The Sun Devil track and field team came out strong in the 2017 MPSF Championships and set several personal records.
On Friday, redshirt junior Maggie Ewen kicked off the meet for the Sun Devils by setting a new personal best in the weight throw.
Ewen improved upon her old mark that she set at the 2016 NAU Tune-Up — 20.68 meters — with a throw of 21.53 meters.
On Saturday, she continued to succeed, this time in the shot put with a throw of 16.75 meters — earning her third place in the event.
Ewen was followed by her teammate, redshirt senior Ashley Weber, whose throw of 15.03 meters was good enough for sixth place.
Staying in the field, transfer pole vaulter and redshirt senior Garrett Starkey cleared 5.32 meters, which put him in third place for that event. The 5.32 meters was also a new personal record for Starkey who bested his old record of 5.28 meters.
Junior Shaunie Morrison hit a new personal record in the 60 meter hurdles with a time of 8.40 seconds — beating her previous time of 8.59 seconds, which she set earlier this year at the Texas A&M Aggie Invitational.
In the men’s weight throw, redshirt senior Kyle Long hit 19.86 meters, which was not only good enough for second place in the event, but was also a new personal record.
Long’s previous personal record was set earlier this year at NAU Friday Night Duels where he threw for 19.01 meters.
Senior, Chelsea Albertson, pulled out a fifth-place finish in the women’s 5,000 meter race with a time of 16:11.29.
Chelsea’s husband, redshirt senior CJ Albertson, also had a top five race on Friday after finishing fourth in the men’s 5,000 meter race with a time of 14:03.44, just .33 seconds behind third place.
"Kyle Long and CJ Albertson did a wonderful job for us. I'm really proud of those two guys," said head coach Greg Kraft. "They are two young men that struggled their first year and a half, two years in the program, but they had faith in their ability and their training, and they are really having wonderful senior years."
Albertson followed up his performance on Friday with a fifth place finish in the men’s 3,000 meter race on Saturday with a time of 8:01.90.
On the field Saturday, senior Keyasia Tibbs led the charge for the Sun Devils by winning the triple jump with a personal record 13.16 meters.
Redshirt sophomore Liam Henshaw hit a personal record for pole vault at 4.90 meters.
In the second to last event on Saturday, the men’s 4x400 meter relay, the Sun Devils were the first team to cross the finish line with a time 3:09.38, edging Stanford by .42 seconds.
The Sun Devil men’s team placed fifth out of the 15 teams that competed in the MPSF with 53 points. The women picked up 45 points to secure sixth place.
Sun Devils travel back home with 2️⃣ Territorial Cup points.
— SunDevilTFXC (@SunDevilTFXC) February 25, 2017
Men finished 11 pts. ahead.
Women finished 16 pts. ahead. #ForksUp
The top finishers will head to the NCAA indoor track and field championship in College Station, Texas on March 10.
Reach the reporter at jzaklis@gmail.com and follow @JoshZaklis on Twitter.
Like State Press Sports on Facebook and follow @statepresssport on Twitter.
