Sunday, 18 May 2008 Larry, Johnson and Pressley highlight Pacific-10 Conference Champs
Lionel Larry on his way to 44.77 clocking - PAC 10 (Kirby Lee)
Tempe, USA - Jacquelyn Johnson scored a world season leading 6307 points in the Heptathlon and Jessica Pressley won the Shot Put in a U.S. season best 18.79m to pace the Arizona State women to the their third Pacific-10 Conference title in a row on its home track at Sun Angel Stadium (9-10 May and 16-17 May).
In the men’s division, 21-year-old Lionel Larry ran 44.77 for the 400m.
O’Brien coached
Johnson had marks of 13.21 in the 100m Hurdles, 1.81m in the High Jump, 11.93m in the Shot Put and 24.22 in the 200m, 6.30m in the Long Jump, 48.50m in the Javelin Throw and 2:19.33 in the 800m in warm and dry conditions in the multi-event competition on 9-10 May.
The points total by the three-time NCAA champion is the third-highest total in NCAA history and the best score by a collegiate competitor since 1995. In the process, the senior, who began the season with a PB of 5987 set in 2006, eclipsed the Pac-10 record of 6,205 and the conference meet record of 6,018, both set last year by 2007 U.S. World Championships team member Diana Pickler.
Johnson, who split her time between basketball and athletics, before focusing exclusively on the later after the 2005 season, trains under 1996 Olympic Decathlon champion Dan O’Brien –a volunteer multievents coach at ASU.
During the main track section (16-17 May), in the Shot Put, Pressley, the defending collegiate champion, recorded a personal best of 18.79m the No. 5 mark in NCAA history, 6cm off the conference record of 18.85m set by Valeyta Althouse of UCLA in 1995. Pressley, a senior, also won the Discus Throw with 55.93m, and came fourth in the Hammer Throw (60.47).
In the men’s 400m, Southern California junior Lionel Larry, 21, the third-place finisher in the 2007 USA Track & Field Championships, beat Washington junior Jordan Boase, 44.77 to 44.97, to move into fourth on the yearly global list in a meeting of the top two NCAA quartermilers of 2008.
Oregon sophomore Andrew Wheating, who ran a U.S. leading 3:38.60 in the 1500m on at the Oregon Twilight meet in Eugene on 9 May, added another career-best of 1:46.82 in the 800m. Southern California senior Duane Solomon, a member of the 2007 U.S. World Championships team was second in 1:47.65 and UCLA freshman Cory Primm – the top high schooler in the 800m last year – was third in 1:47.75.
UCLA junior Kevin Craddock won the 110m Hurdles in 13.62 and Washington State freshman Jeshua Anderson was the winner in the 400m Hurdles in 49.55. Arizona junior Zack Lloyd was a surprise winner over Arizona State sophomore and NCAA indoor record holder Ryan Whiting, 21.03m to 20.30m.
Southern California junior Corey White , who has thrown 81.65m in the Javelin Throw this season, won at 73.66m. Stanford senior Erica McLain won the Long Jump (6.50m) and Triple Jump (13.58m) into headwinds.
Kirby Lee for the IAAF
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