May 10, 2011
SAN DIEGO -
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The San Diego State track and field team begins its championship season this weekend at the Mountain West Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Fort Collins, Colo. The four-day meet begins Wednesday with the heptathlon at noon MT.
The Aztecs are looking to improve on last year's seventh-place finish at the championships, which were held in Albuquerque, N.M. SDSU has performed better in each of the past two indoor meets, taking third in 2010 and fourth this past April.
Heading into this year's meet, San Diego State owns the best mark in four events, including freshman Allison Reaser in the heptathlon and 400-meter hurdles. Reaser, who won the pentathlon at the MWC indoor championships with a school-record 3,916 points, earned a mark of 5,361 on April 7-8 when she won the Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational. The 5,361 points are the seventh most in school history, and currently ninth in the NCAA West Region, 15th in the nation and first among all freshmen in the country.
Reaser also owns the league's best mark in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 59.46 seconds, which she ran at the UCSD Triton Invitational on April 23. That mark is 10th in school history, 19th in the west region and 49th in the nation. Reaser is also slated to compete in the 100 hurdles (13.83, fifth in MWC) and the long jump (19-02.00, sixth in MWC), and is in the mix to run in both the 4x100-meter and 4x400-meter relays.
The Aztecs' other two competitors with the best mark in the conference heading into the championships are sophomore Kelsy Hintz and junior Whitney Ashley. Hintz looks to resume SDSU's dominance in the pole vault as her mark of 13-07.25 leads the MWC and is tied for fourth in school history, 11th in the west region and 20th in the country. A San Diego State athlete has won 12 of a possible 23 pole vault titles (indoor and outdoor) since the MWC began in 2000, but none since Stephanie James (formerly Bagan) captured the 2010 indoor championship.
Ashley, meanwhile, has the conference's best mark in the shot put heading into the weekend. Her throw of 51-11, set April 15 at the Mt. Sac Relays, is just one centimeter (15.82m-15.81m) ahead of TCU's Kelsey Samuels. It is the second-best throw in program history, 15th in the region and 32nd in the nation. Ashley will also be competing in the discus (171-05, No. 2 in MWC, No. 3 all-time at SDSU, No. 18 in west region, No. 30 in nation) and the hammer throw (185-07, No. 3 in MWC, school record, No. 31 in region, No. 60 in nation).
Other Aztecs in the top 10 in the conference heading into the meet include Lawreta Ozoh in the 100 (11.42, second) and 200 (23.36, second), Shanae Roach in the 200 (24.17, seventh), Josefine Koskinen (2:09.25, sixth) and Amy Brown (2:12.07, ninth) in the 800, Marianne Hogan (35:19.90, third) and Alma Escobar (36:42.83, ninth) in the 10,000, Sara Beyers in the steeplechase (11:10.58, eighth), Katie Vo in the pole vault (12-06, ninth), Shanieka Thomas (42-04, second) and Alex Evans (40-03.50, fourth) in the triple jump, Lima Lefiti in the shot put (45-05.25, 10th) and Jeanette McConnell in the discus (161-02.75, fourth).
The meet is the final chance for San Diego State athletes to qualify for the NCAA Preliminary Meet (West Region) (top 48), which will be held at historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., from May 26-28. The top 12 in each event from each region will then advance to the NCAA Championship meet, which will take place in Des Moines, Iowa, from June 8-11.
Below is a list of Aztecs who are among the top 48 in the west region, not including the heptathlon or relays.
100 Meters
T-15. Lawreta Ozoh - 11.42
200 Meters
19. Lawreta Ozoh - 23.36
100-Meter Hurdles
T-46. Allison Reaser - 13.83
400-Meter Hurdles
19. Allison Reaser - 59.46
Pole Vault
T-11. Kelsy Hintz - 13-07.25
Triple Jump
T-12. Shanieka Thomas - 42-04
Shot Put
15. Whitney Ashley - 51-11
Discus Throw
18. Whitney Ashley - 171-5; 39, Jeanette McConnell - 161-2
Hammer Throw
T-31. Whitney Ashley - 185-7