Track and Field to Compete at MW Indoor Championships

SAN DIEGO –San Diego State track and field will look to return to the top of the Mountain West this weekend, competing in the MW Indoor Championships. The Aztecs are headed to Albuquerque, N.M. for the final time this indoor season as they compete in the conference championship meet Thursday through Saturday.

The Aztecs have 22 student-athletes set to compete with 33 total entries. The split is nine competitors in the sprints/hurdles, six in distance, five in the jumps, four in pole vault, and a pair of relay teams.

SDSU will begin competing on Thursday afternoon with the distance medley relay at 3:40 p.m. PT (4:40 p.m. MT). Friday starts at 12:00 p.m. PT (1:00 p.m. MT) with the long jump and Saturday starts at 10:10 a.m. PT (11:10 a.m. MT) in the mile.

The 2024 MW Indoor Championships are hosted by the University of New Mexico at the Albuquerque Convention Center for the ninth consecutive time (2021 cancelled). Colorado State is the two-time defending champions and has won five of the last seven titles with UNLV winning the other two in that stretch.
 
SDSU in the MW Indoor Championships
• San Diego State has one Mountain West indoor team championship in its history, winning the 2013 title with 123 points.
• The most points the Aztecs have scored at the conference championships is 129.5 points in a second-place finish during the 2004 championships.
• Since head coach Shelia Burrell took over the program, the Aztecs have finished top three in the team standings in 11 of the 13 MW indoor championships including the 2013 title.
• Individually, there have been 59 Aztec champions in Mountain West history. The most in a single-season for the program was six at the 2013 championship meet. The current roster has three (Jada Moore, Rhea Hoyte, Ashley Callahan).
• The Aztecs have dominated pole vault in the conference's history, winning gold 17 times since the inaugural Mountain West season including eight consecutive vaulters crowned champion. Ashley Callahan, in her junior season, is the reigning pole vault
champ looking to become the third Aztec to win back-to-back.
• Last year, San Diego State finished third in the team standings with 107 total points. Three Aztecs claimed gold medals and 11 earned all-Mountain West honors.

Record Book Indoor Season
• San Diego State has recorded 22 marks etched into the program's indoor records, including a pair of school records in the 400m and 3,000m. Fourteen of the marks have come on the track while eight have come in the field.
• In total, 11 different Aztecs have posted a top ten mark this season with Vanessa Cabello, Shaquena Foote, Jessica Kain, Aji Mbye, Hannah Waller, and Xiamara Young each recording two top ten marks.

Mountain West Weekly Honors
• San Diego State competed in four indoor meets leading up to the conference championships this weekend and totaled five MW weekly honors.
• Shaquena Foote ran in three of the four meets, claiming the MW Women's Track Athlete of the Week all three times. She is the second Aztec to receive three weekly honors in a single indoor season in conference history.
• Xiamara Young was named MW Women's Field Athlete of the Week for the first time in her career following a pair of program top ten marks in long jump and triple jump at the UNM Collegiate Classic.
• Aji Mbye is the third and final SDSU student-athlete to earn a weekly award, claiming the Women's Freshman of the Week honor after her collegiate debut at the Don Kirby Invitational.
 
Aztec Tidbits
• Shaquena Foote has competed in three meets and broke the indoor 400m program record each time. Her best of 52.60 (52.71 altitude adjusted) ranks fourth fastest in Mountain West history. She also owns the third fastest 200m (23.47) in SDSU program history. Placement-wise in the two events, she has finished in the top three each time, including winning the unseeded 200m at the MLK Invitational.
• Hannah Waller has been a force on the track and in the field this season. She has run a 7.26 (7.28 altitude adjusted) twice this season ranking second fastest in program history. Competing against some of the fastest sprinters in the country, she qualified for the finals at both the MLK Invitational and the UNM Collegiate Classic. On the field, she surpassed 20 feet for the first time in her career at the MLK Invitational. At 6.16m (20-2.5), she is third all-time in SDSU history.
• Following a tremendous freshman campaign, Charlize James has carried success into her sophomore season. Her PR of 8.23 (8.25 altitude adjusted) ranks third in program history and has her atop the MW rankings. Her mark came on opening weekend at the MLK Invitational where she finished second overall, first among collegiate competitors.
• Ashley Callahan will look to repeat as the Mountain West pole vault champion. She won the event last year as a sophomore after earning all-Mountain West in her true freshman season. This year, she has a best of 13-5.25 which ranks tied for second in the conference. Her career best ranks tied for fourth in program history.
• Xiamara Young has very quickly made an impact in her first year in Scarlet and Black. At the UNM Classic, she moved into fifth all-time for triple jump at 13.10m (42-11.75) and tenth all-time in long jump at 6.02m (19-9). The junior transfer has PR'd in triple jump and finished in the top five at each meet she has competed at.
• Competing in her first collegiate indoor 3,000m run, Jessica Kain set the program record with a time of 9:32.77 on Friday of the UW Invite. The next day, she ran the sixth fastest 800m in program history at 2:10.61. She also ran a 4:52.04 (4:45.68 altitude adjusted) in the mile at the Don Kirby Invitational setting a new SDSU senior class record and finishing as the top collegiate finisher.
• Vanessa Cabello has also posted a pair of top ten marks this season. In the 3,000m at the UW Invitational, she posted a time of 9:51.56 to move into third in program history. Two weeks later at the Don Kirby Invitational, she edged out her previous PR to post a 5:08.14 for the eighth fastest 800m time in program indoor history.
• Eva Rethmeier, a Cal State Fullerton transfer, had an outstanding cross country season in the fall and very quickly etched her name into the indoor record books in her first season at SDSU. Posting a 10:04.03 3,000m time at the UW Invitational, she ranks fourth in program history.
• The Aztec freshmen have been adapting to the collegiate level quickly, most notably Aji Mbye. Following her collegiate debut, she was named the Mountain West women's freshman of the week. At the Don Kirby Invitational, she set PRs in both the 60m and 200m dashes and moved into tenth on SDSU's all-time list. Her 7.42 (7.44 altitude adjusted) in the 60m and 23.85 (23.92 altitude adjusted) are the fastest times by a MW freshman this season and are also the Aztec freshman class records.
• In her college debut at the MLK Invitational, Jordan Leveque became just the 21st different Aztec to clear the bar in pole vault at a height of 3.82m (12-6.25). She has since improved on her PR and enters the conference championships tied for sixth at 3.83m.
• Lidia Major has shocked some people in her first few collegiate meets In her debut, she ran a 1:37.23 in the 600m race, putting her at eighth in program history. She also PR'd in the 400m at her second college meet with a time of 56.22 and helped the SDSU 4x400m relay team run a 3:39.22 (3:39.76 altitude adjusted), the third fastest mark in program indoor history.