of added motivation for this meet as her hometown of Sioux City, Iowa, is just three hours away from Des Moines. McBride will be competing in the long jump with fellow teammate and Olympian sophomore Jamol James.
All-American senior Cameron Taylor will run in his signature event, the men’s 110 hurdles. The women’s relay teams, which have posted some of the best relay times in DI track this year, will be running the 4x100 and 4x400 preliminary rounds throughout the day.
In San Diego, the premiere women’s throwers for the team will be out in full force. Freshman Maggie Ewen, who is having an outstanding first year with ASU, is throwing. Senior Jessika Byrd, junior Ginger Jarchow and redshirt sophomore Ashley Weber will also be throwing to round out the starting list for the women’s hammer on Friday. All four women are in the top 10 of the school record book in at least one throwing category, so the team is expecting to see some big numbers go up there.
Ewen and Jarchow will be joining senior Alex Hartig Friday afternoon for the women’s discus. Hartig owns the No. 9 spot in the all-time ASU record books in the event.
Both men and women’s pole vault will take the stage Friday in San Diego as well. Redshirt junior Tanner Greeley has posted the best height of the season for the Sun Devils competing at 5.05 (16-6.75 ft.). On the women’s side, junior Nicole Kennedy has the best vault of the season for the women at 3.77 (12-4.50 ft.). That height, which she set earlier in the year at the Pac-12 vs. Big Ten Invitational, put her at No. 8 in the school history for women’s pole vault.
The action on Saturday in Des Moines starts with sophomore Keyasia Tibbs in the women’s triple jump. Tibbs, a transfer from UNC-Chapel Hill in her first season as a Sun Devil, set the school indoor triple jump record back in January at the New Mexico Team Invitational.
Saturday also features McBride again, but this time in the event he won the national championship last year, the men’s high jump. McBride will be facing some stiff competition this time as numerous Olympic medalists will be set to start against him. This will be his chance to put himself among the world’s elite in this event.
In San Diego, the ASU throwers dominate Saturday. The day starts off with redshirt junior Ryan Leslie, redshirt senior Kyle Lillie and redshirt sophomore Kyle Long in the men’s hammer. Later, Long joins redshirt sophomore Thomas Anderson and junior Ahmed Hassan in the men’s discus. In the final throwing event of the meet, redshirt senior Michael Ohakwe will team up with Anderson, Hassan, Lillie and Long to take on the men’s shot put.
While the men are throwing, the women will be across the field in the javelin and shot put areas. Ewen, Hartig and Weber will be in the women’s shot put followed by redshirt sophomore Alyssa Cornell, Jarchow, and Hartig again in the women’s javelin.
While Hartig is doing both events and is equally talented at both, her single best performance came last year in the javelin, where she set the number two mark in ASU history with a behemoth throw of 47.89 (157-01 ft.). Cornell is not to be overlooked either as she set the number nine distance in school history earlier in the year.
Freshman Kendra Purifoye is another Sun Devil to pay attention to on Saturday in San Diego. She will be doubling up on events by running in the women’s 100 hurdles and then turning around and then running the women’s 200 later in the afternoon.
Live results for each event will be posted online. Drake Relays results will be available on FloTrack.org while Triton Invitational results will be available on FinishedResults.com.
Reach the reporter at tjwilkin@asu.edu or follow @Twilkins23 on Twitter.
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