USTFCCCA Honors Track's Kraft, Stevens with West District Honors
June 5, 2007
TEMPE, Ariz. - The United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) has announced its district honors for the 2007 outdoor season with two members of the Arizona State University track and field program earning recognition for their accomplishments this year. Head Coach Greg Kraft was selected as the USTFCCCA West District Women's Coach of the Year while Sarah Stevens was tabbed as the USTFCCCA West District Co-Women's Field Athlete of the Year, sharing the honor with Washington State's Diana Pickler. Earlier in the week, David Dumble, a sixth-year assistant coach for the Sun Devils, was selected as the 2007 USTFCCCA West Region Assistant Coach of the Year for women's throws, earning the honor for the second year in a row. All three members of the program are now finalists for national honors. Kraft, in his 11th year at the helm of the program and recipient of the district's coaching award for the second year in a row, has kept his women ranked No. 1 in the nation all season (both indoor and outdoor) and guided them to their first national team title by winning the 2007 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., in March. Undefeated in scored team events this year, Kraft's women have won titles at the 2007 MPSF Indoor Championships, the 2007 NCAA Indoor Championships, the 2007 Pac-10 Conference Championships and the 2007 NCAA West Region Championships. Overall, Kraft will have 12 women competing at the NCAA meet this week in Sacramento, including defending heptathlon champion Jacquelyn Johnson and throwers Stevens and Jessica Pressley, both of whom are set to battle for titles in the shot put, hammer and discus. Stevens, a finalist for the Honda Sports Award, has turned in a stellar sophomore campaign as she enters the NCAA Championships ranked No. 1 in both the shot put and the discus while standing fifth on the order lists in the hammer. The 2007 NCAA Indoor Shot Put Champion and sixth-place finisher in the weight throw at the indoor meet, Stevens also won the shot put and the discus events at the 2007 Pac-10 Championships on the same day, making her the first female athlete to win both throws on the same day and just the fifth to win both crowns in the same meet in conference history. At the regional meet, Stevens won the discus and took second in both the shot put and the hammer with her hammer mark setting a school record. Overall, her season best toss of 18.40m in the shot put is the second-best mark in the history of the Pac-10 Conference and ranks No. 8 on the all-time NCAA lists. The Sun Devils that have qualified will head to the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships this week with competition taking place June 6-9 at the Alex G. Spanos Athletic Complex in Sacramento, Calif. USTFCCCA Division I District Athletes and Coaches of the Year Great Lakes Mid-Atlantic Midwest Mountain Northeast South South Central Southeast
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