Feb. 28, 2004
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The San Diego State women's track and field team placed second at the Mountain West Conference indoor championships for the second consecutive season, finishing with its best-ever point total of 129.50 Saturday in Colorado Springs, Colo. The Aztecs trailed five-time team champion BYU, which won the meet with 224.50 points, while third place Colorado State finished with 103 points at Air Force's Cadet Field House.
SDSU won two events, tallied three school records and recorded four NCAA provisional qualifying times to move from third to second place in the team competition in the meet's final day.
Aztec senior All-American Tonette Dyer (Sherveport, La.) claimed the 400-meter title with a season best and NCAA provisional qualifying time of 53.84. Dyer later combined with sophomore Larnie Boyd (Vallejo, Calif.) and seniors Nicole Ireland (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Melinda Smedley (Stockton, Calif.) to finish first in the mile relay, coming in with a time of 3:45.70.
Dyer was also the runner-up in the 60-meter dash, posting a school record and NCAA provisional qualifying effort of 7.33, the third-fastest time in MWC history. Dyer beat her own school record set a day earlier in the same event of 7.34.
Ireland and Smedley highlighted a 2-3-4 finish by the Aztecs in the 200 meters, as both seniors logged NCAA provisional qualifying times of 23.84 and 23.99, respectively.
Aztec senior Candace Hill (San Diego, Calif.) set the a school record in the shot put at the MWC meet for the second year in a row, placing fourth with a throw of 48-8.75, a half an inch longer than her previous personal best and school record of 48-8.25.
SDSU junior Marie Nilsson (Kil, Sweden) had the other school record on the day with her time of 18:53.6 in the 5,000 meters, which was good for 12th place.
Other top-five finishes on the day went to Smedley in the 60 meters (4th - 7.57), Boyd in the 200 (4th - 24.48) and 400 meters (3rd - 55.24) and Ireland in the 60-meter hurdles (4th - 8.52), 400 meters (5th - 55.59) and triple jump (3rd - 39-04.00). The Aztecs' point total of 129.50 was more than 10 points better than their previous high at the Mountain West Conference indoor meet. SDSU finished third with 89 points at the inaugural MWC indoor championships in 2000 and later took eighth with eight points in 2001, sixth with 58.50 points in 2002 and second with 119 points in 2003.
2004 Mountain West Conference Indoor Women's Track and Field Championships
Final Team Standings - 17 Scored Events
1. BYU 224.50 pts.
2. SDSU 129.50 pts.
3. Colorado State 103 pts.
4. Wyoming 88 pts.
5. Utah 67 pts.
6. New Mexico 23 pts.
7. UNLV 18 pts.
8. Air Force 8 pts.