NCAA invites 11 Sun Devils to Indoor T&F Championships

A pair of true freshmen will make the trip to the University of Arkansas this weekend to represent Arizona State in the long jump at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships.  They will be the only women in the group of 11 ASU participants who earned entry to the national meet, and the only rookies in their event.

Constance Ezugha enters the meet with a leap of 6.45m, which is tied for eight-best in the field, and Christabel Nettey has recorded a 6.42m jump that is ranked 11th.  Both women automatically qualified for the long jump two weeks ago at the MPSF Indoor Championships.

The Sun Devils will also be represented in the 5,000m run, the shot put, weight throw, 400m dash, 800m run, and two relays.

The national leader in the shot put, Ryan Whiting (21.52m), will compete in the field events, along with fourth-ranked Jason Lewis in the weight throw (2121.92m).  Lewis will also compete in the shot put for the second year in a row.  He is ranked 10th overall in that event, with a toss of 18.87m.

In the distance competition, it will be Brandon Bethke taking his No. 5 ranking into the 5,000m run, where he has recorded a time of 7:54.27.

Donald Sanford will run the 400m dash and Mason McHenry will compete in the 800m run.  Sanford had the eighth-best time in his event with a clocking of 46.19 and McHenry carries the 11th-best time in the nation (1:48.04) into the 800m.

Sanford and McHenry are also part of ASU’s relay hopes.  Sanford will run the 4x400m relay with Justin Kremer, Ray Miller, and Joel Phillip.  McHenry will join Bethke, Nectaly Barbosa, and one of the sprinters for the distance medley relay.  The 4×400 team is ranked sixth and qualified for the meet with a time of 3:06.70, while the DMR is fourth-ranked and qualified with a 9:31.34 time.