The dates and the places may change, but the top names remain the same for the ASU track and field team.
Many of the same Sun Devils that have found themselves at the top of the board all season were there again over the weekend at the Mount San Antonio College Relays in Walnut, Calif.
On Friday, redshirt senior Jasmine Chaney led another great women’s sprint performance with a one-two-three ASU sweep of the women’s 400-meter hurdles.
Chaney posted a time of 57.71 seconds for first and was followed closely behind by junior Kayla Sanchez with a second-place time of 57.76 seconds. Rounding out the sweep was sophomore Keia Pinnick with a time of 57.97 seconds.
It was the first time in ASU history that three teammates have run sub-58-second times in the 400-meter hurdles and just the second time that three teammates have been under 60 seconds in ASU history. ASU now leads the nation in sub-58-second 400-meter hurdle runners with three to Texas’ two.
Friday also brought the two bright spots from the freshmen on the men’s side.
Freshman Bryan McBride took the men’s open high jump for the second straight week with another clearing of over seven feet. McBride’s mark of seven feet and one-half inch left him just short of cracking the ASU top-10 list.
“Bryan has been very steady. He’s developing in that,” ASU coach Greg Kraft said. “He’s going to be an interesting athlete for us over the next three and a half years.”
The other spot for the men was redshirt freshman Ryan Milus’ first-place finish in the men’s open 100-meter dash with a time of 10.46 seconds.
A victory in the men’s sprints demonstrated what could be some extended depth for Kraft’s team.
“We’re not deep,” Kraft said, “but we have enough balance and quality that we should be very functional at the Pac-10 meet.”
The late-season win by Milus could also be a positive for any late pushes into the Pac-10s, but Kraft doesn’t think that anyone could jump out and be immune to the process.
“What you’re seeing is what you’ve got,” Kraft said. “There is a process that we all have to go through. There is a learning curve. The only place you might see that not be the case is with Anna Jelmini.”
Redshirt freshman thrower Jelmini continued to show her dominance that has let her avoid the early learning curve.
Jelmini, currently the NCAA leader and in the top 15 in the world in the women’s discus, won the invitational elite discus event with a throw of 60.3 meters. Jelmini also took fourth place in the invitational elite shot put event.
Reach the reporter at zcavanag@asu.edu
