Feb. 9, 2008
NAMPA, Idaho - The San Diego State track and field squad wrapped up a successful two days on Saturday at the Bronco Invitational. A day after eight Aztecs set personal records, six more did so on the final day of competition in Nampa, Idaho.
"We had a much better day competition wise," said assistant coach Jennifer Nanista. "I was impressed by our 200- and 400-meter runners. As a whole, we competed better today than yesterday."
In the 200-meter dash, SDSU was led by Sherraine Pencil's lifetime-best 24.35 en route to a runner-up performance. The senior team captain led an Aztec contingent that finished in second, third, fourth and fifth place in the event. Decontee Kaye crossed the finish line just after Pencil in 24.67, while Alicia Lowery and Karoline Koehler recorded times of 24.68 and 24.93, respectively. The trio who followed Pencil all posted personal-record efforts.
In the 400, Mandy Upuu was SDSU's top performer coming in sixth place with a personal-record mark of 56.66. Finishing three spots behind Upuu was freshman Kyanna Thomas, who also clocked in with a lifetime-best performance of 57.35. In 11th place was Kristin Olafsdottir (58.37), who was competing in her first 400 of the season.
Like Olafsdottir, Corri Campbell-Fell ran in her first 800 of the young season and finished in third place with a personal-best showing of 2:15.07, which ranks as the second-fastest of the campaign and the fifth-best in school history.
In the one-mile run for the second straight week, Darien Buc put forth a strong performance. Last week at the Mountain T's Invitational, the sophomore won the event in 5:39.48. On Saturday, Buc did not come in first place, but did better her mark by completing the race in 5:13.65 while coming in fifth.
Saturday also marked the first 4x400 relay for the Aztecs and they did much more than hold their own. The quartet of Pencil, Thomas, Jessika Hornsby and Upuu ran step for step with 2007 NCAA indoor and outdoor champion Arizona State (3:43.04) until dropping back a bit on the third leg as they wound up coming in second place (3:45.92). Despite having two first-time runners on the relay in Thomas and Hornsby, the group combined to produce the sixth-fastest 4x400 relay in San Diego State history.
SDSU returns to action next Saturday, Feb. 16, when it travels to Seattle, Wash., for the Husky Classic.