(Austin, TX) Arizona State was flawless on day one of the NCAA Track and Field Championships in Austin, Texas. Four-time NCAA champion Turner Washington earned his eighth All-America honor after finishing runner-up in the men’s shot put, both the 4×100 (38.67) and 4×400 (2:59.14) squads shattered the program records, and all three 400m runners ran personal-best times to punch their tickets to the finals. The women’s team opens the meet Thursday with Sevanna Hanson in the pole vault at 7:30 p.m. CT/5:30 p.m. AZ. She’s the lone ASU competitor until Friday. All action will stream live via ESPN.
It’s impossible to pick just one moment to highlight from the day.
The meet opened with the 4×100 squad of Jalen Drayden, Jeremiah Curry, Trevin Moyer, and Justin Robinson finishing second in heat behind Texas Tech (38.20) to secure their spot in Friday’s finals. They shaved 0.91 off their season-best of 39.11 from the Pac-12 Championships and finished ninth overall.
The 400m was all gas, no brakes. Robinson won the event in 44.54 (0.13 lead) to move to No. 2 in program history. Dubem Nwachukwu took fourth overall, running 44.81 to jump to fifth in program history, a 0.10 improvement for him. Gamali Felixwas the eighth qualifier, running 45.12 for the No. 11 mark in program history. The Sun Devils join Florida as the only two programs to send three 400m runners to the finals, with the Gators’ runners finishing second, sixth and seventh in semifinals.
There was jubilation then heartbreak in the shot put for Turner Washington. Washington easily reached finals, then looked to all but secure his second outdoor shot crown in round four when he went 21.04m/69-0.5 to flirt with his lifetime best and jump to the top of the leaderboard. The mark lasted through round five until Arizona’s Jordan Geist went 21.06m/69-1.25 to spoil Washington’s day and win the meet. Washington is now an eight-time All-American with the result.
The final highlight of the day came in an absolutely wild series of 4×400 relays. ASU ran a program-record 2:59.14 to finish second overall behind Florida who ran 2:58.62 – a meet and facility record. The Sun Devils’ time was a full two seconds after of the previous record from 2005 (3:00.57) and was highlighted by Jeremiah Curry running a 43.55 split on the anchor.
NCAA Championships Results
Wednesday, Men’s semifinals
4×100: 9th place, 38.67 Q – program record
400m:
Justin Robinson – 1st, 44.54 Q – No. 2 ASU history
Dubem Nwachukwu – 4th, 44.81 Q – No. 5 ASU history
Gamali Felix – 8th, 45.12 q – 11th ASU history
200m: Jeremiah Curry – 12th, 20.28
Shot put: Turner Washington – 21.04m/69-0.5, 2nd – Silver medal, 8-time All-American
4×400: 2nd place, 2:59.14 Q – program record
Press Release courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics – Will Edmonds
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