Feb. 21, 2009
LA JOLLA, Calif. - San Diego State, which did not field a full team with the Mountain West Conference Indoor Championships on the horizon, officially opened the outdoor season with a third-place finish at the UCSD Quad Meet on Saturday. On the day, the Aztecs won three events, including the pole vault, shot put and javelin throw.
Dana Jensen won the pole vault with a clearance of 12 feet, 1.50 inches and was one of two Aztecs to finish in the top three. The other, Katie Vo, came in third with a vault of 11-3.75.
Leanne Taylor, who was competing for the first time in more than a year, won the shot put with a toss of 42-3.50 and also finished in second place in the discus throw with an effort of 150-3 to complete a successful debut.
In the javelin, team co-captain Michele Dannhausen took home the title with a toss of 135-4 and also recorded a fourth-place effort of 124-8 in the hammer.
The SDSU distance runners enjoyed a solid meet as they recorded four top-5 finishes, including a pair by Amy Brown. A freshman, Brown was the runner-up in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:58.11 and finished in fifth place in the 800 after crossing the finish line in 2:21.34. The other two top-5 efforts came from Alyssa Robinson in the 3,000 (4th; 10:46.92) and Makenzie Mabry in the 1,500 (4th; 5:01.32).
In the high jump, Natalie Peterson finished in third place with a personal-record clearance of 5-2.25, while Kelsey Kaster came in fourth with a performance of 5-0.25.
The Aztecs (116 points), who did not compete in any of the sprinting events, finished behind only UCSD (239) and Cal Poly Pomona (136) in the team standings. Cal State Dominguez Hills finished in fourth with 63 points.
This week, San Diego State will travel to the MWC Indoor Championships at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. Competition is scheduled to start on Thursday, Feb. 26.