SAN DIEGO – The Aztec track and field team kicks off the 2022 indoor season at the Texas Tech Open in Lubbock, Texas this Friday and Saturday. This will be SDSU's first indoor competition in 700 days after they didn't compete in indoors last year. The meet will be streamed on Big 12 Now, which is available with a subscription to ESPN+.
SDSU is one of 23 schools competing. There will be eight power-five schools there (Arizona, Auburn, Florida State, Kansas State, Oklahoma, TCU, Texas A&M, and the host school Texas Tech) and two Mountain West foes (Air Force and Boise State). The Aztecs will have 17 athletes competing across 11 events.
The competition gets started at 1 p.m. PT (3 p.m. CT) Friday with Felicia Crenshaw competing in the weight throw and four Aztecs competing in the pole vault (Callahan, Friedenbach, Funk and Heri). Vanessa Spizewski will compete in the long jump at 3 p.m. PT (5 p.m. CT).
The first running event SDSU will compete in is the prelims of the 60m dash where Alexus Alexander, Jalyn Harris, Tai McDonald and Jada Moore will be competing at 3:35 p.m. PT (5:35 p.m. CT). The semifinals will be run at 5:25 p.m. PT (7:25 p.m. CT) and the finals are at 6:55 p.m. PT (8:55 p.m. CT).
Friday's other running events are the 60m hurdles where Sara Absten and Ruthie Grant-Williams will be competing and the 400m dash which features Rhea Hoyte, Nyjari McNeil and Sakura Roberson, who will be running for the first time in nearly two years.
The 60m hurdles semis are at 5:05 p.m. PT (7:05 p.m. CT) and the finals are at 6:45 p.m. PT (8:45 p.m. CT). The 400m dash will be at 5:45 p.m. PT (7:45 p.m. CT).
Saturday's field events include: Felicia Crenshaw competing in the shot put and Jade Cany, Jenna Feyerabend and Ruthie Grant-Williams in the high jump, which begins at 11 a.m. PT (1 p.m. CT).
Saturday's running events begin at 9:30 a.m. PT (11:30 a.m. CT) with the 200m dash where the Aztecs will have six athletes running (Alexus Alexander, Jalyn Harris, Tai McDonald, Jada Moore, Vanessa Spizewski and Aisha Watt).
At 10:30 a.m. PT (12:30 p.m. CT), Nyjari McNeil and Sakura Roberson will run in the 800m run. McNeil holds the SDSU indoor record in the 800m (2:08.30) and won the 800m at last year's Mountain West Outdoor championships with a time of 2:05.34, a SDSU outdoor record for sophomores.
The meet will end with the 4x400m relay at 1:35 p.m. PT (3:35 p.m. CT). SDSU won the 4x400m relay at the last two Mountain West Championships (2020 indoor and 2021 outdoor). SDSU will have three squads run and their A team will be Rhea Hoyte, Jalyn Harris, Nyjari McNeil and Sakura Roberson.
Aztec Tidbits
- SDSU didn't compete in the indoor season in 2021 so this weekend's meet will be their first indoor competition in 700 days, since the 2020 Mountain West Indoor Championships.
- The Aztecs won the Mountain West Outdoor Championship last year with 161 points, their most in the Outdoor Championships since 2013.
- SDSU has won three of the last four and five of the last eight Mountain West Outdoor Championships.
- Head Coach Shelia Burrell won her fifth Mountain West Coach of the Year award last season.
- SDSU won seven gold medals at the Mountain West Outdoor Championships last year. Jada Moore won three golds (100m, 200m and 4x100m relay).
- The Aztecs had 14 All-Mountain West honorees last season and return 13 of them, losing only Maya Brosch (400m hurdles & 4x400m relay) to graduation.
- The SDSU 4x100m relay team qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships last year and all four runners return (Danae Dyer, Tai McDonald, Jada Moore and Aisha Watt). The Aztecs have had a representative in 23 of the last 24 NCAA Outdoor Championships.
- Four Aztecs will be making their SDSU debut this weekend: Freshmen Ashley Callahan (pole vault) and Jenna Fee Feyerabend and transfers Corey Friendenbach (Air Force, pole vault) and Anaya Alexander (Iowa, 400m).
- This will be SDSU's only indoor competition outside of Albuquerque, N.M. Their next three meets will be in Albuquerque.