Williams' record run highlights strong outings at Sun Angel Classic

Despite an early morning downpour and the threat of showers throughout the day, the fans that filled Sun Angel Stadium on Saturday were once again treated to an exciting Arizona State University track and field competition as some of the top athletes from across the nation came together to put on a show at the 30th Sun Angel Track Classic presented by Coca-Cola. The host Sun Devils walked away from their third home meet of the season with 23 regional qualifying marks while also capturing four individual event titles.

Available to be viewed on FloTrack.org, the Classic brought out more stellar marks from the Sun Devils, but none better than the runs by Charonda Williams as the senior won the premiere portion of the 100m dash in 11.44 before taking the premiere 200m dash in a school-record 22.82 to finish second overall. While her time in the shorter sprint was a mere 0.03 off her personal best, her 200m time smashed her previous best and broke the 18 year-old record of 22.91 set by Maicel Malone in 1991.

Williams was not the only ASU woman to win an event as Sarah Stevens, who regionally qualified in all three throwing events, won the premiere portion of the shot put with a huge toss of 18.00m (59-00.75). Stevens, who placed among the Top 4 in her two other events, recorded regional marks in the discus at 54.58m (179-01) one day after qualifying in the hammer throw at 64.87m (212-10).

The throws also produced a pair of victories for the men as Ryan Whiting captured both the premiere shot put and the invitational discus. In the shot put, the two-time defending NCAA indoor champion won a competition that featured the Top 4 indoor finishers from one month ago with Whiting hitting a mark of 19.61m. He also won the discus with a toss of 58.04m.

Three other marks recorded on the day joined Williams' record run on the ASU all-time Top 10 list, including two by the women and one by the men. On the track, Angela Spadafino ran a five-second personal best to move into No. 8 all-time in the steeplechase with her time of 10:32.56 while newcomer Brandon Bethke blazed to a time of 3:42.82 in the men's 1,500m premiere to add his name to the list at No. 4 all-time. In the field, true freshman Cara Carpenter cleared 4.00m (13-01.50) in the pole vault to become the fourth woman to do so and moved into a tie for the No. 3 position on the charts.

Overall, the Classic, which saw nearly 1,000 collegiate and post-collegiate competitors entered, produced 278 regional qualifiers. The women totaled 140 qualifiers while the men produced 138.

The Sun Devils will send a handful of athletes to the Mt. SAC Relays next week in Walnut, Calif.