CASSTOWN — As the sun hung high above the cornfields, a trickle of cars — many of them with poles ranging from 12 to 15 feet long sticking out of the windows — started pulling into a grassy space inside the Miami East High School football stadium.From five different counties — Miami, Darke, Shelby, Auglaize and Champaign — they arrived, seeking knowledge and experience … and they were met by two men who were able to provide both.“Roger and Herb are great,” said Maria Heckman, a senior-to-be at Minster High School who placed third in the pole vault at the Division III state track and field championships last spring. “They know everything there is to know about pole vaulting.”More than a decade ago, Roger Bowen, the former track and field coach at Miami East High School, and Herb Hartman, the former track coach at Troy High School, had a vision. They wanted to provide a full-service pole vaulting academy for area high school vaulters. more

WHAT his father could not do 18-year-old EJ Obiena finally accomplished when he cleared a record-breaking 5.01 meters in the junior men’s pole vault event during the Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association Weekly Relays Series at the Philsports oval in Pasig last weekend. Obiena erased the 22-year Philippine mark of 5.0 meters set by Fil-Am Edward Lasquete in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. It was a mark set more than three years before Obiena was even born in 1995. Obiena’s father Emerson dueled Lasquete in the ‘90s for supremacy in the local pole vaulting scene. Lasquete seemed to have had the last word in their friendly rivalry when he set the national record of 5.0 meters. But that has finally been erased by another Obiena in EJ when vaulted to the 5.01 height. He also reset the standard national junior mark which he raised from 4.31 meters to 5.01 in just three years.  more

FORT DODGE, Iowa — Nine weeks ago, Pleasant Valley’s girls track and field team hugged, cried and hoisted its first state championship trophy in 23 years.Now, its title has been taken away.The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union’s Board of Directors voted unanimously Friday morning to strip the Spartans of their Class 4A state championship and state-qualifying victories after having an ineligible athlete participate.Middle distance standout Kaley Ciluffo competed in three different events against college track athletes in sanctioned invitationals by a college institution from December 2013 to April 2014.She also participated in a meet in early June against professional athletes in New Jersey.According to PV officials, they were unaware of Ciluffo’s involvement in these competitions until June 23-24.”We’re profoundly disappointed, and we don’t agree with it,” PV superintendent Dr. Jim Spelhaug said of the board’s decision. “The board basically made the decision while admitting that Pleasant Valley coaches and administrators were no way responsible for or had any knowledge of the actions of this family and this student.” more

Alex Chapelle of France cleared 5.55m to win the men’s pole vault in the year’s best junior performance. The depth of the entire competition was impressive as the top eight vaulters (and nine of the 13 finalists) had their best ever clearances in what could be seen as the deepest competition ever at the IAAF World Junior Championships.

Nine vaulters were still active at 5.40m, seven at 5.45m, and six at 5.50m.

Chapelle needed only six attempts to win, entering at 5.20m, clearing that and 5.35m on his first attempts. His clean sheet was spoiled at 5.45m, which he went over on his second attempt, but he then hit 5.50m and 5.55m on his first attempts as well.

Chapelle closed with three attempts at 5.64m, which would be a French junior record, but was unsuccessful.

Silver went to Russia’s Daniil Kotov, whose record was even cleaner than Chapelle’s through to 5.50m, but Kotov was unable to clear 5.55m.

Germany’s Oleg Zernikel also carried a clean sheet up to 5.50m but had a single miss there, which was enough to relegate him to bronze.

USA’s Devin King, the only vaulter other than Chapelle who had cleared 5.45m before the competition (in King’s case, at an exhibition street vault), was the fourth vaulter over 5.50m but missed out on a medal because of having more misses at lower heights.

Chapelle follows Jean Galfione, who won the junior pole vault title for France in 1990.

He will now be hoping to emulate Galfione in another way as the latter went on to win Olympic and world indoor titles in an illustrious senior career.

Axel Chapelle realized a childhood dream in Eugene, listening to La Marseillaise as he stood on top of the podium at Hayward Field following his victory in the pole vault with a personal best and world junior leading height of 5.55m.

