Sun Devil men, women win NCAA track regionals

Behind another set of impressive performances from Charonda Williams in the women’s sprints and strong contributions from several men, the Arizona State track and field squads swept the team titles and gained 21 entries into the national championships as the 2008 NCAA West Region championships came to a close Saturday at Northridge, Calif.

ASU men, women in 1st at region track meet

The women easily defended their regional crown, accumulating 114 points to secure their ninth team title in a row dating to the 2007 MPSF Indoor Championships.

UCLA (87.50), USC (78), Stanford (74) and Oregon (50) rounded out the top five in the women’s standings.

The race for the men’s title came down to the final event, the 1,600-meter relay, with the Sun Devils sporting a seven-point lead over USC. ASU placed fourth to earn six points while USC won the race to earn 11, leaving ASU on top with 74 and USC in second with 72.

UCLA (68.5), Washington (54) and Oregon (53) rounded out the top five.

Williams opened the day by anchoring the team of Dominique’ Maloy, Jordan Durham and Stephanie Garnett to a victory in the 400 relay with a time of 44.48, the sixth fastest in school history.

Williams then earned automatic berths in the 100 and the 200, placing fourth in the 100 at 11.52 before winning the 200 in 23.30. Maloy also qualified in the 200, finishing third at 23.76 before helping the relay squad of Durham, Shauntel Elcock and Jeavon Benjamin to second place in the 1600 relay (3:34.71) and a berth in the national meet. Benjamin (53.88) and Durham (54.30) also qualified for the 400 dash, placing fourth and fifth, respectively.

Jessica Pressley and Sarah Stevens punched their tickets to the national meet for the third time in two days, as the duo finished first and third, respectively, in the shot put. Pressley, the national leader, finished with a toss of 17.40 meters, while Stevens threw 16.31. Both women will compete in the shot put, hammer and discus at nationals.

For the men, Kyle Alcorn won the 3,000 steeplechase with a time of 8 minutes, 36.74 seconds to secure a berth in the national meet, where he placed seventh a year ago.

In the sprints, Calvin Abram earned berths in the 100 and 200, finishing fifth (10.60) and third (20.96), respectively, while Darryl Elston placed fourth in the 200 (20.98) to join Abram at nationals. Joel Phillip placed second (46.60) in the 400 to earn his berth, while Nectaly Barbosa took third in the 800 (1:49.26) to join the field.

Elston, Marquis Profit, Barbosa and Phillip placed fourth (3:07.50) in the 1,600 relay to secure the team title.

The Sun Devils had 14 women and seven men automatically qualify for the national meet. Those who finished between sixth and 12th in an event are eligible to receive an at-large berth. Those berths will be announced by the NCAA next week.