FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Aztecs, fresh off winning their second conference title in a row last weekend at the Mountain West Championships, will have 11 individuals and two relay teams competing at the NCAA West Preliminary Championships this Thursday and Saturday at the University of Arkansas. The meet will follow the same format as the NCAA Championships and will be shown on ESPN's SEC Network Plus ($).
For the 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 100m hurdles and 400m hurdles, there are six heats with nine runners in each. The top three from each heat plus the next six fastest times advance to Saturday's finals, where the top three from each of three heats will advance, plus the next three fastest times qualify for the NCAA Championships.
The Aztecs will have Jada Moore in the 100m, Moore and Jalyn Harris in the 200m, Sakura Roberson in the 400m and Lauren Harper in the 800m. Rounding out the track events will be Danae Dyer in the 100m hurdles, as well as Rhea Hoyte in the 400m hurdles.
The 4x100m and 4x400m relays will run on Saturday with the top three from each of the three heats plus the next three fastest times advancing to Eugene.
In the field events SDSU has three athletes competing in the pole vault, Mountain West Champion Kaitlin Heri, Mountain West Runner-Up Ashley Callahan, and Corey Friedenbach. Additionally, freshman Jenna Fee Feyerabend will compete in the high jump, while the Aztecs will have Mountain West Champion Simone Johnson competing in the triple jump. In all three of those events the top 12 in each event will move on to nationals.
On Thursday the Aztecs will be competing in the pole vault at 4:30 p.m. PT, and in the first round of all individual track events, starting with Danae Dyer in the 100m hurdles at 4:00 p.m. PT. The Aztecs will also have athletes in the 100m dash at 5:00 p.m. PT, 400m run at 5:25 p.m. PT, 800m run at 5:50 p.m. PT, 400m hurdles at 6:20 p.m. PT and the 200m dash at 6:45 p.m. PT.
As for Saturday, Jenna Fee Feyerabend will compete in the high jump at 12:30 p.m. PT, the 4x100m relay will compete at 3 p.m. PT, Simone Johnson will take part in the triple jump at 4:00 p.m. PT, and the 4x400m relay will run at 6:45 p.m. PT.
NCAA West Prelims Notes
• The Aztecs have 11 individuals and two relay teams competing this weekend.
• SDSU has had a representative in 23 of the last 24 NCAA Outdoor Championships.
• The Aztecs have had their 4x400m relay team qualify for two of the last three NCAA Outdoor Championships (2018, 2019) as well as the 2020 NCAA Indoor Championship.
• If both the 4x100m and the 4x400m relay team qualify for nationals, it will be the first time since 2018 that both relay teams qualify.
• The last time an Aztec individual qualified for nationals was in 2019 when Bonnie Draxler qualified in the pole vault competition and finished second overall.
Mountain West Championship Notes
• SDSU has won four of the last five Mountain West Outdoor Championships & six of the last nine.
• The Aztecs scored 157 points, narrowly beating Colorado State by 3.5 points for their second consecutive title.
• Shelia Burrell was named the Mountain West Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season, and the sixth time in her career.
• San Diego State won both the 4x100m relay and the 4x400m relay. The Aztecs have now won four of the last five 4x100m relays and the last four 4x400m relays.
• SDSU had seven new entries into the top ten of their outdoor record book and five those were top-five marks: Thaila Wilson (Javelin, 159-09, No. 2), Kaitlin Heri (pole vault, 14-03.50, T-2nd), Jada Moore (100m, 11.39, No. 3), 4x400m relay (3:33.68, No. 3), Lauren Harper (800m, 2:06.40. No. 4), Danae Dyer (100m hurdles, 13.24, No. 6), 4x100m relay team (44.38, No. 8).
-SDSU-