“It means a lot to me. When I was a kid, I went to the stadium almost every day to join my dad, a decathlon coach at INSEP (the French high performance institute in the south eastern suburbs of Paris). When I was eight, I attended the World Championships in Paris and I felt the excitement when I saw a French guy (Marc Raquil) winning bronze in 400m,” he recalled.

“I felt his emotion when he was on the podium. From there, I dreamt of becoming world champions and listening to La Marseillaise all year round. And to finally get to this moment, it was really incredible,” said a jubilant Chapelle holding his gold medal.

The 19-year-old Colombes native congratulated his rivals in one of the highest calibre pole vault contests in the history of the IAAF World Junior Championships.

“It was really close. The guys jumped very well. When I jumped 5.55m, I did not think it would enough to win, but all the guys failed at that height and it was sufficient for gold. I expected this level of competition. It was incredible to win the final today,” he added.

Chapelle completed a superb Saturday for France as Rouguy Diallo took the triple jump gold.

They propelled Les Bleus to the third place on the medal tally, following Wilhem Belocian’s world record of 12.99 to take the 110m hurdles title.

“I am also happy for Rouguy. We have a great team. We support each other. We feel solidarity in the group and we have good athletes. To win two gold medals on the same day, this is super,” he commented.

Rouguy produced the third longest mark under any conditions in the history of the World Junior Championships, and the longest junior jump since 2000, with a windy 14.44m – she also set a French junior record with legal leap of 14.20m – and joined him in the celebrations.

Chapelle credited the crowd for his performance today.

“I have rarely seen such a great atmosphere. The crowd was present and it was great to jump in front of them. Conditions were great. Everybody jumped well. It was an incredible experience.”

Watching from the stands was his mom Valerie. His father, Emmanuel, is the photographer for the French Athletics Federation in Eugene. “I don’t have my brother here, but we will celebrate with my parents and then we I return home,” added the 2013 European Junior silver medallist, who did not qualify for the final on his World Junior Championships debut in 2012.

Family affair.

Axel started in athletics by following the footsteps of his bother Theo, three years his senior, who was second at the French indoor championships this winter. They both train together in the EA Cergy Pontoise Athletisme club in Paris and now have equal personal bests of 5.55m.

“At the beginning, I was doing everything, training for the decathlon, but then I was starting to do better in the pole vault,” explained Axel.

“Because he was doing the pole vault, I wanted to beat him. Each year, I wanted to break his record in every age. I could not beat any of my brother’s record, except for this one. We will see what happens next year, but I am not stopping here. I have to continue working hard to achieve my goals and reach a higher level.”

Chapelle considers himself lucky to do what he enjoys most. “I do athletics because I love travelling and I would love competing in different parts of the world and discovering different cultures”

Axel trains with Gerald Beaudoin. “It is my first year training with him and I have full confidence in him. I follow his instructions and it is working well.”

The young Frenchman just finished his baccalaureate (high school leaving certificate) and plans to take a three year program to become a sports reporter, studying at INSEP.

In his free time, he plays the drums. “I love music and I am trying to put together a band. I love all music genres. Maybe after my athletics career, I may pursue a music career. I play it with other athletes at INSEP and we have a good time.”

Shot put champion Michalis Stamatoyiannis and sprinters Theopistos Mavridis and Grigoria Keramida have failed a doping test –Greek track and field had a mixed week, as on the same day as Katerina Stefanidi matched the national record in pole vault as well as the leading result in Europe so far this season, three Greek athletes were confirmed to have used banned substances, including Greece’s shot put champion.At the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Monaco, Stefanidi cleared 4.71 meters to match the national outdoor record that Nicole Kyriakopoulou had registered in August of 2011.Stefanidi finished third in the event, in which she also matched Europe’s leading performance this year by Lisa Ryzih of Germany. This bodes well ahead of the European championship taking place on August 12-17 in Zurich.However, on the same day, the Greek track and field federation (SEGAS) announced that shot put champion Michalis Stamatoyiannis, as well as sprintersTheopistos Mavridis and Grigoria Keramida, have failed a doping test and are suspended from action pending their hearing. They are likely to get a two-year ban.The 100th national track and field championship was also staged at the Olympic Stadium of Athens, with the most notable performances coming from pole vaulter Costas Filippidis (5.60 meters) and long-jumper Louis Tsatoumas (8.08 m).

