April 29, 2008

SAN DIEGO -

SDSU Track and Field Weekly Release in PDF Format

Looking at the Week
San Diego State will spend its final week before the Mountain West Conference Championships competing in the Steve Scott Invitational. The meet, which is being contested at UC Irvine's Anteater Stadium, is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, May 3-4.

Saturday will feature just a handful of events beginning with the hammer throw at 2 p.m. First-day competition will conclude with the 3,000-meter steeplechase at 6:50 p.m. Sunday, however, will feature a jam-packed schedule with the pole vault commencing at 10 a.m. and the track events starting at noon with the 4x100-meter relay.

Following the meet, the Aztecs will have a week and a half off before traveling to Fort Worth, Texas, for the MWC Championships, May 14-17.

Mile Relay Qualifies for Regionals
For the first time this season, the 4x400-meter relay qualified for the NCAA West Regionals. The quartet of Sherraine Pencil, Kyanna Thomas, Decontee Kaye and Mandy Upuu finished in second place with a time of 3 minutes, 39.03 seconds at the Brutus Hamilton Invitational. Their effort was over four seconds faster than San Diego State's previous season best of 3:43.85 accomplished by Thomas, Pencil, Upuu and Jessika Hornsby at the Sea Ray Relays.

Pencil Sharp in Berkeley
Senior Sherraine Pencil had her best all-around performance of the 2008 season at the Brutus Hamilton Invite by achieving regionals marks in three events and posting a season best in her other competition.

Pencil and the 4x100 relay of Shana Solomon, Alicia Lowery and Decontee Kaye, matched their season best and put up another regional-qualifying time after finishing in third (45.38) to begin the day. Later in the 400-meter dash, Pencil became the first Aztec of the year to qualify for regionals in the 400 with a winning time of 54.14.

Over an hour later, Pencil stepped into the blocks and ran a season-low time of 24.05 in the 200 and finished her day by helping the 4x400 relay punch their ticket to regionals with a time of 3:39.03.

Thomas Makes Presence Felt
At the Brutus Hamilton Invitational, freshman Kyanna Thomas' day mirrored that of Sherraine Pencil's as she also qualified for the regional meet in the 400 and 4x400 relay.

The Fresno, Calif., native ran step for step with Pencil in the 400 and finished second overall with a personal-record time of 54.33, which was over a half-second better than her last effort of 54.92 when she won the event at the Mt. SAC Relays.

And then in the final event of the day, Pencil ran the opening leg of the mile relay and eventually handed the baton to Thomas where she helped the group secure a spot in the NCAA regional field in late May.

Johnson Aiming for Regional Berth
Briana Johnson is making a late push for an NCAA regional berth in the 100-meter hurdles. In six of her last seven races, preliminaries and finals, the freshman recorded a faster time in each outing.

After running 14.87 in the prelims at the Cal-Nevada Championships, Johnson has posted times of 14.80 (Pomona-Pitzer Invite), 14.41 (wind-aided at Sea Ray Relays) and a personal-record 14.28 (Mt. SAC Relays). One day after Mt. SAC, Johnson was clocked at 14.33 at the Beach Invitational.

Then at the Brutus Hamilton Invite, the Orlando, Fla., product qualified for the finals after running a new PR and preliminary time of 14.20. In the finals, Johnson saved her best for last by finishing the race in 14.02, good for fifth place.

Johnson needs to run 13.92 to qualify for regionals with only two opportunities left (Steve Scott Invite, MWC Championships).

Distance Runners Enjoy Weekend
The San Diego State distance runners enjoyed a solid weekend despite competing at different ends of the state.

At the Brutus Hamilton Invite in Berkeley, Calif., junior Kristin Glen finished in 11th after running a personal-record 4:47.38 in the 1,500.

Down south at UC San Diego's Triton Invitational, freshman Andrea Norton stole the show after setting personal bests in the 1,500 and 3,000 meters. Norton was SDSU's top athlete in both races logging a time of 4:59.54 (25th) in the 1,500 and a time of 10:50.13 (9th) in the 3,000.

Other SDSU athletes to establish personal records at the Triton Invite were freshman Sara Beyers in the 3,000 (10:54.30) and sophomore Lindsay Barajas in the steeplechase (11:49.59).

Last Time at the Steve Scott Invite
At the 2007 Steve Scott Invitational, San Diego State sent a limited group of athletes with Darien Buc turning in the top performance of the meet. As a freshman, Buc ran a personal-record 4:51.50 in the 1,500 to finish in second place in her section. In addition to Buc, Amber Waddell ran in the 100, Stephanie Armstrong, Makenzie Mabry and Anne Vieira raced in the 5,000 and Robyn Guzman competed in the discus throw and shot put.