Photo: (Quinn Jamieson/WCSN)
Tucson- A strong day in the field, several personal bests and a Maggie Ewen Collegiate record highlighted the competition for the Arizona State University Track and Field team at the Desert Heat Invitational on Saturday.
The action at Roy P. Drachman Stadium, hosted by the University of Arizona was the last meet of the season for some Sun Devils and the final competition before the Pac-12 championships for many.
The meet didn’t start out typically for Maggie Ewen. The standout senior who has had a monstrous season thus far took a rare second place in the hammer throw. Northern Arizona University’s Brooke Andersen won the event with the second-best mark in NCAA history (behind Ewen). The two will likely meet again at nationals in what is shaping up to be a fantastic competition.
Ewen then competed in the discus, where she fouled on each of her first three throws, failing to set a mark.
In the final event of her night, the collegiate leader in the shot put, discus and hammer throw rose to the occasion. On the last of her six throws, she launched the shot put a personal best of 19.46 meters (63′ 10¼”) breaking Raven Saunders’ collegiate record in the process.
Head Coach, Greg Kraft summed it up best.
“There’s only four throwing events and she holds the collegiate records in half of them, so that’s a pretty big deal,” Kraft said.
Samantha Noennig and Kaylee Antill both followed Ewens lead and finished with strong performances in the women’s throwing events. Noennig took second in the shot put throwing a personal best of 17.31m (56′ 9½”) good for fourth in school history. Noennig complete her shot put performance with a second-place finish in the discus. She remains a major contender in the west regional, ranking within the top ten in the shot put. Antill moved into sixth on the ASU hammer throw leaderboard and set a personal of best of 63.01m (206′ 8″), finishing third.
Portuguese international, Jessica Barreira has been a jack of all trades for the Sun Devils this season. She has consistently competed in an array of events, including the long jump, triple jump and javelin throw. On Saturday, Barreira took first in the long jump with a personal record of 6.25 meter (20′ 6¼”). She followed that up with a sixth-place finish in the triple jump.
Barreira knew she was primed for a big meet.
“It felt really good. Practice has been going really well,” Barreira said. “Coach Kraft and I knew something big was just waiting to happen.”
Barreira is peaking at the right time. She does not yet know what her focus will be in the last month of the season, but plans to take things “one step at a time.”
Much like the women’s team, field events were the story of the day for the men.
Sophomore, Elijah Hughes dominated the high jump coming away with a personal record of 2.13 m (6′ 11¾”).
True Freshman, Cole Riddle led a strong contingent of ASU pole vaulters and came away with a victory with a vault of 5.12 m (16′ 9½”).
Riddle sat out the first half of the season, because of a knee injury. Since his return, he has made a big impact on a very talented Sun Devils vaulting team that swept the first five places on Saturday.
“My knee feels great, and I feel great with my form and my speed,” Riddle said. “Everything is really coming together right now so I’m really excited for Pac-12’s”
He highlighted his teammates as major factors to his success in his first collegiate season.
“The team has helped me out a lot,” Riddle said. “Even if everyone’s not jumping their best everyone’s pushing each other to do better.”
Kraft spoke about the importance of his jumpers and vaulters pushing their limits and competing at high marks before the major meets.
“In the competition, you could see Cole Riddle and Elijah Hughes jumping at lifetime best bars,” Kraft said. And they really need to do that, they need to get those looks at the high bars.”
Kraft was pleased with the with his squad’s performance and outlined what training will look like for the Sun Devils as they enter finals week and the championship portion of their season.
“We’re pleased with the outcome,” Kraft said. “This week our focus is more fine-tuning, rest and recovery because we’re in final exams.”
ASU star sprinter/middle distance runner, Alethia Marrero sat out individual competition on Saturday and will be the lone Sun Devil competing at the Stanford Invitational on Thursday, May 3.
The rest of the team will return to action in two weeks at the Pac-12 Championships in Stanford, California on May 12-13.
Full meet results can be found here.