Gregor MACLEAN Pole Vault Men Final British Athletics Indoor Championships, English Institute of Sport Sheffield, UK

Sisters set personal records in pole vault Pole vaulting is a family affair for the Patarinos, and Sunday was their day. Makenzie Patarino, 16, a senior at Lakewood High School and her younger sister, Kassidy, 14, a freshman, both set personal records Sunday at the Rocky Mountain State Games. Makenzie cleared 11 feet, 4 inches and Kassidy, who just started her pole vault career, cleared 5-5. The sisters train together daily and twice weekly with Above the Bar Pole Vault Club, and Makenzie knows Kassidy will soon catch up. “She is going to give me a run for my money pretty soon,” Makenzie said. “We go to the club together and we do workouts in the morning together.” When Kassidy first saw Makenzie soaring over the bar, she wanted to try it too. “You have to be insane to do it,” Makenzie said. “She saw me and she said, ‘Oh, that looks fun. I’m insane too, so I’ll give it a try.'” Palmer Ridge grad ready for college track career. more

LIZ PARNOV: The 20-year-old Moscow-born pole-vaulter has catapulting herself into the air in her genes: her father was champion pole vaulter Alex Parnov (he’s also her coach). The beautiful Russian moved to Australia with her family in 1996, and her personal best jump is 4.5 meters. more

The Gardner track club in conjunction with the Johnson County Fair, the city of Gardner and USD 231 will present an outdoor pole vault competition Aug. 2 in the Gardner Elementary School parking lot. On site registration begins at noon Aug. 2 and a free bungee jump starts at noon to 12:30 p.m. Vaulting with a crossbar begins at 1 p.m., and a progressive crossbar begins at 5-feet. There are no age restrictions and boys and girls will vault together based on personal records. Group one includes vaulters with 9-foot, 6-inch personal best. Group two vaulters with 9-foot, 6-inch to 13-foot best and group three will showcase elite male vaulters with minimum 13-foot, 6 -inch personal best. – See more at: http://gardnernews.com/outdoor-pole-vault-competition-set-for-august-2-in-gardner/#sthash.zWoy7D2o.dpuf

Burbank, California –Fifteen feet, nine inches.It’s the statistic most closely associated with Burroughs High senior Matt Schwartz.The Indians pole vaulter advanced to the final day of the 96th annual CIF State Track and Field Finals in Clovis in early June because he hit a distance of 15-9.Schwartz set a new personal record and broke a month-and-a-half long stalemate thanks to 15-9, while simultaneously replacing an unwelcome bout of frustration with a cocktail of relief, unabashed joy and satisfaction.”When I landed on that mat, it was crazy,” Schwartz said of the moment right after he cleared the bar at 15-9 at Buchanan High. “Everything disappeared and I didn’t remember any of my faults, just making it. It was amazing and I went a little nuts because I couldn’t believe it.”While such an accomplishment may be enough alone to merit Schwartz selection as the 2014 All-Area Boys’ Track and Field Athlete of the Year as selected by the sportswriters of the Burbank Leader, Glendale News-Press and La Cañada Valley Sun, there’s so much more to the UC Berkeley-bound senior than just 15-9.  more

CHARLESTON, Illinois – Instead of football workouts, Chase Black is working on a farm this summer.His football career may have ended with a senior season at Charleston High School. Which is harder

– football or farm work – may depend on the day.But Black leaves no doubt when comparing this summer to those of the past when he always spent time training for his first love of pole vaulting. That career is still going and the Illinois Prep Top Times Indoor Class 2A state champion and IHSA Class 2A outdoor state runner-up has a workout schedule set by his future Southern Illinois Carbondale track and field vaulting coach Brian Porter.“It’s more scheduled and more basically telling me what to do,” Black said of the workouts. “It’s set in stone what you have to do instead of doing what I was doing.“It’s a lot of lifting and running. It’s a lot harder than I’ve done in the past.”But this is what Black wanted, a chance to continue his career in college.After finishing fourth in the Class 2A state finals as a sophomore and third as a junior, his opportunity to compete in the Missouri Valley Conference was helped when he attended an SIU camp in the winter at Carbondale.“Earlier in the winter I went to a pole vault camp,” Black said. “I hadn’t gotten recruited by the coach before. I got to know the coach. I met some of the kids there and it seemed like a good fit. I ended up taking the official visit there.”Porter, who coaches the Saluki vaulters and javelin throwers as an assistant to SIUC head coach and former Olympian Connie Price-Smith, apparently liked enough of what he saw from Black to offer him a spot on the teamHe has not changed his mind since the signing.  more

