5 noteworthy individual performers

In a year filled with exceptional performances, here are five of the more noteworthy individual performers for ASU.

Katie Burkhart

Senior, softball

Accomplishments: Owns every pitching record in ASU history. . . . Allowed only three postseasons runs and just two in five Women's College World Series games. . . . Struck out 13 in the championship-clinching win against Texas A&M. . . . Threw a perfect game against Santa Clara on March 14, striking out 11 of 15. . . . Fanned 18 in a 1-0, 10-inning win over Creighton on March 4. . . . Finished her senior season 41-5 with a 0.75 ERA. . . . Struck out 513 in 315 1/3 innings.

James Harden

Freshman, basketball

Accomplishments: Was the spark the program needed to reverse direction. . . . Averaged 17.8 points and 5.3 rebounds, shooting 53 percent from the field and 40 from 3-point range. . . . Was a first-team All-Pac-10 choice and a Rivals.com second-team Freshman All-American. . . . Posted an ASU freshman-record 16 20-point games.

Jacquelyn Johnson

Senior, track and field

Accomplishments: Won seven championships (four in the outdoor heptathlon, three in the indoor pentathlon) during her career. . . . Became the fourth woman at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships to win four national championships in the same event and the first to do so in the heptathlon. . . . Scored 6,307 points at the Pac-10 Track and Field Championships, a conference record, an ASU record, a Sun Angel Stadium record and the third-best mark in NCAA history. . . . Won the Honda Sports Award as the nation's top collegiate female track and field athlete for 2008 and was a finalist for the Honda-Broderick Cup, presented to the woman Collegiate Athlete of the Year.

Azahara Munoz

Junior, golf

Accomplishments: Shot a 1-under 287 to claim the NCAA individual championship at the University of New Mexico Championship Golf Course. . . . Was the school's first individual champion since Grace Park in 1999, and ninth overall. . . . Won the Edith Cummings Munson Award, which recognizes academic and athletic excellence. . . . A Golfweek magazine first-team All-American.

Brett Wallace

Junior, baseball

Accomplishments: Led the Pac-10 in hitting, home runs and RBIs for the second consecutive season. . . . Hit .410 with 22 home runs and 83 RBIs. . . . A Baseball America All-American. . . . Became only the second player in school history to hit over .400 twice in a career. . . . Was the 13th overall selection, by the St. Louis Cardinals, in the this year's MLB draft . . . . Hit .398 over his career, the second-highest average in ASU history. . . . A finalist for the Howser Trophy and the Golden Spikes Award.

Others of note

Track and field national champions Jessica Pressley, Sarah Stevens, Kyle Alcorn and Ryan Whiting . . . Pac-10 softball Player of the Year Kaitlin Cochran . . . Lou Groza Award-winning kicker Thomas Weber . . . Pac-10 women's basketball Defensive Player of the Year Briann January . . . Pac-10 baseball Pitcher of the Year Mike Leake . . . Water polo All-American Addison McGrath.

Katie Burkhart throws a pitch against Texas A&M in the first inning of Game 1 of the 2008 NCAA Women's College World Series softball finals in Oklahoma City on Monday, June 2.