On the first day of collegiate competition of the 35th annual Sun Angel Classic Friday, the ASU women’s track team earned a total of 21 points while the men earned 12.
Saturday will include a full day of competition at Sun Angel Stadium for both the college and high school teams.
The day of competition began with some of the throwing events in the afternoon and the big name for the men was redshirt junior Kyle Lillie, who came in second place in the hammer throw and earned the first eight points for the men’s team.
Lillie threw 57.68 meters in the finals, being edged out by Texas A&M; freshman Austin Cook. Also earning points in the event for ASU was redshirt junior Ryan Leslie, who came in fifth place with a throw of 56.31 meters and earned four points for ASU’s men.
The first points for the women also came in the hammer throw, with redshirt freshman Ashley Weber coming in seventh place with a throw of 51.67 meters, earning the women three points. Sophomore Ginger Jarchow also competed in the hammer throw but her throw of 49.74 meters was good for only 11th place, not earning points for her team.
The women also earned five more points in the premiere hammer throw with junior Jessika Byrd coming in fourth place with a throw of 57.67 meters.
ASU did not have any men competing in the premiere hammer throw event.
Friday evening included two races, the men’s and women’s 5000-meter race.
ASU had two women earn points in the race with junior Macy Bricks coming in second place, finishing the race in just over 17 minutes and 39 seconds and being beaten by Kansas freshman Grace Morgan. Bricks earned eight points for her second place finish.
Also earing points for the women in the 5000-meter was junior Shaina Corbin. She finished in 17 minutes and 55 seconds, good enough for fourth place in the race, earning five more points for the women.
Sophomore Adriana Olivas also competed in the 5000-meter race but was unable to finish despite being one of the leaders of the pack for a significant portion of the run.
There were seven men competing in the 5000-meter race on Friday night; however, none of them were Sun Devils. Kansas freshman James Hampton won the event with a time of 15 minutes and 15 seconds.
The third and final day of the annual Sun Angel Classic kicks off Saturday at Sun Angel Stadium starting a 10 a.m. with the men’s open discus event. There will then be full schedule of field events expected to end with the women’s premiere shot put at 8:15 p.m.
The running events are expected to start at 1:37 p.m., with the finals of the high school girls’ 100-meter hurdles followed by a full slate of running events scheduled to conclude at 9:22 p.m. with the premiere 4x400 men’s relay.
As of now, ASU is scheduled to have both its normal A and B teams run in the 4x400 relay for the men’s and the women’s races. However that is certainly subject to change as changing up the teams was discussed this week.
Reach the reporter at wslane@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @bill_slane