Woodbury, Minnesota –Fourth grader Elena Dexheimer made a run up toward the pit, stuck her pole in the ground and came barreling into the padding. As she got up, Shawn Francis called her over and gave her a few tips. Dexheimer took the news and raced back in line to take her next crack at a vault. And when she went again she went just a few inches higher into the air before again tumbling into the padding. “There you go,” Francis said. “Wasn’t that better?” Dexheimer rose up from the padding with a big smile and nodded quickly before racing back to the end of the line, eager to try her newfound tricks of the trade one more time. Dexheimer was one of many kids Hastings native Francis helped at East Ridge pole vault coach Mark Haesly’s free summer pole vault camp last week.  more

Mauritius’ Guillaume Thierry competes in the Men’s Decathlon Pole Vault at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland July 29, 2014. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett (BRITAIN – Tags: SPORT ATHLETICS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

Pole vaulter Sally Scott says there were times she feared her shoulder injury would end her career. The 23-year-old was selected for England’s team for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, despite a two-year struggle with the niggling injury. “I thought at one point I wasn’t going to be able to pole vault again,” Scott told BBC Newcastle. “I’ve had a shoulder problem, an impingement in my right shoulder which takes all the force of the pole.” Scott, who is a two-time English Under-20 champion, was given the option of surgery to help deal with the issue but decided against it, going down the rehabilitation route whilst cutting down her jumping schedule. “I haven’t done as many competitions this year; I haven’t been wearing myself out. “I’ve been able to do a competition, go back into a training block, keep nice, fit and strong.” The injuries took their toll in the 2013 season, with Scott unable to reach the height of four metres for the first time since 2008. “I was jumping rubbish heights,” said the former Gateshead Harrier, who managed a season best of just 3.80m, 40cm below her personal best   more

Rick Valcin, a 2012 graduate of Cowley College, is representing Saint Lucia at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland. Valcin is competing in the pole vault and 100-meter dash, and as part of the 4×100-meter relay team. While at Cowley, Valcin was an all-conference and all-region pole vaulter during the 2012 indoor season, and the conference and region pole vault champion during the 2012 outdoor season. Valcin went on to place fifth in the pole vault at the 2012 NJCAA Track and Field Outdoor Championships. He also represented Saint Lucia at the prestigious Pan American Games in 2011 in Guadalajara, Mexico. Cowley head track and field coach Mark Phillips is proud to see his former athlete earn the opportunity to compete at the Commonwealth Games, the third largest multi-sport event in the world, after the Olympic Games and the Asian Games. “It’s an amazing accomplishment considering where Rick came from,” Phillips said. “I knew he had the ability, but he did not have much of a background in the pole vault when he came to school here. “He was a great person to work with and his athletic ability combined with his work ethic have led him to where he is today.” This past season, while competing at the University of Dubuque in Iowa, Valcin won the 2014 NCAA D-III Pole Vault National Championship by clearing a school record 16 feet, 10.75 inches, the highest mark in Division III this year. He also won the 100-meter dash and pole vault at the Iowa Conference Championships. For his efforts, Valcin was named the University of Dubuque Male Student-Athlete of the Month for April and May. more

Steve Hooker in the middle of the crisis.ATHLETICS Australia has been plunged into an “unprecedented crisis” with head coach Eric Hollingsworth set to be sacked after escalating his feud with gold medal star Sally Pearson at the Commonwealth Games.

Hollingsworth took the extraordinary step of releasing a statement independent of his employers Athletics Australia in which he criticised Pearson as a “bad example” to the Australian team for arriving late to a team camp prior to the Games. If Eric Hollingsworth is still an employee of Athletics Australia or a member of the Australian Commonwealth Games team by the end of the day then I think the ramifications will continue.”

