ASU wrapped up the first day of the 2014 Arizona State Invitational on Friday night. Day one of the event included just two events, the men’s and women’s hammer throw and the men’s and women’s javelin.
Three Sun Devils placed in the top seven of the men’s hammer throw. Redshirt junior Ryan Leslie placed highest among his teammates, with his throw of 56.60 meters in the finals good enough for third place, earning the Sun Devils six points.
Fellow redshirt junior Kyle Lillie placed just behind Leslie with a throw of 54.02 meters in the finals, earning his team five points. ASU earned two more points in this event with redshirt freshman Kyle Long’s throw of 54.02 meters in the finals earning him seventh place.
Two of the women participating in the hammer throw earned the team points on Friday night. Junior Jessika Byrd earned six points for her team with her throw of 58.84 meters in the finals giving her third place overall. Redshirt freshman Ashley Weber placed eighth with a throw of 53.66 meters earning one more point for her team. Sophomore Ginger Jarchow placed 11th with a throw of 49.48 meters and earned no points.
ASU had no men participating in the javelin, so the team’s last opportunity to earn points on day one was in the women’s javelin throw, in which ASU had three participants.
Redshirt junior Alex Hartig won the event by over two meters with her throw of 44.50 meters. Hartig’s win in the event earned ASU 10 points. Junior Kaitlyn Brace was not far behind her teammate with her throw of 41.43 meters in the finals being good enough for fourth place and earning her team five more points. Lastly, sophomore Kelley Cahill placed eighth with a throw of 33.49 meters in the finals, earning ASU one more point of the first day of the meet.
ASU ended the first day events with 36 points overall.
The second day of the invite includes a full schedule of events starting with the discuss throw at 9 a.m. at Sun Angel Stadium. That event will be the season opener for redshirt senior Anna Jelmini who took the week off after earning All-American honors at the NCAA Indoor National Championships.
Saturday will also be the season opener for ASU’s two other 2014 Indoor All-Americans, redshirt senior Ryan Milus and junior Shelby Houlihan, who both also took the week off for the Baldy Castillo Invitational after the NCAA championships. It will also be the first outdoor meet of the season for athletes like freshman Tatum Bernard-Taylor, who did not earn All-American honors but did participate in the NCAA championships.
The second day of the meet on Saturday will also be the first of the season broadcast on the Pac-12 Networks. The second day will include the 4x100 and 4x400 relays for both men and women, the men’s and women’s pole vault, the men’s and women’s 1500-meter run and other field and running events.
The field events will begin at 9 a.m. at Sun Angel Stadium with the discuss throw while the running events will begin at 11:05 a.m. with the women’s 100-meter hurdles.
Reach the reporter at wslane@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @bill_slane
