April 6, 2011

Sun Devil Stats & Top Marks | Meet Schedule | Heat Sheets: College - High School

TEMPE - The 32nd Sun Angel Track Classic will be held on Joe Selleh Track at Sun Angel Stadium this week in Tempe with another large field set to compete in one of the premier events held annually in the nation. Many highly regarded individuals and their teams will be on hand to compete in the collegiate and premier portions of the meet on Friday and Saturday while the Sun Angel High School portion of the meet will be held all day on Thursday.

THE SCHEDULE
• On Thursday, the high school portion opens with field events at 10:30 a.m. while the running events are set to start at 11 a.m.
• Friday will see the men’s premier hammer open the action at noon with the women’s pole vault (4 p.m.) and men’s pole vault (6:30 p.m.) also being contested
• Saturday will be led off at 9 a.m. with the discus while the noon hour will see the start of the women’s high jump at 12:00 p.m. and the running events opening at 12:30 p.m.
• Meet Honoree Clif McKenzie will be recognized as part of the Opening Ceremonies starting at 5 p.m.

SOME OF THE BEST
Although several of the teams in attendance for the collegiate portion will not be full squads, eight Top 25 teams will be represented by at least one individual, including four each from the latest USTFCCCA men’s and women’s rankings. On the women’s side, No. 4 Oklahoma, No. 10 Arizona, No. 15 and host Arizona State and No. 19 BYU will be represented, as will No. 11 Minnesota, No. 15 BYU, No. 17 Oklahoma and No. 18 Virginia Tech on the men’s side.

THE FIELD
The following schools will be represented in the Sun Angel Track Classic this weekend: Adams State, Air Force, Arizona, Arizona State, Boise State, BYU, Central Arizona, Colorado State, DePaul, Eastern New Mexico, Iowa, Iowa State, Michigan State, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, New Mexico State, Northern Arizona, Oklahoma, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Rutgers, San Diego State, Syracuse, UC Riverside, UC San Diego and Virginia Tech.

HIGHLY REGARDED
Along with those teams, 13 individuals that currently hold a mark ranking them in the national Top 5 will also be on hand this weekend, including the national leader in the women’s discus, ASU’s Anna Jelmini. The women’s events will also see Lacey Bleazard of BYU (No. 5) in the 800m run; Katie Palmer of BYU (No. 3) in the 1,500m run; Alycia Herring of ASU (No. 5) in the long jump; Allison Wilder of UC Riverside (No. 2) in the triple jump; Tia Brooks of Oklahoma (No. 3) in the shot put; and Brittany Borman of Oklahoma (No. 3) in the discus. On the men’s side, James Plummer of Rutgers (No. 3) in the discus and Matt Byers of Iowa (No. 3) in the javelin are both slated to compete. The ASU duo of Keia Pinnick (No. 2) and Samantha Henderson (No. 3), along with Syracuse’s Kelsey Rubeor (No. 4), all of which rank highly in the heptathlon, will be on hand to compete in several individual events while ASU’s Jamie Sandys (No. 3), who competes in the decathlon, also will compete in several individual events.

LEADING THE WAY
Looking at the current TFRRS list, Anna Jelmini not only is the national leader in the collegiate discus with her toss of 60.49m (198-5), which, as of last week, was the top mark by nearly 18-feet. Jelmini remains the national leader heading into this weekend as Simone du Toit (SMU) moved closer last week with a mark of 58.81m (192-11).

IMPRESSIVE MULTIS
Last week, five Sun Devils competed in the Jim Click Multis in Tucson and turned in some outstanding marks. Keia Pinnick (5,455 points) and Samantha Henderson (5,424 points) took second and third, respectively, in the women’s heptathlon and were the top collegiate finishers while Jamie Sandys (7,061 points) and Jeremy Marcinko (6,746 points) went 4-5 in the men’s decathlon. For Pinnick and Henderson, their marks currently rank second and third, respectively, on the NCAA descending order lists while also standing third and fourth, respectively, all-time in ASU history behind only a pair of NCAA champions. On the men’s side, Sandys’ score ranks him third currently in the nation while placing him ninth on ASU’s all-time Top 10. His score also makes him just the 10th different Sun Devil man to score 7,000+ points in the decathlon. NEXT TIME OUT
The Mt. SAC Relays await the Sun Devils in Walnut, Calif., next weekend.