Feb. 26, 2005
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The San Diego State women's track and field team placed fifth at the 2005 Mountain West Conference indoor championships with 54 points Saturday in Colorado Springs, Colo. The Aztecs finished just 3.50 points shy of fourth-place Utah (57.50 points) and three points ahead of UNLV (54 pts.). Six-time team champion BYU won the eight-team meet with 188.50 points at Air Force's Cadet Field House.
"I am very pleased with the effort of our team this weekend," assistant coach Jennifer Nanista said. "Our freshmen stepped up and I think we made some big strides heading into the outdoor season."
Freshman Brittani Dudley (Oakland, Calif.) made the most of her first MWC championship meet, placing in three individual events and teaming up with junior Nicole Carmier (Elk Grove, Calif.), freshman Sherraine Pencil (Toronto, Ontario) and junior Jackie Duncan (Syracuse, N.Y.) for a third-place finish in the mile-relay (3:51.63). Dudley individually scored for the Aztecs in the 60 (seventh place, 7.79), 200 (fifth, 24.80) and the 400 (56.62).
Others on Saturday who placed were sophomore Lisa Naucler (Ljusdal, Sweden) in the mile (seventh, 5:24.76) and the 800 (eighth, 2:33.92), Carmier in the 800 (fifth, 2:17.07), Pencil in the 200 (sixth, 24.86) and senior Tori Respass-Parsons (Hayward, Calif.) in the 60 (sixth, 7.63).
Senior Shayla Balentine (Los Osos, Calif.) highlighted the weekend's competition when she earned the MWC Female Outstanding Performance Award for her efforts in the pole vault. On Friday, Balentine took first with a vault of 14 feet, automatically qualifying for next month's NCAA indoor championship meet and becoming just the third athlete to clear 14-0 this season. Balentine also set a MWC record, MWC championship meet record and the school record in the event.
Balentine may not be the only Aztec heading to the NCAA meet in Fayetteville, Ark., on March 11-12, as classmate Erin Asay (San Diego) improved her NCAA provisional mark in the pole vault to 13-8.25 on Friday, a mark which is seventh-best in the nation.
The rest of the Aztecs kick-off their outdoor season on March 12, when they travel across the city to participate in the San Diego City Championships on the UC San Diego campus.