March 8, 2008

TEMPE, Ariz. - The Arizona State University track and field team sent two small groups of competitors to a pair of meets on Saturday as Sun Devils competed at the Washington Last Chance and Iowa State Last Chance meets in Seattle, Wash., and Ames, Iowa, respectively. The meets, the final chance athletes had to qualify for the NCAA Championships, saw the Sun Devils earn four provisional qualifiers on the day while winning three events.

At the ISU Last Chance meet, Charonda Williams turned in a strong day as she won a pair of events and qualified nationally for both. Williams opened the day winning the preliminary and semifinal rounds of the 60m dash in 7.47 and 7.45, respectively, before claiming gold in the finals in a provisional-qualifying time of 7.42. Williams then clocked a qualifying time of 23.69 to win the 200m dash. Overall, her times rank among the Top 5 in ASU history, ranking third all-time in the 60m dash and fourth in the 200m dash.

Also qualifying for the national meet was the 4x400m relay of Dominique' Maloy, Shauntel Elcock, Jordan Durham and Jeavon Benjamin, who took second with a time of 3:36.12. Elcock also ran the 200m dash and turned in a personal-best time of 24.96.

In Seattle, Joel Phillip earned the final provisional qualifier for the Sun Devils on the day as he won the 400m dash in 46.72, giving the ASU men three runners at nearly the same time on the national list. Justin Kremer finished third in 47.19 to provisionally qualify, but he has a faster time already this season. Jimmie Gordon was fifth in 47.54. Tomas Navarro was second in the men's shot put with his toss of 17.59m (57-08.50) while Kari Hardt was third in the women's mile in 4:48.56.

The NCAA will announce which athletes have been selected to compete in the national championships on Monday evening with those selected competing in the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships Friday and Saturday inside the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark.

ENDS