March 22, 2007
SAN DIEGO -
San Diego State Track and Field Weekly Release in PDF Format
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Aztecs Head to Los Angeles for Trojan Invitational
San Diego State continues its outdoor campaign this Saturday, March 24, at the Trojan Invitational in Los Angeles on the campus of the University of Southern California. The meet will be contested at Loker Stadium beginning at 9 a.m. PDT and will feature schools such as USC, Michigan, Texas A&M, New Mexico, Washington and Cal State Long Beach. The Aztecs, who will be taking a group of 36 athletes to the City of Angels, are coming off a solid showing at their own Aztec Invitational last weekend. SDSU had four athletes and a relay team qualify for the NCAA West Regionals in May, upping its season total to eight through two outdoor meets.
Next up for San Diego State is a trip to Fresno, Calif., where it will compete at the annual Cal-Nevada Championships, March 30-31.
Upuu Continues to Win
Mandy Upuu continues to rack up 800 titles. During the indoor season, the junior from Canada won the 800 at the Mountain T's and TCR Race Productions Invitational and finished in second place at the Mountain West Conference Indoor Championships. In her first 800 of the outdoor campaign, Upuu set a personal-record time of 2 minutes, 9.16 seconds en route to the Aztec Invitational crown. Overall, in both indoor and outdoor track, Upuu has won three 800s this season and five in her career.
Punching Their Ticket
On the final day of the Aztec Invitational, four SDSU athletes and its 4x100 relay secured a spot at the NCAA West Regionals in May. Mandy Upuu and Lisa Naucler (2:09.36) qualified in the 800 as they both set personal bests, while Nicole Stone (54.48) and Stephanie Bagan (12-6.25) qualified in the 400 and pole vault, respectively. As for the relay team, Sherraine Pencil, Shana Solomon, Stone and Karoline Koehler will pack their bags for Oregon after finishing their race in 45.57. The aforementioned athletes join Dana Van Wagner (pole vault), Monica Pacas (pole vault) and Kristin Olafsdottir (400 hurdles) among the Aztecs who have qualified for the regional championships.
Pencil Her In at the Top of the List
When looking at this season's outdoor performance list, Sherraine Pencil can be found at the top of four events. The junior from Canada currently owns the fastest time in the 100, 200, 400 and is a part of the top 4x100 relay team. Coincidentally, all four times in the four events occurred at the Aztec Invitational. Her 11.81-second performance in the 100 was a personal record and was the best among collegiate athletes at the meet. All of this comes off an indoor season where she owned the top 200 time and ran a leg on the fastest 4x400 relay.
Pole Vault Titles Becoming Commonplace
Like Mandy Upuu, freshman Stephanie Bagan continues to win in her first year on campus. After finishing in fourth and 10th place in her first two indoor meets, Bagan went on to win the MWC indoor title and was honored with the conference's outstanding performance award. Her effort was a lifetime best and earned herself a spot in the NCAA Indoor Championships where she came in 14th. Then in her first competition of the outdoor campaign, Bagan picked up where she left off and shared the pole vault championship with Dana Van Wagner as they both cleared 12 feet, 6.25 inches. Van Wagner, who qualified for the NCAA regionals the week before, will be joined by Bagan as her effort was a regional qualifying mark.
California Dreamin'
After traveling to places such as Reno, Flagstaff and Albuquerque during the indoor season, San Diego State will compete for much of the season in the Golden State. Of a total of 13 regular season meets scheduled in 2007, only the Texas Relays (April 4-7) and the Penn Relays (April 27-29) will take the Aztecs out of the state. Following the conference championships, SDSU's regional qualifiers will board a plane to Oregon where they will compete in Eugene. If all goes according to plan, the Aztecs will then send athletes to the national meet in Sacramento in early June.