Former team captain and Olympic pole vault champion Steve Hooker said it was clear Hollingsworth knew his time as head coach was over and wanted to go down swinging.

“It looks like the writing is on the wall. You wouldn’t be doing this if you thought you’d be working alongside Sally for the next two years going into Rio,” Hooker told Network Ten.  more

TEMPE, Ariz.—On July 28, 1996, Arizona State track and field ushered in a new era with the hiring of head coach Greg Kraft.

Since his hiring, the program has continued to evolve into one of the most well rounded in the nation with strength on the track, in the field, and in cross country. Kraft and his staff have worked diligently to reach their goals of championships and success in education.

From Jacquelyn Johnson’s first NCAA title in 2004, to Shelby Houlihan and Bryan McBride’s titles in 2014, Kraft’s athletes have amassed 32 individual NCAA titles, and four team crowns, which came in 2007 and 2008.

After taking over the program in 1996, the second-longest tenured coach in ASU track & field history (Baldy Castillo led the way for 26 seasons) has built a program that consistently attracts the top talent in the nation to Tempe that challenges for national titles, conference gold and high academic achievements. A four-time USTFCCCA National Coach of the Year and three-time Pac-12 Conference Coach of the Year, Kraft has become a highly decorated coach that continually works with some of the highest decorated student-athletes.

In recent years, the likes of seven-time NCAA champion Johnson (a Honda Award finalist) and six-time NCAA champion Ryan Whiting (a Bowerman Award finalist) have been a part of Kraft’s program, leading the way in competition and establishing a tradition that continues to grow. Since the 2004-05 academic year, the Sun Devils have won four NCAA titles, three Pac-10 crowns and placed in the Top 4 nationally 12 times, including twice in cross country.

In 2012, The ASU men’s team bounced back from not scoring a point at the 2011 NCAA Indoor Championships to scoring 31 at the 2012 NCAA Championships to take fourth overall, marking the fourth top-ten finish in the past five years for the Sun Devil and was the second trophy-earning finish in that time frame. Jordan Clarke (shot put) and Mason McHenry (800m) each won NCAA titles in their respective events, the first time each had done so during an indoor season and the first overall championship for McHenry while Kraft was tabbed the MPSF Conference Men’s Coach of the Year and earned USTFCCCA West Region Men’s Coach of the Year honors as well. Chris Benard – who trained directly under Kraft – was named the USTFCCCA West Region Field Athlete of the Year. The ASU men scored 131.5 points at the MPSF Championships and posted a 50-point margin of victory – both the highest tallies in the last decade of men’s MPSF competition.

Outdoors, the men’s team finished 16th at the NCAA Outdoor Championships with 18 points and second at the 2012 Pac-12 Championships with 116.50 points. Clarke won his third consecutive NCAA shot put title and defended his 2011 outdoor crown with a new personal best throw of 20.40m (66-111.25) and defeated his competition by over three feet and gave Arizona State its fourth consecutive NCAA shot put title (Ryan Whiting won in 2009 and 2010) and between Whiting and Clarke, the program has now won eight of the last 10 NCAA shot put competitions between the indoor and outdoor campaigns.

For the women in 2012, Anna Jelmini earned her second consecutive indoor All-America honor in the shot put with her fifth-place finish and a throw of 17.15m (56-03.25) and followed that with a second place finish in the discus at the outdoor championships. Under Kraft’s tutelage, Keia Pinnick finished fifth in the heptathlon and Christabel Nettey eighth in long jump while Constance Ezugha earned second-team All-America honors in the long jump.

Success was once again found during the 2011 season as Clarke added to the growing list of Sun Devil national champions as he captured the outdoor shot put title, keeping the event win in Tempe for the third year in a row. His program also continued to show improvement in the classroom as 25 individuals earned academic honors from the Pac-10 while Jamie Sandys (second team) and Ben Engelhardt (third team) were both named Academic All-Americans.

