A week before ASU is scheduled to take on rival UA in Tempe for its annual Duel in the Desert meet, the Sun Devil track and field team sent six athletes to the Triton Invitational.
The Triton Invitational is a two day meet that takes place in La Jolla California hosted by UC San Diego.
On Friday, junior Maggie Ewen was the only Sun Devil to compete in the meet. She continued her dominant season with a first place finish in the hammer throw and a third place finish in the discus throw.
‼️‼️‼️ @MagdalynMaeEwen sends another massive throw in the discus of 60.17m (197'-5") on her first attempt. #TritonInvite pic.twitter.com/JJDrqhb1jl
— SunDevilTFXC (@SunDevilTFXC) April 21, 2017
Ewen’s throw of 60.17 meters was a new personal record and was the farthest out of any non-professional athlete at the meet.
In day two, all six athletes competed, and redshirt senior Kyle Long started things off with a third place finish and personal record in the hammer throw.
Long threw for over 65 meters for the fifth time all season — throwing 65.63 meters. He also finished eighth in the discus throw out of 15 participants with a throw of 56.38 meters.
"Kyle is getting real close to some bigger throws. His consistency at higher levels is starting to happen in practice and now meets," throwing coach Brian Blutreich said. "He is putting himself in a good position to have success."
Ewen followed up her record breaking performance on Friday with another personal record of 17.53 in the shot put, which earned her a second-place finish.
"Maggie is getting some really nice results, but I would like to see her consistency within the meets be a little better," Blutreich said. "She is constantly working hard in practice to make the changes she needs to have success."
Redshirt senior Thomas Anderson also participated in the meet, but was unable to advance to the second round of the men's shot put, as he placed 15 after his first three throws.
On the runway, redshirt senior Garrett Starkey cleared the bar at 5.45 meters, good enough to win the event.
Over @starkeypv will now get 3 attempts at 5.60m (18'-4.5") (New Pr) pic.twitter.com/T1LNLpWpvg
— SunDevilTFXC (@SunDevilTFXC) April 22, 2017
Starkey’s teammate, redshirt sophomore Matthew Eckles, cleared the bar at 4.80 meters to receive a ninth place finish.
Over on the track, senior LaTroya Franklin ran the 100 meter dash and finished 23 out of 49 participants with a time of 12.59 seconds.
ASU will now prepare for the Duel in the Desert meet against its rival Arizona. The meet will take place on Saturday, April 29.
Reach the reporter at jzaklis@gmail.com and follow @JoshZaklis on Twitter.
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