If the opening meet of the 2011 indoor track and field season in Albuquerque, N.M., is any indication, all marks should be recorded in pencil from now on.
With a successful weekend at the New Mexico Invitational, the ASU track and field team set personal records and facility records. Many athletes also moved up in the Sun Devil records lists and national lists.
The most impressive mark came on Friday, the first day of competition, for fifth-year senior sprinter Jasmine Chaney in the 200-meter dash.
Chaney knocked off a full second from her previous 200-meter personal record of 24.45 seconds, setting a new time of 23.32 seconds.
“The thing about Jasmine [is] she showed a lot of tenacity,” ASU assistant coach Kenny McDaniel said. “She found areas to improve with her races this weekend. That’s a warrior and a champion.”
Her new record is the second fastest in Sun Devil history and places her seventh nationally this season.
The mark also qualifies her for the 200-meter race in the NCAA Indoor Championship.
“In the past athletes have qualified normally in two events, and Jasmine has an opportunity to qualify in three [60-meter hurdles and 200-meter and 400-meter dashes],” McDaniel said. “That will be something that a lot of schools all over the nation won’t have.”
Chaney continued to impress on Saturday with a personal record of 54.13 seconds in the 400-meter race, which places her seventh nationally in this event also.
Then she rounded out the weekend in the 4-by-400-meter relays where she and junior Kayla Sanchez, senior Dominique’ Maloy and sophomore Keia Pinnick combined for a time of 3 minutes, 41.21 seconds to place them among the top 20 national times.
On the men’s side, junior John Kline, running 1 minute, 17.59 seconds in the 600-meter race, had a record day for the Convention Center in Albuquerque. Kline broke the previous facility record of 1 minute, 19.18 seconds.
“I kind of struggled my first two years here, and I came out and had a nice race this weekend. It was a long time coming,” Kline said.
To finish out the first day, 22 Sun Devils placed in the top 10 for their respective events.
On the second day of events, seven athletes moved into the top 10 in ASU history in their events.
“We just have to just keep coming out and competing,” Kline said. “We all competed really well, and as the meets keep getting bigger we’ll come out and do as well as we did.”
But the spotlight belonged to freshman Shaylah Simpson.
The pole vaulter almost became the second ASU woman to ever reach 14-feet. Simpson won the event with a height of 13 feet, 9.25 inches.
That mark also places her seventh nationally after the first collegiate meet of her career.
Reach the reported at zcavanag@asu.edu
