May 13, 2003
SAN DIEGO -
Release, Top Times & Records in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
SDSU Heads To New Mexico For The 2003 MWC Championships
* The San Diego State track and field squad travels to Albuquerque, N.M. this week for the 2003 Mountain West Conference Championships, May 14-17. The University of New Mexico will host the meet at the Great Friends of UNM Track Stadium.
* In team competition, all eight conference schools will be represented on the women's side, while six squads will comprise the men's competition (SDSU and UNLV do not sponsor men's track & field).
* The MWC championships will crown individual as well as team champions. Eight places in each event will be counted in the final team scoring with points awarded in descending order as follows: 10-8-8-6-5-4-3-2-1.
* The heptathlon (women) and decathlon (men) are the only two events scheduled for May 14-15. The heptathlon begins at 12 p.m. Wednesday and 12:30 p.m. on Thursday. * Friday and Saturday will include the bulk of the competition. Friday's action begins at 10 a.m. and features both trials and finals in the hammer, pole vault, long jump and discus. The track events on Friday will be mostly preliminaries/qualifying heats with the exception of finals in the steeplechase and 10,000 meters. Saturday's schedule starts at 10:30 a.m. and ends with the men's 4x400 relay at 2:05 p.m. All times are Mountain Daylight Time.
* Admission to the championships on Wednesday and Thursday is free to the public. Tickets for the final two days of competition can be purchased for $6 (adults) or $3 (students) at the UNM Stadium.
2002 - A Look Back
* SDSU scored 105 points in the final day for the second straight year, moving from sixth to third in the team standings in the meet's final day (119.33 pts.). The Aztecs matched their finish from the 2001 campaign, when they scored a school record 148 points at the MWC meet.
* San Diego State won four events overall, setting one conference record and a pair of championship meet and school records.
2003 - A Look Forward
* The Aztecs return all of its reigning Mountain West Conference champions from a year ago. Senior Melinda Smedley (Stockton, Calif.) looks to defend her 100-meter title and will be a key leg on the team's 4x100 relay, which posted a school and conference record a year ago at the same meet.
MWC champions senior Leslie Miller (heptathlon) and sophomore Shayla Balentine (pole vault) also return for the Aztecs in 2003.
* SDSU boasts the deepest sprinting corps in the MWC. The Aztecs will be especially dangerous in the 200 and 400, while they have the fastest times in the MWC so far this season in both relays.
The key for SDSU will be to pick up points in the middle-distance and jumping events, while junior Candace Hill (San Diego, Calif.) must be a one-woman show for the Aztecs in the throws.
In The Rankings
* After elevating to as high as third in the coaches' power rankings, SDSU currently stands at No. 14. The Aztecs are rated ninth in the country by trackshark.com (May 7), but are unranked in the trackwire.com top 25 poll (May 13), which projects a hypothetical score for the upcoming NCAA meet.
Aztec Awards
* SDSU has dominated the Mountain West Conference weekly awards during the outdoor season. Four different Aztecs have been honored in the eight weeks that the award has been handed out.
Junior Candace Hill kicked off the season by earning the first MWC athlete of the week award (March 25) after claiming half of the team's first-place finishes at the Aztec Classic with victories in the discus (149-00.00), shot put (47-04.50) and the hammer (147-11.00).
Three weeks later, Melinda Smedley also became a first-time MWC honoree after being tabbed the most valuable female athlete at the Cal-Nevada championships, playing a part in four of the team's six event titles.
Junior Nicole Ireland (Las Vegas, Nev.) followed in Smedley's footsteps a week later after breaking the conference record in the 400 hurdles with the fifth-fastest time in the nation in 2003 at the Mt. SAC Relays. She then closed out the season by earning the award this past week.
All-American Tonette Dyer (Shreveport, La.) rounded out the team's weekly award winners on May 6, after winning the 200 meters for the second straight season at the Steve Scott Invitational.
The Aztecs have garnered the outdoor track & field athlete of the week award 10 times since joining the MWC in 2000.
Aztec Qualifiers
* SDSU has at least one NCAA regional qualifier in 13 different events. Senior Nicole Ireland leads the way by qualifying in four individual events and two relays.
Head Coach Rahn Sheffield
* The Aztecs are led by Rahn Sheffield, who is in his 12th season as head coach and his 17th year overall. Sheffield is assisted by Jennifer Nanista (distance), Richard Fox (pole vault) and David Hepburn (jumps/throws).