The ASU track and field team made a split this weekend to take on the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa, and the Triton Invitational in San Diego. The squad displayed its dexterity and depth with some big showings from surprising contributors.
While Friday was mostly preliminaries races at the Drake Relays, there were a few bright spots for Sun Devils competing in their finals races.
Junior Jasmine Gibbs had an impressive showing in the women’s long jump, finishing in second place with a distance of 6.07 meters. Senior Shelby Houlihan ran the second fastest time in school history in the women’s 800 run, finishing sixth in the elite race. Her time of 2:02.03 is second only to her school record time of 2:01.12 last year.
Senior Bryan McBride also had an excellent performance in the men’s Beijing World Championship Preview high jump. He cleared 2.29, which ties the ASU school record and is the No. 2 mark in the NCAA this year. McBride finished second in the event, only to 2012 London Olympic Games Bronze medalist Derek Drouin.
At the Triton Invite on Friday, there were a few great outings by the female throwers on the squad. Freshman Maggie Ewen finished second in the women’s open discus throw with a distance of 55.20. Junior Ginger Jarchow set a new personal record in the event at 50.54, finishing 16th.
Saturday was a big day for ASU in San Diego at the Triton Invitational. It began in the men’s hammer throw as Kyle Lillie, Kyle Long, and Ryan Leslie all set personal bests. Lillie had the longest throw of the three at 60.69, which was good enough for seventh in the event. He was followed by Long (60.39, ninth place) and Leslie (58.65, 11th place).
Later in the open section of the men’s discus, redshirt senior Michael Ohakwe set his own personal record with a throw of 56.32. Ohakwe finished sixth in the event.
The shot put events went pretty well for ASU. Redshirt sophomore Ashley Weber finished fourth in the women’s shot put. Lillie and Hassan both set personal records in the shot put at 18.20 and 17.99, respectively. They finished in 12th and 14th.
Junior Riley Wattier had quite a day himself with a fourth place finish in the men’s 5K. This is one of Wattier’s first meets as a Sun Devil and his time of 14:46.32 showed he belonged with the best.
Saturday at the Drake Relays in Des Moines was uneventful with the exception of the women’s distance medley relay team. The team, comprised of freshman Melese Crozier, junior Cristina Juan Torres, sophomore Chelsey Totten and Houlihan, finished second in 11:15.13. They were edged out by 0.1 second by Oklahoma State right at the line.
ASU has its next meet back home in Tempe, where the Sun Devils will take on rival Arizona May 1-2. There will also be members of the team competing in the Payton Jordan Invitational May 2-3 in Stanford and Palo Alto, California.
Reach the reporter at tjwilkin@asu.edu or follow @Twilkins23 on Twitter.
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