ASU track and field coach Greg Kraft grew up on the West Coast and always wanted to coach in the Pac-10 Conference.
When the opportunity arose 11 years ago to execute that dream of leading a Pac-10 school, he agreed to come to ASU because he thought the program could be successful.
But success isn't always immediate, something Kraft emphasized after the Sun Devils swept the indoor championships earlier this year.
"It's a brick by brick process," Kraft said at the time. "You can't skip any of the steps along the way."
It takes time, he explained, and the athletes that preceded the current Sun Devils had a hand in creating a commitment to winning.
"You have to have the buy-in of the student-athletes," he said.
So when former Sun Devil greats returned to Sun Angel Stadium this weekend to participate in the 29th Sun Angel Track Classic, they felt proud of the current batch of Sun Devils and the growing success of the teams.
With accomplished athletes such as Dwight Phillips, Vince Mosca and Amy Hastings providing an extra helping of motivation, the Sun Devils won six events and captured 34 regional qualifying marks at the track classic.
"We're kind of hitting on all cylinders," Kraft said. "It's just something you can't describe.
"You really feel momentum continue to build."
The Sun Devils started the meet Friday afternoon by sweeping the top three spots in the women's hammer.
Junior Sarah Stevens took first in the event by breaking the school record with a toss of 66.52 meters. Senior Tai Battle finished second with a mark of 62.64, and senior Jessica Pressley hit 62.19 meters to place third. Pressley earned a first-place finish Saturday, as she won the invitational shot put with a throw of 17.25 meters.
Charonda Williams continued to show her strength as the reigning Pac-10 Women's Track Athlete of the Week by winning the 100-meter dash in 11.60 after placing second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.17. The junior later joined freshman Dominiqué Maloy, senior Jordan Durham and junior Shauntel Elcock in the 4x100-meter relay, and the team finished second in a time of 44.66.
Durham replaced junior Stephanie Garnett in the relay, who had raced previously in the event as another option for the team.
"You want to develop depth in case you need someone later in the season," Kraft said.
But Kraft thinks the combination used this past weekend will be the one that sticks.
"We thought all along Jordan would be on the relay when it got to the championship season," he said.
Garnett, meanwhile, found individual success in the long jump; she jumped 6.37 meters to take first.
On the men's side, junior David Mehlhorn placed first in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, running it in 8:58.30, while senior Matt Turner finished second in the long jump with a leap of 7.94 meters, moving him into second on the nationals lists.
Phillips, a 2004 Olympic gold medallist in the long jump, won the event with a mark of 8 meters and also took the invitational 100-meter dash in 10:35.
The quartet of senior Jimmie Gordon, juniors Darryl Elston and Joel Phillip and sophomore Justin Kremer clocked in with a time of 3:05.85 to win the 4x400-meter relay. Individually, Phillip met the Olympic "A" standard by running the 400-meter dash in 45.34.
Phillip's performance is just one example of the motivation fueling the Sun Devils through the outdoor season and, for a select number of Sun Devils, toward the Olympic trials.
"It just makes it more attainable," Kraft said of achieving that Olympic goal. "That's the kind of team we have. Those are the type of student-athletes you have to have."
Reach the reporter at: sarah.mclellan@asu.edu.
