Arizona State University

Jacquelyn Johnson won the women’s heptathlon with a record score and Kyle Hitchcock placed 10th in the decathlon to lead the Arizona State University track and field team at the conclusion of the multi-events on Joe Selleh Track at Sun Angel Stadium in Tempe Saturday night at the 2008 Pac-10 Track & Field Championships presented by 76 Gasoline. The heptathlon and decathlon were held this weekend with the remaining events taking place in Tempe next weekend.

The events were scored toward the team race with the ASU women taking an early lead with 10 points and is followed by Oregon and Stanford, both of which have nine. The men’s race has Oregon in front with 19 points while Washington State (eight) and Stanford (six) round out the Top 3. ASU has not scored yet on the men’s side.

Johnson, a six-time NCAA champion, scored 6,307 points to win her third crown to become only the third woman in Pac-10 history to capture the heptathlon three times. Her point total also breaks the Pac-10 record of 6,205 set by Diana Pickler (WSU) last year, the Pac-10 meet record of 6,018 scored by Pickler last year and the stadium record of 6,129 points scored by ASU’s Gea Johnson in 1990.

The younger Johnson reached her record total by hitting a jump of 6.30m on her first, and only, attempt in the long jump to score 943 points and break the previous heptathlon record of 6.24m held by Gea since 1990. Johnson then threw the javelin 48.50m on her first attempt to pick up 831 points and break her own school and heptathlon record in the event by nearly eight feet. In the final event, Johnson placed third in the 800m run in 2:19.33 to score 833 points and win the overall title by 551 points (Brianne Theisen, Oregon, 5765 points).

In the decathlon, Hitchcock opened the day with a personal best time of 16.34 in the 110m hurdles for 659 points before throwing the discus 35.99m for another 584 points. After clearing 3.35m in the pole vault to collect 444 points, Hitchcock closed out the day with a mark of 43.02m in the javelin (486 points) and a time of 5:28.02 in the 1,500m run (409 points). Overall, Ashton Eaton of Oregon won with 7,604 points and was followed in the Top 3 by Rickey Moody (WSU) and Josh Hustedt (Stanford), who scored 7,395 points and 7,181 points, respectively.

The Championships continue next Friday and Saturday in Tempe with the remaining individual events. The hammer leads off the competition each day at 10:30 a.m. with the remaining events starting both days at 5 p.m.