Feb. 21, 2014
SAN DIEGO -
36th ANNUAL AZTEC INVITE MEET PACKET | FLASH100 PAGE
The San Diego State track and field team has announced details for the 36th annual Aztec Invitational, which be held from March 27-29, 2014 in San Diego. All events will be held at the AzTrack at SDSU Sports Deck except for the invitational and open hammer throw competitions, which will take place on the campus of UC San Diego on Friday, March 28.
The three-day Aztec Invitational will once again feature some of the top collegiate teams and athletes in the country. The meet will include invitational and open entries, nationally sanctioned high school sections, and special masters sections.
"We are looking forward to hosting the 36th Aztec Invite this year," SDSU head coach Shelia Burrell said. "The meet has become an ideal athlete and coach friendly spring break meet for a lot of teams. We try to make sure coaches and athletes all have the best opportunity to put up elite performances to kick off the outdoor season."
The meet kicks off Thursday, March 27 with the two-day men's decathlon and women's heptathlon. The 100-meter dash is the first event of the 10-event decathlon at 11 a.m. PT, while the seven-event heptathlon gets underway with the 100-meter hurdles at noon PT. Each event after will begin approximately 30 minutes after the previous event. The second day of the decathlon starts at 8:30 a.m. PT with the 110 hurdles and the final day of the heptathlon gets underway at 9 a.m. PT with the long jump.
The open portion of the meet, meanwhile, will take place on Friday (March 28), beginning with the women's 4x100 relay at 9:30 a.m. PT.
The invitational and open distance carnival gets underway on Friday night, beginning with the inaugural women's masters mile at 4:30 p.m. PT and the first-ever men's masters mile at 5 p.m. PT. Also scheduled to take place at the carnival are the 1,500 meters, 3,000, 5,000 and the 3K steeplechase.
"The distance carnival has been a great addition to our meet," Burrell said. "Last year's competitors really enjoyed runner under the lights. With our strong running community in San Diego, we decided to add a USATF sanctioned master's mile this year so that those athletes can get in a good, quality local race. All M35 and above athletes are welcome to enter."
Another highlight of the meet will be the men's masters FLASH100 with the heats on Friday at 11:40 a.m. and the finals at 1 p.m. PT Saturday. The FLASH100 is an invitational only event, featuring some of the fastest men in the world over the age of 40 for a 100-meter race, including USA's Jeff Laynes (M42), Lonnie Hooker (M48), Reginald Pendland (M43) and Steven Dixon (M43), Jamaica's Chris Williams (M41) and Japan's Hiroaki Akabori (M43).
"The FLASH100 last year was a huge success," Burrell said. "The world's fastest master over the 100-meter distance features a quality international field."
The winner of the FLASH100 will receive $500, while $300 will go to the runner-up and $100 for third place. The link to the FLASH100 page is here.
Almost all of Saturday (March 29) will be invitational and high school events, the latter which will be nationally sanctioned this year for the first time and high school athletes from across the country can compete. The invitational events get underway at 9 a.m. PT with the women's discus throw and on the track at 10:10 a.m. with the women's 4x100 relay. The high school competitions, meanwhile, start at 9 a.m. PT with the girl's shot put and on the track at 9:30 a.m. PT with the girl's 4x100 relay.
The senior recognition ceremony, which will honor each of the departing San Diego State athletes, is set for noon PT Saturday and an Aztec Track and Field/Cross Country Alumni Tent will be up all day Saturday as well.
Several schools are expected to join SDSU at this year's meet, including perennial national power Oregon, along with Brigham Young and USC. Other attending schools will be announced at a later date.
The meet package will be updated as the meet gets closer. The final schedule could change and a meet program will be added shortly.