The theme of consistency that the multi event athletes of the ASU track and field team voiced going into last weekend held true at the Jim Click Multis in Tucson on Thursday and Friday.
The Sun Devils got two back-to-back finishes with senior Samantha Henderson and sophomore Keia Pinnick finishing second and third in the women’s heptathlon, along with junior Jamie Sandys and redshirt sophomore Jeremy Marcinko placing fourth and fifth, respectively, in the men’s decathlon. The final finisher for ASU in the decathlon was redshirt sophomore Austin Prince, who finished 14th.
Henderson and Pinnick were equally consistent and impressive over the weekend.
On Thursday, Henderson led the field and set a personal record with 3,450 event points along with personal records in each of the day’s four events. Henderson had first-place finishes in the high jump and shot put along with a third-place 100-meter hurdles race and a fourth-place 200-meter dash.
Henderson’s best result came in her best event with a jump of five feet and 8.75 inches in the high jump.
“I wanted to jump five-eight in the high jump, because that’s like the money bar,” Henderson said. “It’s a lot of points for each height you make.”
Pinnick sat in third overall after the first day, finishing opposite Henderson with ninth and 10th place finishes in the high jump and shot put.
Pinnick was able to come back and jump Henderson on Friday with second-place showings in the long jump and 800-meter run. Henderson had slipped with a seventh-place 800-meter and a ninth-place javelin throw.
Pinnick’s and Henderson’s two-day combined scores of 5,455 and 5,424 points placed each at No. 2 and No. 3 on the current in-season NCAA list and No. 3 and No. 4 on the all-time ASU women’s heptathlon list.
On the men’s side, Sandys was the big story as his two-day score of 7,061 points broke him into two top-10 lists.
Sandys is currently in third on the in-season NCAA list and jumped to ninth on the all-time ASU men’s decathlon list.
While the top three Sun Devils were impressive on the consistent path, Marcinko was impressive in comeback fashion.
Marcinko sat at 14th after Thursday with only one top 10 individual finish, but jumped to fifth place overall with three individual top-five finishes and top-10 finishes in each of the five Friday events.
“I’m a strong second day person,” Marcinko said. “I’m pretty far down on the first day. I come back and catch up to the field on the second day.”
Either by consistency or with a bit of flash, the success is coming quite easily to the Sun Devils this season.
Reach the reporter at zcavanag@asu.edu