The 2010 season was no different as the talented Sun Devil men finished fourth at the NCAA Outdoor Championships on the strength of two titles won by Whiting and a runner-up finish in the 400m dash by Donald Sanford. Whiting, who finished three centimeters shy of equaling the collegiate record in the shot put, captured his fifth national crown in the event and added a discus title to his mantle after his three-peat indoors in the shot put. The men had three Top 8 finishers in the shot put and also earned All-America honors in the 4x400m relay. On the women’s side, Jasmine Chaney was one of only four women nationally to qualify to the NCAA meet in both hurdle events and eventually finished fifth overall in the 400m hurdles to earn All-America honors.

Academically, the men were well represented in 2010 again as Whiting was named the USTFCCCA Indoor and Outdoor Scholar-Athlete of the Year (field events) while the men’s team earned the USTFCCCA Outdoor Track & Field Scholar Team of the Year honor. Eight individual men and five women earned national academic honors from the Association as well.

In 2009, Whiting won a pair of national titles in the shot put, Jason Lewis captured the indoor weight throw and Sarah Stevens earned five All-America honors to help the women to a pair of Top 5 finishes as a team. All three also were selected ESPN The Magazine Academic All-Americans. While those three found success in the field events, Sun Devils like Charonda Williams, Jasmine Chaney and Brandon Bethke also were highly successful on the track to continue Kraft’s tradition of balance in the program across the board.

During his time in Tempe, the Sun Devils have won four national team titles, 32 individual national titles and earned 363 All-America honors, including 113 in individual track & field events, 84 in relays and 20 in cross country. On the conference level, Kraft’s Sun Devils have won three Pac-12 and three MPSF team titles (two women’s, one men’s) and collected 144 total conference crowns, including 81 individual Pac-12 titles and 16 relay wins outdoors while adding 69 MPSF individual titles and 11 in the relays.

Some of the more successful Sun Devils in program history have become multiple champions under Kraft, including men’s champions Aaron Aguayo, the only four-time steeplechase champion in conference history; Marcus Brunson (100m and 200m champion in the same season) and a pair of two-time long jump champions in Dwight Phillips and Matt Turner. On the women’s side, Tiffany Greer is the only three-time long jump champion; Charonda Williams is the only woman to sweep the 100m and 200m in back-to-back years; and distance stalwarts Lisa Aguilera (steeplechase) and Kelly MacDonald (5,000m) both won twice at the Pac-10 meet.

Away from Tempe, several of his athletes have traded in their maroon and gold and put on their nation’s colors in international competition. Some of those Team USA members include 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist Phillips (long jump) and 2008 Beijing Olympians Jacquelyn Johnson (heptathlon, USA), Trevell Quinley (long jump, USA) and Joel Phillip (400m, Grenada). Johnson and Quinley both were U.S. Trials Champions before heading to the Summer Games.

The academic side of the student-athlete also has found great success under Kraft. As a team, the his women have twice been named the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team of the Year for track & field while continually placing multiple individuals on several academic teams. Lewis was named the USTFCCCA Men’s Division Indoor Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2009, marking the fifth national honor the program has received. Sun Devils have been selected Academic All-Americans by CoSIDA a total of 21 times under Kraft while there have been 107 honors as part of the National All-Academic selections made by the USTFCCCA. In the Pac-12, hundreds individuals have earned first or second team honors in track & field while more than 70 have been selected to the same teams in cross country.

During the 2009 season, the Sun Devils again were successful on the national stage as both teams were fifth indoors while the women were third outdoors and the men eighth outdoors. Those finishes marked the 10th time the women have earned a trophy (Top 4 nationally) under Kraft since the 2005 cross country season, the eighth Top 10 finish in a row for the women and the fourth in a row for the men. With high team finishes come strong individual showings and that was certainly the case as three national titles were won, including Whiting in the indoor and outdoor shot put and Lewis in the indoor weight throw. In all, Lewis led the way for the men as a four-time All-American in 2009 (indoor shot put, indoor weight throw, outdoor discus, outdoor hammer) while Stevens (indoor shot put and weight and outdoor shot put, hammer and discus) and Williams (indoor 60m, 200m, 4x400m and outdoor 100m, 200m and 4x100m) led the way for the women.

