SAN DIEGO – The Aztec track and field team kicks off the 2020 outdoor season this Saturday at UCSD's San Diego Collegiate Challenge. 19 SDSU student-athletes will compete with 12 making their season debut.
The Aztecs begin with the javelin throw at 11:30 a.m. where Jordyn Bryant will be competing. The first jumping event will be the long jump at 12:30 p.m. Sophia Pace, who will be making her Aztec debut, will compete alongside Vanessa Spizewski and Dejanae Thompson.
The first event on the track for SDSU will be the 400m dash where Kasey Ebb will be competing.
Asia Smith & Aztec 4x400m Relay Team Qualify for NCAA Indoors
Asia Smith, a junior from Escondido, Calif., won the gold medal in the pentathlon at last weekend's Mountain West Indoor Championships with 4,075 points, the second-most in SDSU's indoor history.
Smith set new PR's in all five events, winning the shot put and long jump and taking second in the 60m hurdles and high jump. Her high jump mark of 5-07.00 (1.70m), tied for the third highest jump in school history.
Smith is one of three pentathletes from non-power five schools to qualify for NCAA's. Her score was the 15th highest in the nation this season. She is the first Aztec pentathlete to compete in the NCAA Indoor Championships since 2014 (Allison Reaser).
SDSU's 4x400m relay team also won the gold medal at the Mountain West Indoor Championships with a time of 3:35.65. Earlier this year at the New Mexico Collegiate Classic (Feb. 7), they posted a time of 3:33.81 to beat the previous school record by nearly six seconds. SDSU enters the NCAAs with the 11th-best time.
This the first time an Aztec 4x400m relay team has qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships and SDSU is the only non-power five relay team competing.
SDSU has sent a 4x4 team to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in each of the last two years. Jalyn Harris was on both of those teams while Sakura Roberson and Nyjari McNeil were on it last year. This will be the first NCAA appearance for Danae Dyer.
The NCAA Indoor Championships are March 13-14 at the Albuquerque Convention Center, where SDSU has already competed four times this season. The pentathlon begins March 13 at 10:15 a.m. PT and the 4x400m relay race, which will feature three heats of four teams, begins at 5:55 p.m. PT March 14.
Wrapping Up the Mountain West Indoor Championships
- The Aztecs finished second at the Mountain West Championship and won three events, the pentathlon (Asia Smith), the pole vault (Kaitlin Heri) and the 4x400m relay.
- SDSU took the top four spots in the pole vault. The Aztecs have won the indoor pole vault title six years in a row and eight of the last nine. This was the first time the Aztecs have finished first through fourth in an event in their indoor history.
- Danae Dyer took silver in the 60m hurdles and in the 200m dash. Her time of 8.21 seconds in the 60m hurdles tied for the second best in school history and was a new SDSU record for a sophomore. She finished the 200m in 23.55, the third-best time in school history.
- Sakura Roberson also earned a silver medal after running the 400m dash in 53.81, a new PR and the third-fastest time in SDSU's indoor history.
- Junior Jalyn Harris earned the bronze in the 400m dash. She has medaled in the 400m dash at the Mountain West Indoor Championships all three years.
- San Diego State has finished in the top four at the Mountain West Indoor Championships every year since 2010 and in the top three in eight of the last nine years.
Aztecs Kick Off Outdoor Season at UCSD
