ASU seniors Aisha Adams and Chrystal Ruiz recorded personal best scores on the first day of the heptathlon competition Thursday at the NCAA Division II National Track and Field Championships in Charlotte, N.C.

On a hot sunny day in Charlotte, Adams toasted the competition with three first-place finishes and one second in the four first-day events.  She started the day by winning the 100-meter hurdles in 13.76 seconds.  Ruiz finished third overall in 13.84 as both runners set personal milestones.

"They have both run faster in individual races," said head coach James Reid.  "But, that is the best 100-meter hurdles they have run in a heptathlon competition."

After a 30-minute break, the pair headed over to compete in the high jump.  Bothered a bit by a sore knee, Adams did not take any warm-up jumps, but it just didn't matter.  She placed first in the event by jumping 5'9 ¾".  Ruiz was right behind her in a tie for second as she leaped a personal-best 5'8".  During their series of jumps, each reached a point at lower heights when they had failed on their first two tries and faced finishing with below-par scores if they did not hit their crucial third attempts.

"It's a lot of pressure and it's extremely frustrating," Adams said.  "When you get down to your third jump, you put a lot of pressure on yourself.  It's a whole new strategy you have to set up.  Thankfully, we completed those jumps, so it ended well, but it could've been bad."

"Usually, I just get mad at myself and then I do pretty good," Ruiz said.  "But, today it was like 'this is the last time you are going to high jump, so make a mark for yourself.  Let's put a stamp on North Carolina and let's do something.'  I think that really did help, and then our teammates walked out there at the perfect time.  That got me pumped and ready to go, and I thought 'don't just do it for yourself, do it for them,' and it worked."

Another short break followed, and then it was over to the shot put competition.  Neither Adams nor Ruiz impressed with their first two attempts, but on their third throws, both came through in the clutch.  Adams placed first in her third straight event with a throw of 37'10 ½" while Ruiz steadily improved to finish in the middle of the pack.  After three events, they were ranked first and second, respectively.

"Chrystal was a little behind what she threw at the conference meet," said assistant coach Tom Dibbern.  "But, she was ahead of what she threw last year, so we are in good shape."

The final heptathlon event of the day was the 200-meter dash.  Both Adams and Ruiz were fast out of the blocks in the same heat with Adams finishing second in 24.21 seconds and Ruiz coming in fourth at 24.88.

"Those are personal records for both of them," Reid said, "big time personal records.  We could not have had a better start to the meet."

And, the scoreboard confirmed what Reid said.  After the first day of competition, Adams sits in first place with 3,548 points and Ruiz sits in third with 3,313.  Sandwiched in between is AnnaKay Campbell of Lincoln University with 3,365 points.

"It started off a little rocky," Adams said, "but, overall it was a pretty good day.  It was pretty good and I got some personal records."

"I PRed in the heptathlon for the 100 hurdles," Ruiz said, "and then I had an all-time personal record in the high jump.  The shot put wasn't what I wanted it to be, but it was good enough.  Then, my 200 was a personal record.  It was pretty exciting.  It was a good day."

But, perhaps Dibbern summed it up best with this simple statement, "Neither of them has had a better first-day total than that."

Still to come Thursday, ASU athletes are competing in the men's 4x100-meter relay, 400-meter dash and 400-meter hurdles as well as the women's 4x100-meter relay, long jump, 400-meter dash and 400-meter hurdles.

Fun Facts

• Rambelles 400-meter hurdler and runner Kris Crockett is a huge fan of the superhero Spiderman. She even has a tattoo of him on the top of her right foot.

"I love Spiderman," she said.  "At home, my shower curtain is Spiderman and even my floor mats are Spiderman."

• Speaking of superheroes, senior sprinter James Howell is definitely the Iron Man of the Rams squad. This weekend he will compete in the 200-meter and 400-meter dashes as well as the 4x100 and 4x400 relays. Ironically, he is also the smallest member of the team and while he sports a perfectly chiseled physique, he does not have the prototypical sprinter's stature.

"Most people," Howell said, "when they see me step to the line, they look at me like 'man, this little dude is running the 400?  He shouldn't even be a factor.'  I'm short, but I run like a tall person.  Every stride is real efficient and I use all of my stride.  I've been called short since I started playing Pop Warner football, so I try to take that mentality out on the track since I haven't been running that long.  I just take it out on the track every time."