At its premier home meet Saturday, the ASU track and field men placed second, with a final score 140.83 points, and the women placed third, with a final score of 118 points.
With official results delayed because of technical difficulties experienced at Sun Angel Stadium, official scores were not readily available. However, the Track and Field Results Reporting System calculated the unofficial scores of the meet, finding Texas A&M; the winner for the both the men and women.
There were several personal bests set during the meet Saturday. ASU redshirt freshman Ashley Weber set a new personal best in the shot put with her throw of 15.17 meters, good for fifth place in the event.
Sophomore Ginger Jarchow set a new personal record in the discus throw with her throw of 43.18 meters and placed fifth in the event overall.
Freshman LaTroya Franklin set a personal record in the 200-meter dash, taking sixth place with a time of 23.83 seconds.
Redshirt senior Ryan Milus set a season-best in the 100-meter dash, taking second with his time of 10.33 seconds.
Redshirt senior Anna Jelmini, who continues to deal with an injury on her throwing hand, competed in the premier section of the women’s discus Saturday. Jelmini took third in the event with a throw of 52.6 meters. Right behind her at fourth in the same event was junior Alex Hartig, with a throw of 52.03 meters.
During the running of the men’s 4x100, the final handoff was fumbled, resulting in the team's disqualification from the race. Despite redshirt junior Devan Spann aggravating an injury in the race, coach Greg Kraft said he believed they would have won the event if the mishandling of the baton had not happened.
Redshirt sophomore Cody Moore, who was the hero for the 4x400 relay team, only competed in one other event on Saturday. That was the 400-meter hurdles, where he ran the race in 55 seconds and finished in only 13th place.
After the meet, Kraft seemed pleased overall with the performance of his team but stressed that it is important for his team to stay focused not just on the track at meets, or at practice, but also off of it.
“It’s not just at practice, and it’s not just at the meets. It’s what are you going to do now that it’s 10 o’clock Saturday night,” Kraft said.
Kraft said that this is important now with a lot of news of underage drinking or possession recently in Tempe.
“Making good decisions, because all of those decisions ultimately reflect your chance to be successful,” Kraft said.
The team is preparing to travel to Walnut, Calif., on Thursday for the Mt. SAC Relays, and Kraft said the training will likely be light leading up to Thursday.
“Really it will be a light week of practice for most of these kids as we travel and compete,” Kraft said. “And then we’ll have a two-week training cycle as we get ready for our dual with Arizona.”
Reach the reporter at wslane@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @bill_slane
