TEMPE, Ariz. -- A pair of career-best throws by Aggie freshmen hammer throwers highlighted the Friday portion of the Sun Angel Track Classic on the Arizona State campus while Casey Strong came close to breaking his school record.
A&M frosh Austin Cook and Alison Ondrusek each delivered stellar throws in the hammer while senior Strong produced his second-best effort ever, which just trailed his own school record.
Placing fourth in the field Strong produced an impressive series with each attempt going for more than 200 feet and his best mark of 208-2 (63.45) is the No. 2 performance on the Aggie all-time list. On the school record of 210-11 (64.29) Strong set at the Texas Relays in late March bettered his mark today.
“I love throwing here in Tempe,” Strong said. “I enjoy competing here with the great weather. I was really glad to be consistent with my six throws today. I didn’t get a personal best, which was my goal, but I was really close. I feel like I’m progressing every week and getting to where I need to be.”
Cook won his section of the hammer and improved his best in the event to 190-10 (58.16) while hitting the mark of 189-8 twice in his series. Cook is now the No. 2 performer on the A&M all-time list behind Strong. The previous best for Cook was a 184-8 in his first meet this season at the UTSA meet in San Antonio.
“It’s exciting seeing Cook’s progress,” Strong said. “I’m glad that the hammer at Texas A&M is really taking off and we are getting better every year. Hopefully Austin continues to push me and we’ll see how well we can do at the SEC Championships.”
In placing third in the women’s hammer Ondrusek moved to No. 3 on the Aggie all-time list with her mark of 177-9 (54.17), which is also the No. 7 performance. Ondrusek has improved steadily in each week of competition, moving from 170-9 at UTSA in March, to 172-11 last week at Stanford to her improved best of 177-8.
After throwing 192-6 last week, Brea Garrett threatened the Texas A&M school record of 200-0 with a pair of throws in the 205 foot range, but fouled each of those attempts.
