Feb. 7, 2004
SAN DIEGO - In its first full-squad meet of the indoor season, the San Diego State track and field team tallied three school records and won four events Saturday at the Mountain T's Invitational hosted by Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Ariz.
"We're really pleased with how the team stepped up, but we were just now kind of getting the kinks out in our first meet," SDSU assistant coach Jennifer Nanista said. "We had some good performances today and should really see the team continue to improve."
In her first career track meet as an Aztec, junior Marie Nilsson (Kil, Sweden) kicked off the day by winning the mile with a school-record time of 5:10.91, beating the previous record of 5:12.82 set by Alicia Stewart last season. Nilsson later added a second-place finish in the 3,000 meters with a time of 10:38.59.
The other individual school record went to senior Nicole Ireland (Las Vegas, Nev.), who became the first Aztec to jump over 40-feet in the triple jump, finishing with a winning mark of 40-4.00 and surpassing Lisa Domico's 1999 record of 38-8.25. Ireland also was the runner-up behind teammate Heather Heron (Yakima, Wash.) in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.60 and was third in the 200 meters in 24.40.
SDSU's 4x400-meter relay team of sophomore Bianca McNair (Portland, Ore.) and seniors Ireland, Melinda Smedley (Stockton, Calif.) and Tonette Dyer (Shreveport, La.) easily came away with a victory, posting a school record of 3:47.29.
Other notable performances on the day went to Dyer in the 200 meters (2nd - 24.11), Christal Cuadra (Honolulu, Hawaii) in the mile (2nd - 5:42.83) and Hollann Givens (San Diego, Calif.) in the triple jump (2nd - 39-7.00).
The Aztecs continue their indoor campaign next weekend as they travel to the Boise State Invitational, Feb. 14, in Boise, Idaho. The meet is SDSU's final tune-up before the Mountain West Conference Indoor Championships, slated for Feb. 26-28 in Colorado Springs, Colo.
(Complete meet results available at: http://www.nauathletics.com/track/meetresults.pdf)