SAN FRANCISCO (SMU) – SMU track and field's distance runners continued their impressive outdoor campaign at the San Francisco State Distance Carnival on Friday, with Alison Esparza setting a personal record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase for the second consecutive week.

Esparza just broke the 11-minute mark to finish 19^th in the event (10:57.98). She was joined by Anneke Grogan in 24^th in 11:02.53, also a personal-best performance.

In the meet's 10,000-meter event, two Mustangs earned top five finishes. Marlene Gomez-Islinger took fourth with PR time of 35:14.57 while Svenja Ojstersek earned fifth in 35:21.56. Charlotte-Tara Murphy represented SMU in the 5,000-meter, finishing 19th in 17:16.98.

At the Stanford Invitational, freshman Cassie Ackemann took eighth in the high jump Friday with a mark of 1.65m. Hannah Miller, the other Mustang at the California meet, impressed in the 10,000-meter run by finishing first in her section. The sophomore ran it in 33:43.35, setting a new PR and moving her into third all-time in SMU history.

Across the country at the Texas Relays in Austin, Texas, the Mustangs continued to impress.

Madison Pyle began the meet for SMU on Thursday in the 400-meter hurdles, finishing first in her heat and 37^th overall (1:01.88). Julie Jungblut took 22^nd in the 5,000-meter run (17:52.24), and the Mustangs' 4x100 relay took 18^th in 46.53.

Latessa Johnson set a personal best in the prelims of the 100-meters. The junior ran an 11.34, beating her PR by a tenth of a second and tying for the second-best mark in program history. She took ninth to qualify for tomorrow's 100-meter finals. Chelsea Francis finished 17^th (11.51) and Alexis Center finished 44^th (11.87).

Just a short drive south, a handful of Mustangs were taking on the competition at the Bobcat Invitational at Texas State.

Anna Novosadova earned third place in the heptathlon, establishing personal bests in both shot put (9.28m) and long jump (5.56m). The senior, who eyes her second all-conference finish in the outdoor heptathlon, took first place in both running events, the 100-meter hurdles and the high jump to total 4,613 total points. Novosadova ran the 200-meter dash in 25.44, the 800-meter in 2:23.26 and outpaced her competition in the 100-meter hurdles in 14.42.

The Mustangs continued their dominance on the Bobcat Invitational' s track in the 100-meter dash. Francis, who holds the second-best 100-meter mark in the American behind teammate Johnson, earned first-place in the event with an 11.53 finish. Center followed, finishing 10^th in 12.04.

Jungblut ran her second distance event of the weekend, this time competing in the 1,500-meter, and set a personal record. The freshman finished 23^rd in 4:52.90 to shave five seconds off her previous best.

Robin Montemayor also established a personal best time at the meet, finishing 12th in the 5,000-meter in 18:10.09. Her time improves on her old PR by over 30 seconds.

Throwers Tochi Nlemchi and Daniella Murchison rounded out the Bobcat Invitational in the discus on Thursday and the hammer throw on Friday. In the discus, Nlemchi's throw of 47.09m was just one meter from her PR and good for second place. Murchison earned 18^th with a toss of 31.07m. Nlemchi followed with a third-place finish in hammer throw the next day (50.53m), while Murchison took 24^th (40.29m).

Action continues for SMU tomorrow at the Bobcat Invitational and Texas Relays.

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Saturday Live Results Links:
Texas Relays: bit.ly/2GuwlMP
Bobcat Invitational: bit.ly/2J4kxiz