The 2007 and 2008 seasons were perhaps the most `golden’ times in Kraft’s tenure so far as his women won three national titles and the men one, including a sweep of both crowns at the 2008 indoor meet. In 2008, Johnson won the sixth and seventh national titles of her career, including her third indoor pentathlon with a collegiate record score and her fourth outdoor heptathlon title, while Kyle Alcorn captured a pair of titles, including the indoor 3,000m run and the outdoor 3,000m steeplechase. Whiting also set the collegiate indoor shot put mark while winning his first national crown. The women also nearly swept the team titles for a second year in a row, falling just short of LSU in the outdoor meet to snap a three-title streak (2007 indoor, 2007 outdoor, 2008 indoor). The women also added their third-consecutive Pac-10 title and an MPSF crown.

The 2007 season was certainly one for the record books as well as four women combined to win five individual national titles to carry the Sun Devils to both the 2007 NCAA Indoor and 2007 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, the first national crowns in program history for the women. Kraft’s women coupled that success with a pair of conference titles, winning the indoor MPSF and outdoor Pac-10 Championships, while also winning the NCAA West Region for the first time. The women’s Pac-10 title was their second in a row and it was almost a sweep as the men fell three points shy of their first crown since 1981.

Individually, Johnson defended her national titles in the indoor pentathlon and outdoor heptathlon while the shot put was swept by Sun Devils with Stevens and Pressley winning the indoor and outdoor crowns, respectively. Kubishta won the outdoor pole vault, giving ASU it’s first title in the event since 1994, when Olympic champion Hysong took gold. All-told, 10 different women combined to secure 18 All-America honors in 2007, including three by senior Amy Hastings, who tied Maicel Malone for the most all-time in ASU history with 10 (Stevens later broke that record with 15 in her career). That record has since been broke by Stevens, who ended her career in 2009 with 15 total honors. The men also turned in solid performances throughout the year, including Aguayo, who captured the 3,000m steeplechase at the Pac-10 Championships, becoming only the 11th athlete in Pac-10 history to win the same event four times. The third-place finisher at the national meet, Aguayo was one of five men that earned All-America honors in 2007, including Turner, the 2007 Pac-10 champion, in the indoor long jump and Whiting, a redshirt freshman, in the indoor and outdoor shot put.

BY THE NUMBERS

Team Titles: 4

Individual NCAA Titles: 32

All-America Honors: 363 (113 individual, 84 relay, 20 cross country)

Pac-12 Titles: 3

MPSF Titles: 3

Pac-12 Individual Titles: 144 (81 individual, 16 relay)

MPSF Individual Titles: 80 (69 individual, 11 relay)

Coach Kraft’s NCAA Champions
Indoor Track & Field
2013
Jordan Clarke (Shot Put)

2012
Jordan Clarke (Shot Put)
Mason McHenry (800m)

2010
Ryan Whiting (Shot Put)

2009
Jason Lewis (Weight Throw)
Ryan Whiting (Shot Put) 

2008
Jacquelyn Johnson (Pentathlon)
Kyle Alcorn (3000m Run)
Ryan Whiting (Shot Put)

2007
Jacquelyn Johnson (Pentathlon)
Sarah Stevens (Shot Put) 

2006
Amy Hastings (5000m Run)
Jacquelyn Johnson (Pentathlon)

Outdoor Track & Field
2014
Shelby Houlihan (1500m Run)
Bryan McBride (High Jump)

2013
Chelsea Cassulo (Hammer Throw)
Anna Jelmini (Discus)

2012
Jordan Clarke (Shot Put)

2011
Jordan Clarke (Shot Put)

2010
Ryan Whiting (Shot Put and Discus)

2009
Ryan Whiting (Shot Put)

2008
Kyle Alcorn (3000m Steeplechase)
Jacquelyn Johnson (Heptathlon)
Jessica Pressley (Shot Put)
Sarah Stevens (Discus)

2007
Jacquelyn Johnson (Heptathlon)
April Kubishta (Pole Vault)
Jessica Pressley (Shot Put)

2006
Victoria Jackson (10,000m Run)
Jacquelyn Johnson (Heptathlon)

2004
Jacquelyn Johnson (Heptathlon)

Pauley Pavilion and Drake Stadium are filling up with water.  A water main burst with a massive torrent of water close to UCLA’s campus, and the campus is rapidly flooding, including all the major athletic venues.