March 13, 2004
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State women's track and field team opened its 2004 outdoor season by claiming 12 event titles Saturday at the San Diego City Championships at UCSD in La Jolla, Calif. The Aztecs also logged nine NCAA regional qualifying efforts in six different events.
"We were trying people in a lot of different events and had some great early results in out first outdoor meet," SDSU assistant coach Jennifer Nanista said. "We're just starting to get into the full swing of our season and made some positive steps."
Aztec All-American Tonette Dyer (Shreveport, La.) and junior Heather Heron (Yakima, Wash.) were the big winners on the day, placing first in two individual events each and running a leg on the winning 4x100-meter relay (45.37). Dyer recorded the fastest time of the day in the 100 meters of 11.61 and then finished with an NCAA regional qualifying time in the 200 of 23.69. Heron ran NCAA regional qualifying efforts in both of her individual events, the 100 (13.61) and 400-meter hurdles (1:00.64).
Other first-place finishers in the track events for SDSU included sophomore Larnie Boyd (Vallejo, Calif.) in the 400 meters (54.32), sophomore Jamillah Titus (American Canyon, Calif.) in the 800 (2:15.93), junior Marie Nilsson (Kil, Sweden) in the 1500 (4:38.24), junior Tina Fodor (Fullerton, Calif.) in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (12:00.83) and the 4x400-meter relay (3:51.07).
In the field events, SDSU came away with two event titles in the pole vault and long jump. Aztec tandem Shayla Balentine (Los Osos, Calif.) and Erin Asay (San Diego, Calif.) tied for first place in the pole vault, posting NCAA regional qualifying marks of 12-4. Junior Megan Schauermann (Vancouver, Wash.) notched a first-place finish in the long jump of 18-00.50 and also was the runner-up in the triple jump (38-09.75).
In team competition, the Aztecs placed second overall, just 13 points behind host UCSD, which won the meet with 217 points. San Diego State will play host to its only home meet of the season, the 26th Annual Aztec Track and Field Classic, next Sat., March 20, beginning at 9 a.m. at the SDSU Sports Deck. The men's and women's hammer will kick off competition a day earlier at 3 p.m. at UCSD.
(Complete results are available at: http://athletics.ucsd.edu/tffol/04sdcitychamps.htm