Feb. 29, 2008
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The San Diego State track and field team established school records in the weight throw and the long jump and won the pole vault for the fifth straight season and for the sixth time in the last seven years on day two of the Mountain West Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships. The Aztecs enter the final day on Saturday in second place with 44 points behind only Colorado State's 56.
Sophomore Stephanie Bagan successfully defended her pole vault title and continued San Diego State's dominance in the event after she cleared 13 feet, 8.50 inches, to provisionally qualify for the NCAA Championships. Her personal-record vault was two inches better than Air Force's Melissa Beerse, was 3.25 inches better than her championship clearance a year ago, ranks as the second-best in MWC championship history and is currently fourth nationally.
Pole vault teammates Dana Jensen and Christin Shibley also scored for the Aztecs as they came in fourth and sixth place, respectively. Jensen, a junior, set a personal record by vaulting 12-8.75 (fifth-best in school history), while Shibley posted a new PR for the second straight meet with a height of 12-5.50 (seventh-best in school history).
Junior newcomer Andrea Martinez set a personal and school record in the weight throw with a distance of 54-8.25. Her seventh-place effort marked the first time in the nine-year history of the conference that an SDSU athlete has scored in the event and was the first time an Aztec has earned points in a throwing competition since Candace Hill finished fourth at the Championships in the shot put back in 2004. Coincidentally, it was Hill's weight throw school record of 53-1.50 that Martinez broke.
In the long jump, Karoline Koehler followed Martinez' lead and set a school record by leaping an NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 20-3.00 to finish in third place. Junior Shana Watson finished not far behind Koehler as she posted a personal-record jump of 19-10.75, the third-best in school history, to finish in fifth.
In addition to the trials and finals of a handful of field events, Friday proved to be a day of qualifying in the running events, one in which several Aztecs punched their ticket to Saturday's championship heats.
San Diego State advanced three athletes to the finals of the 200-meter dash with Koehler leading the way with a fifth-place and personal-record time of 24.64. She will be joined by a pair of SDSU freshmen in Jessika Hornsby and Alicia King, who both notched PRs of 24.73 and 24.87, respectively.
Koehler (7.53) and King (7.62) will also be finalists in the 60-meter dash after they both established personal records, while freshman Kyanna Thomas (57.39; 400m) and junior Kristin Olafsdottir (8.79; 60-meter hurdles) will be the lone representatives in their respective finals.
Six other Aztecs had nice days individually as five set new personal records and one established two season bests. Among those who set personal records were juniors Tamara McMillan in the weight throw (49-2.50) and Watson in the 60-meter hurdles (8.98), freshmen Briana Johnson in the 60 hurdles (9.01) and the 60-meter dash (7.98) and Jessika Hornsby in the 60 (7.74). Junior Shana Solomon put forth her top performances of the season completing the 60 in 7.67 and crossing the finish line in the 200 in 25.28.
Final-day action for San Diego State continues on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. MT at Cadet Field House.
MWC Indoor Track and Field Championships
Cadet Field House (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
Team Standings
1. Colorado State - 56 points
2. San Diego State - 44
3. TCU - 29
4. Wyoming - 24
5. Brigham Young - 23
6. New Mexico - 20
7. Utah - 14
8. UNLV - 12
8. Air Force - 12