June 4, 2007
SAN DIEGO -
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SDSU Track and Field Set for NCAA Championships in Sacramento
San Diego State will travel the group of Decontee Kaye, Karoline Koehler, Sherraine Pencil, Shana Solomon and Nicole Stone to the Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex for the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships hosted by Sacramento State, June 6-9. The Aztecs will have seven entrants at the national meet, the most representing SDSU since 2003 when it had eight, coincidently at Sacramento State.
CSTV will have coverage of the event on Friday, June 8, beginning at 5:30 p.m. PDT and CBS will broadcast the championships on Saturday, June 9, at 10 a.m.
Among the Aztec contingent, two were double qualifiers in Pencil and Solomon. Pencil, the team's captain, will compete in the 200- and 400-meter dash, while Solomon will participate in the 100 and 200. Pencil will have company in the 400 as Stone qualified as well, while Kaye and Koehler will compete for the national title in the triple jump.
San Diego State looks to carry the momentum built at the West Regionals into California's state capital after having placed fifth out of 29 teams at Oregon's historic Hayward Field. The fifth-place effort marked the best finish during head coach Rahn Sheffield's 16-year tenure. The Aztecs earned 53 points, were the top finishers among schools not associated with the Pac-10 Conference and finished ahead of Mountain West Conference outdoor champion Brigham Young, which came in sixth (48.5 points).
In Search of a National Title
Decontee Kaye already has the MWC outdoor triple jump title to her credit and finished just two centimeters short of capturing the NCAA West Regional crown two weeks ago in Oregon. Now the sophomore has her eyes set on the national title as she boasts the third-best jump in the country going into nationals. Kaye turned in a runner-up performance of 44 feet, 7 inches, which was legally wind aided to finish nationally behind only Erica McLain (West Region champion) of Stanford and Crystal Manning of Kansas. McLain leads the country with a triple jump of 46-5.25 with Manning sitting in second at 44-11.75. Karoline Koehler will also be in the hunt for the championship after having the 16th-longest jump (43-3.75) in the United States. Kaye and Koehler are only two of six sophomores in the field and two of eight (6 sophomores, 2 freshmen) with less than two years of collegiate experience.
Sprinters Looking to Make a Splash
San Diego State has its sprinters peaking at the right time and it showed two weeks ago at Hayward Field. In the 100, 200 and 400, SDSU had at least one athlete set a new personal best on consecutive days. In the 100, Shana Solomon went into the preliminaries with a personal-best time of 11.69 seconds and came out of it with a new PR of 11.62. In the finals, the sophomore from Long Beach, Calif., erased her prelim time and replaced it with a mark of 11.52. In the 200, Solomon was again a culprit as she ran a preliminary time of 23.66 and capped the weekend with a lifetime-best showing of 23.59. Accomplishing the same feat was Sherraine Pencil, who put up a pair of personal records in two events. The team captain from Canada ran 23.71 in the 200 on day one and followed it with a time of 23.58 in the finals. Then in the 400, Pencil went from 53.83 in the prelims to 53.65 in the finals to establish a new PR en route to Sacramento.
Among the Best vs. the Rest
The Aztecs placed fifth out of 29 teams at the NCAA West Regionals to finish as the top non-Pac-10 school in the field. In doing so, SDSU posted a better showing than MWC champ BYU and five other Pac-10 schools. The trend of finishing in the upper half of the field is nothing new to the Aztecs this season as they have done so in all six scored meets up to this point. In both the indoor and outdoor campaigns, San Diego State has a cumulative record of 69-10 (.873), two meet titles (San Diego City and Cal-Nevada Championships) and six top-5 efforts.
Most in Some Time
San Diego State's seven entries at the NCAA Championships are the most since the 2003 season when it had eight. Last year, SDSU had only three entries when it sent Erin Asay (pole vault), Nicole Stone (400) and the 4x400 relay team. The year before, the Aztecs had even fewer with only Shayla Balentine (pole vault) and Heather Heron (100 hurdles) advancing. In 2004, SDSU had Balentine, Heron, Tonette Dyer, Nicole Ireland and the 4x100 and 4x400 relays qualify one year after its banner campaign. The 2003 team not only sent Dyer, Ireland, Shanon Meyer, Leslie Miller, Melinda Smedley and 4x400 relay, they also claimed the MWC outdoor title, snapping BYU's three-year title run.
Notes from the 2007 NCAA West Regionals
* San Diego State finished in fifth place a year after coming in 16th out of 30 teams.
* The Aztecs received two runner-up efforts from Sherraine Pencil (400) and Decontee Kaye (triple jump).
* Kaye jumped a school-record 44-0.75 in her first of six attempts in the triple jump.
* SDSU competed in front of a regional record crowd of 5,769 on the final day of competition.