March 8, 2003
SAN DIEGO - In its first outdoor meet of the 2003 season, the San Diego State women's track and field squad finished first in the six-school field at the San Diego City Championships Saturday at UC San Diego in La Jolla, Calif. The Aztecs finished with 219.50 points, 18 ahead of second place UCSD (201.50) and over a hundred better than third place Pt. Loma Nazarene (113).
"We weren't going into this meet with the intention of winning it," said SDSU assistant coach Jennifer Nanista. "Coming off our conference championships a week ago, we just wanted to participate in a low-key meet, where we could try some people in some different events."
SDSU won 13 of the 19 events with 10 different student-athletes earning first place individual finishes. The Aztecs also met an 2003 NCAA outdoor regional qualifying standard in five different events.
Double-event winners for the Aztecs included junior All-American Tonette Dyer (Shreveport, La.) in the 100 (11.73) and 200-meter (24.54) dash, sophomore Lisa Smith (La Mirada, Calif.) in the long jump (18-02.25) and the triple jump (39-09.75) and freshman Jamillah Titus (American Canyon, Calif.) in the 400 (57.14) and the high jump (tied - 5-05.00).
Dyer's NCAA regional qualifying time of 11.73 in the 100 was a career best and moved her from eighth to sixth in the school record book, beating her previous time of 11.83. Junior transfer Nicole Ireland (Las Vegas, Nev.) also put her name on SDSU's top 10 list in the 100 meters, coming in second place in 11.85, good for ninth best all-time.
Ireland continued her strong performance on the day with a NCAA regional qualifying time of 14.10 in the 100-meter hurdles, while Alicia Stewart (Costa Mesa, Calif.) ran the second-fastest 3,000-meter steeplechase in school history the first time she competed in the event, earning a first-place finish in 11:31.12.
In the field events, junior Candace Hill (San Diego, Calif.) set personal bests and NCAA regional qualifying marks in both the shot put (45-09.00) and the discus (162-09.00). Aztec sophomore Shayla Balentine (Los Osos, Calif.) also finished first in the pole vault by clearing 12-0 for another NCAA regional qualifying mark.
Other event winners on the day for the Aztecs included Bianca McNair (Portland, Ore.) in the 800 (2:18,82), Leslie Miller (Humble, Texas) in the 400 hurdles (1:02.02), Alisha Lasswell in the high jump (tied - 5-05.00) and the 4x400 relay (3:53.02).
The Aztecs take a week off before playing host to the 2003 Aztec Classic on March 22, at the SDSU Sports Deck. The field events are set to get under way at 9:00 a.m., while the running events will begin an hour later at 10 a.m.