April 21, 2007
LA JOLLA, Calif. - The San Diego State track and field team wrapped up competition at the Triton Invitational on Saturday on the campus of UC San Diego. With rain postponing much of Thursday's scheduled events, the Aztecs endured a long day in which the majority events were contested in one day.
San Diego State emerged victorious in only one race as the 4x100 relay team finished ahead of the eight-team pack with a time of 45.95 seconds. The Aztecs beat out Mountain West Conference foe New Mexico, which came in second place (46.26).
SDSU had two athletes post NCAA regional qualifying marks in Monica Pacas and Dana Van Wagner. Both cleared 12 feet, 9.50 inches in the pole vault to finish in a tie for ninth. For Van Wagner, it marked the sixth time this year that she tied or surpassed the NCAA's regional qualifying standard, while Pacas did it a fourth time. In addition, Jordan Cabral (11-8.00) set a personal best, while Christin Shibley notched a season best with a clearance of 11-7.75.
In the 3,000-meter steeplechase, Celeste Tyson placed third with a 2007-best time of 10:59.14 and Jackie Duncan followed suit with her time of 11:32.14. Fellow distance runners Darien Buc (4:55.45), Stephanie Armstrong (5:00.92), Makenzie Mabry (5:02.69) and Jessica Walker (5:10.46) all enjoyed solid performances as they posted season best times in the 1,500.
The Aztec long jumpers had nice efforts as well as Shana Watson (third place) posted a season best leap of 19-7.00, while Decontee Kaye and Kai Wheeler set new personal-long jumps of 18-5.25 and 18-3.75, respectively.
The Aztecs return to the track on April 27 as they will send one group of athletes to the California Collegiate Challenge in Berkeley, Calif., while another will travel east to compete at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Pa.