May 12, 2012
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Whitney Ashley won the shot put and Shanieka Thomas captured the triple jump to lead San Diego State to a fourth-place finish at the Mountain West Outdoor Championships Saturday at the Cadet Outdoor Track & Field Complex in Colorado Springs, Colo.
The Aztecs finished the meet with 103.50 points, well ahead of fifth-place Boise State (83 points). TCU won the meet with 147 points, while Colorado State (135) and UNLV (130) took second and third, respectively.
Ashley won the shot put for the second consecutive year with a toss of 54 feet, 0 inches. Ashley, who also took home first-place honors yesterday in the discus throw, now has five MW titles (2011-12 discus, 2011-12 outdoor shot put, 2012 indoor shot put) over her two years at SDSU.
Thomas won the triple jump with a leap of 43-11.25. It was the third-best mark in program history and more than two feet better than runner-up Kassie Gurnell of Air Force (41-07.25). Thomas also finished fourth in the 400-meter dash in 55.44 seconds.
"Our goal was to win the events we were supposed to win and score where we were supposed to score," head coach Shelia Burrell said. "We had some outstanding performance this weekend from Holly Waseloff, Whitney Ashley, Allison Reaser and Shanieka Thomas. The weather was horrible but our women didn't complain. We are aiming to be a national-caliber team. Finishing fourth (at the championship meet) is OK for this year given we traveled the minimum number of athletes. Preparing for NCAA's is now the focus. We had a solid season and all of our team did an excellent job of representing San Diego State University in a manner that is praise worthy."
Allison Reaser, who provisionally qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials with a win in the heptathlon to kick off the meet, finished third today in the 400 hurdles (60.24) and fourth in the 100 hurdles (14.02). Reaser ended up with 22.75 points for the whole weekend, winning the high point award in the process. Thomas was second with 21.75 points, while Ashley was sixth (20).
Other top-10 finishes on the day went to Alex Evans in the triple jump (fourth, 40-05.50), Josefine Koskinen in the 800 (fourth, 2:12.38), Jasmine Burrell in the shot put (eighth, 47-04.50) and Carrington Mahr in the high jump (10th, 5-03.75).
In the 4x400-meter relay, Reaser, Koskinen, Thomas and Maya Carter teamed up to finish fourth in 3:45.96. In the 4x100 relay, the quartet of Reaser, Carter, Evans and Thomas was seventh in 52.78.
Mountain West Outdoor Track and Field Championships
Cadet Outdoor Track & Field Complex - Colorado Springs, Colo.
May 12, 2012 - Day Four of Four
Team Results
1. TCU - 147
2. Colorado State - 135
3. UNLV - 130
4. San Diego State - 103.50
5. Boise State - 83
6. Air Force - 79
7. New Mexico - 76.50
8. Wyoming - 63
Individual Results
400 Meters (out of 8 entrants) (finals)
1. Quinterra Charles (TCU) - 53.54
4. Shanieka Thomas (SDSU) - 55.44
800 Meters (out of 9 entrants) (finals)
1. Kelsey Williamson (UNLV) - 2:08.11
4. Josefine Koskinen (SDSU) - 2:12.38
100-Meter Hurdles (out of 8 entrants) (finals)
1. Larissa Matthews (TCU) - 13.67
4. Allison Reaser (SDSU) - 14.02
--. Alex Evans (SDSU) - DNF
400-Meter Hurdles (out of 8 entrants) (finals)
1. Christine Lowe (UNLV) - 58.29
3. Allison Reaser (SDSU) - 60.24
4x100-Meter Relay (out of 7 teams)
1. TCU (Whitney Gibson, Chaniqua Corinealdi, Veronica Jones, Lorranie Ugen) - 44.81
7. SDSU (Allison Reaser, Maya Carter, Alex Evans, Shanieka Thomas) - 52.78
4x400-Meter Relay (out of 8 teams)
1. UNLV (Christine Lowe, Brett Zorich, Emily Blok, Kelsey Williamson) - 3:38.04
4. SDSU (Allison Reaser, Josefine Koskinen. Shanieka Thomas, Maya Carter) - 3:45.96
High Jump (out of 17 entrants)
1. Amy Medina (Colorado State) - 5-07.25
10. Carrington Mahr (SDSU) - 5-03.75
Triple Jump (out of 14 entrants)
1. Shanieka Thomas (SDSU) - 43-11.25 (No. 3 all-time at SDSU)
4. Alex Evans (SDSU) - 40-05.50
Shot Put (out of 19 entrants)
1. Whitney Ashley (SDSU) - 54-00.00
8. Jasmine Burrell (SDSU) - 47-04.50
13. Brittany Gonter (SDSU) - 45-04.25