SAN DIEGO -- San Diego State junior Shaquena Foote is set to compete in the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships this weekend at historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. Foote, a Westmoreland, Jamaica, native, will run the 400 meters and is the Aztecs’ lone competitor in the final collegiate meet of the season.
Foote is one of 24 athletes who qualified for Thursday’s 400-meter semifinal, which begins at 5:41 p.m. PT. Foote is in the second of three heats. The top two in each heat and next two fastest times advance to the finals, which will take place at 7:02 p.m. PT Saturday.
Foote automatically qualified for Eugene after taking second in the first of three heats in the NCAA West Quarterfinals on May 31 with a time of 51.38 seconds. It was the seventh-fastest time on the day as 12 advanced from the west region to Thursday’s semifinal heats. Foote ran a school and Mountain West record time of 50.95 in the first round on Thursday, May 29.
Foote’s 50.95 enters the weekend as the 12th-fastest time in the country this year. However, she is seeded 13th with her 51.38 run in the quarterfinals.
This will be Foote’s second appearance at an NCAA Outdoor Championship. In 2024, Foote ran a 52.10 in the semifinals for the 17th-fastest time and failed to advance to the finals. Foote also came in 14th overall at the 2025 NCAA Indoor Championships in 52.58, not advancing to the final in the event.
Foote is just the second Aztec in school history to compete in multiple 400s at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, joining Nicole Stone, who was 22nd in 2007 in 53.99 and 23rd in 2009 in 54.61. The best finish by a SDSU 400-meter runner was a fifth-place effort by Renee Chambers-Ross in 1985 in 52.85. Tonette Dyer, who had her school and Mountain West record of 51.15 broken by Foote in the NCAA West First Round on May 29, came in ninth in 2002 in 53.98 for San Diego State’s other top-10 finish in the event. There have been six Aztecs who have a run a 400 at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in program history.
2025 NCAA Outdoor Championships
Thursday, June 12 and Saturday, June 14
Hayward Field - Eugene, Oregon
SDSU Qualifiers
400 Meters (out of 24 qualifiers)
13. Shaquena Foote - 51.38 (PR is 50.95)
(Semifinals - 5:41 p.m. PT Thursday: Three heats - Top 2 from each heat advance to finals, plus next 3 fastest times)
(Finals - 7:02 p.m. PT Saturday)
Shaquena Foote Set for NCAA Outdoor Championships this Weekend
Foote to compete in the 400 meters at the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
