As the temperature increases, the heat begins to take its toll on an athlete’s body.

Couple that with an away meet for some of the Sun Devil track and field team last week, and one can begin to understand why a lot of the athletes will be sitting out this week’s Sun Devil Invitational.

“One of the things that becomes critical as [we] get towards the critical part of the season is rest and recovery. And if it’s really hot … it’s hard to recover,” ASU coach Greg Kraft said.

However, the meet will be an opportunity for a lot of the developmental athletes that Kraft is redshirting to show what they can bring to the table.

Most of the athletes that competed at the Mt. SAC Relays will be getting the week off, but the 4x100-meter relay team of junior Lawrence Trice, freshman Allante Battle and seniors Darryl Elston and Marcus Duncan will get right back to work after qualifying for regionals last weekend.

Sophomore Jasmine Chaney is also returning to competition after a successful trip to northern California.

Chaney completed a sweep of the 100- and 400-meter hurdles after helping the 4x100- and 4x400-meter relay teams to second- and first place finishes, respectively.

This is the last competition before the dual meet with NAU and UA next weekend that Kraft spoke of as an indicator of who will be making the trip to Eugene, Ore., for the Pac-10 Championships.

“One of the things I always tell the team [is]: I don’t really pick the roster for the Pac-10 meet. The roster picks itself by your body of work,” Kraft said.

Other schools competing in the Sun Devil Invitational include UA, NAU and Mesa CC.

In addition to Saturday’s competition, ASU is sending most of its throwers to La Jolla, Calif., for the UCSD Triton Invitational.

Reach the reporter at emschimm@asu.edu.