SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State track and field team will be competing in two meets this Friday and Saturday. 15 athletes will head to Seattle, Wash. for the UW Invitational while another 15 will be competing at the Mountain T's Invitational at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Ariz.
On Friday, four Aztecs will compete in the pentathlon at NAU. Freshmen Neele Schuten and Ruthie Grant-Williams will join returners Sara Absten and Asia Smith. Later that day, the Aztec jumpers will compete. Lauryn Moore, Vanessa Spizewski and Dejanae Thompson will be in the long jump at 2 p.m. PT and Jade Cany will compete in the high jump at 4 p.m. PT. For Friday's running events, six Aztecs will compete in the 200m dash at 4:50 p.m. PT led by juniors Jayln Harris and Callista Fletcher.
On Saturday at NAU, eight Aztecs will run the 60m dash, Danae Dyer will compete in the 60m hurdles and Dejanae Thompson will be in the triple jump.
The UW Invitational will feature the Aztec pole vaulters, four 800m runners and three shot putters. The vaulters kick off the meet beginning Friday at 5 p.m. PT whereas the shot put (1 p.m.) and 800m (4:20 p.m.) are Saturday afternoon.
Aztec Tidbits
- Last week at the MLK Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M. Sakura Roberson set a new school record in the 600m with a time of 1:29.84 to beat her teammate Nyjari McNeil's record from last season (1:29.93).
- Roberson also set a new PR in the 400m, finishing in 54.74 the seventh best time in school history.
- SDSU took the top two spots in the 4x400m relay last weekend with their A team of Jalyn Harris, Danae Dyer, Jada Moore and Nyjari McNeil finishing in 3:41.20, the third fastest time in school history.
- Erica Grotegeer had the top mark among Aztecs in the shot put with a throw of 44-10.75, the 10th best in program history.
- Pole vault newcomers Elizabeth Funk and Molly Scharmann, a transfer from Washington State, both cleared 12-09.50 in their first meet as an Aztec becoming the 15th and 16th SDSU vaulter to clear that height.
- The Aztecs have 36 underclassmen on the 2020 team and just five seniors.
- In addition to the 14 freshmen that joined the team, SDSU added five transfers giving them 19 newcomers.
- 38 of the 53 members on the team are from California.
- Last season, the Aztecs won the 4x400m relay at both the indoor and outdoor Mountain West Championships. The indoor squad set a school record and all four runners return this year. The outdoor squad returns three runners and has made the NCAAs the last two years after not making it since 2006.
- SDSU is one of the top pole vault programs in the country and have crowned 26 Mountain West Championships under assistant coach Rich Fox. Bonnie Draxler, who was the NCAA runner-up in both indoor and outdoor last season, has graduated but SDSU returns four vaulters and added Washington State transfer Molly Scharmann, who finished fourth at last year's Pac-12 Outdoor Championships.