| 2018 San Francisco State Distance Carnival |
| Date |
March 30-31, 2018 |
| Location |
Chabot College, Hayward (Hosted by SF State) |
| Live Results |
TimerHub.com |
| Meet Info |
Info & Schedule | Entries |
| Video |
FloTrack (Subscription required) |
DALLAS (SMU) – The SMU track and field team will split to head to four meets this week as the Mustangs look for NCAA outdoor qualifying marks.
The Mustangs will head to Central Texas for the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays (March 28-31) and the Bobcat Invitational (March 29-31). SMU will also send student athletes to California for the San Francisco State Distance Carnival (March 30) and the Stanford Invitational (March 30-31).
TEXAS RELAYS
Eight Mustangs will compete at the Texas Relays this week, beginning with the
400m hurdles on Thursday afternoon.
Madison Pyle will represent SMU in the event after finishing fourth with a PR time of 1:01.28 at last weekend's Arkansas Spring Invitational.
Sprinters
Latessa Johnson,
Chelsea Francis and
Alexis Center will race in the 100-meter dash after all three finished in the top 10 of the event on Saturday. Johnson and Francis hold the top two times on the American outdoor performance list, with Center following closely in fourth. The group will be joined by
Ashton Woods for the
4x100 relay, with prelims scheduled for Friday morning.
Freshmen Tess
Misgen and Julie
Jungblut will represent the Mustangs distance cohort.
Misgen will race the 1,500-meter for the first time this spring, while
Jungblut will stretch her legs for the 5,000-meter run.
Senior thrower
Tochi Nlemchi will compete as SMU's lone field athlete. She will look to defend her shot put titles from the first two meets of outdoor on Friday and climb the conference ranks in the discus on Saturday.
BOBCAT INVITATIONAL
A handful of Mustangs will compete at Texas State's Bobcat Invitational, including a group that will also compete at the Texas Relays up the road.
Anna Novosadova will kick off events Thursday morning with starting events of the heptathlon, followed by
Tochi Nlemchi and
Daniella Murchison competing in the Discus that day at 11 a.m. The pair will also take on the hammer throw the next day. Murchison adds shot put on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Jumper
Atipa Mabonga will continue to seek qualifying marks in the long jump and the triple jump beginning Friday at 3 p.m.
On the track,
Alexis Center and
Chelsea Francis are slated to run the 100-meter dash, with
Latessa Johnson joining for the 200-meter dash on Saturday at 4:45 p.m. Freshman
Ashton Woods will run the 400-meter dash for the first time this season while
Madison Pyle will take on the 800-meter run. The Mustangs will run both the 4x100 and 4x400 relays.
Distance runners
Julie Jungblut and
Robin Montemayor will round out SMU's entries with Jungblut's 1,500-meter run and Montemayor's 5,000-meter run on Friday evening.
SAN FRANCISCO STATE DISTANCE CARNIVAL
Five of SMU's distance runners will travel to San Francisco to compete beginning on Friday.
Svenja Ojstersek and Marlene
Gomez-Islinger will each run the 10,000-meters for the first time this season.
Gomez-Islinger finished seventh in the event at last season's outdoor conference championships.
On Friday afternoon,
Anneke Grogan and
Alison Esparza will continue their successes from last week in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Esparza and Grogan finished first and second in the event at the Arkansas Spring Invitational.
Charlotte-Tara Murphy and Grogan will round out the competition for SMU in the 5,000-meters on Friday evening.
STANFORD INVITATIONAL
Hannah Miller and Cassie
Ackemann will represent SMU at the Stanford Invitational on Friday and Saturday.
Ackemann will compete in the high jump on Friday at 3:30 p.m. The freshman has placed in the top three at each of the Mustangs outdoor meets this season and ties for the third-best mark on the American performance list.
Miller is set to compete in the 10,000-meters on Saturday. The sophomore took third in the event at last season's American Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
INDOOR SEASON RECAP
The Mustangs finished indoor season with a runner-up finish at the American Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships, earning seven all-conference finishes. SMU totaled 85 points and finished behind Cincinnati (147 points) for the team's best finish since 2014.
The push was led by
Hannah Miller, who picked up individual titles in the 3,000-meter and the 5,000-meter and a second-place finish as a member of the distance medley. She earned the Most Valuable Performer on the women's side of the meet, totaling the most points of any individual. Miller placed fifth in the 3,000-meter at the Vanderbilt Invitational, setting a new PR and school record with a mark of 9:26.62. The finish earned her the American Conference Female Track Athlete of the Week award on Jan. 24.
Latessa Johnson added to her SMU legacy in indoor, finishing first in the
200m dash at the conference championships with a meet and school record-breaking time of 23.17. The mark edged out her previous record time of 23.29, which she set just weeks before at the Tyson Invitational. Johnson earned the AAC Women's Indoor Track Most Outstanding Performance Award and the conference Athlete of the Week honor on Feb. 13. She finished indoor season with the 22
nd best time in the NCAA and the top time in the American.
Chelsea Francis was a standout in the 60m and the
200m throughout indoor season. The sophomore earned
All-AAC honors in both events, with silver in the 60m and bronze in the
200m. She finished indoor with two wins in the 60m (Red Raider Invitational, Houston Invitational) and ran a 7.30 at the Tyson Invitational to secure the second-best time in program history. She won the American Female Track Athlete of the Week on Jan. 30 and finished indoor with the top 60m time and the third-best
200m time in the American Conference.
The Mustangs also picked up an All-Conference finish in the distance medley, comprised of
Tess Misgen,
Madison Pyle,
Ashton Woods and
Hannah Miller. The relay finished in 11:35.33. Freshman
Cassie Ackemann added the final medal to SMU's count, earning bronze in the high jump with a mark of 1.73m.
INDOOR SEASON CONFERENCE HONORS
Hannah Miller
Female Most Valuable Performer Award
All-Conference – 5,
000m (gold), 3,
000m (gold)
American Conference Female Track Athlete of the Week (Jan. 23)
Chelsea Francis
All-Conference – 60m dash (silver),
200m dash (bronze)
American Conference Female Track Athlete of the Week (Jan. 30)
Latessa Johnson
AAC Women's Indoor Track Most Outstanding Performance Award (
200m dash)
All-Conference –
200m dash (gold)
American Conference Female Track Athlete of the Week (Feb. 13)
Cassie Ackemann
All-Conference – High Jump (bronze)
Tess Misgen,
Madison Pyle,
Ashton Woods,
Hannah Miller
All-Conference – Distance Medley (silver)
UP NEXT
The Mustangs will have a week to train before departing for the UIW Invitational in San Antonio, Texas on April 13-14.
FOLLOW THE MUSTANGS
Keep up with all the latest news and information on the Mustangs by following SMU Track & Field Team on Twitter at @
SMUTrackFieldXC, on Facebook at Facebook.com/
SMUTrackFieldXC, and on Instagram at Instagram.com/
SMUTrackandXC. Find SMU Athletics on Twitter at @
SMUMustangs or Instagram at SMU.Mustangs.
