Meet Week Preview
2019 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships
June 6 & 8
Austin, Texas | University of Texas | Mike A. Myers Stadium
ESPN3/WatchESPN
Pole vaulter Bonnie Draxler and the SDSU 4x400m relay team will compete at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Austin, Texas on Thursday.
Draxler begins competition at 5:30 p.m. PT and the 4x400m relay team of Lisa-Anne Barrow, Jalyn Harris, Nyjari McNeil and Sakura Roberson will run at 7:18 p.m. in the second of three heats. The top two times from each heat (there are three heats of nine) plus the next two best times will advance to Saturday's final (5:51 p.m. PT). The entire meet will be streamed on ESPN3 and on the ESPN app.
The forecast for Thursday evening calls for a 40 percent chance of rain with scattered thunderstorms and temperatures in the mid-80s. Wednesday's schedule for the men's competition has already been revised in hopes of avoiding thunderstorms.
Draxler (Wrightstown, Wisc.) has the second-best vault in the nation (14-09.50) and won her sixth Mountain West Championship last month (second outdoor). Her main competition will be Washington's Olivia Gruver and Arkansas' Lexi Jacobus. Gruver set the all-time NCAA record (15-06.25) earlier this year and has won the last two outdoor championships. Jacobus has won three NCAA Indoor championships, including the 2019 title where she edged out Draxler.
The SDSU 4x400m relay team ran the second-best time in school history (3:33.48) at the NCAA West Prelims, which was SDSU's best time since 1985. They finished with the sixth best mark at the West Regionals and will have the fifth best time in their heat of nine Thursday evening.
NCAA Tidbits
- SDSU has had a representative at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in 22 of the past 23 years.
- This is the second straight year the Aztecs have sent a 4x400m relay team to the NCAA Championships. Barrow and Harris were on the 4x4 team in 2018. Prior to last year, SDSU hadn't had a 4x400m relay team qualify for NCAAs since 2006.
- Should the Aztecs' 4x400m relay team advance to Saturday's finals, it will be the first time since 2003 that SDSU had a 4x400m relay team in the finals. No school outside a power five conference has had a 4x400m relay team reach the finals since 2009 (Louisiana Tech).
- SDSU's 4x400m relay team consists of a freshman (McNeil), two sophomores (Harris and Roberson) and one senior (Barrow). Barrow has helped SDSU win the last three Mountain West Outdoor gold medals in the 4x400m rela.
- This will be Bonnie Draxler's fourth time competing in the NCAA Championships (second outdoor). She qualified for the 2017 NCAA Outdoor Championships and made the Indoor Championships the past two seasons, which included a runner-up finish earlier this year.
- The Aztecs' best finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships is ninth (1985 and 2012).
- SDSU has won seven individual national titles in program history, including four (Shanieka Thomas; 2013-14 outdoor triple jump, 2014 indoor triple jump; Whitney Ashley; 2012 outdoor discus throw) since head coach Shelia Burrell took over in 2009.
Five Aztecs Competing at the NCAA Championships
