Shaquena Foote has qualified for the NCAA Women’s Outdoor Track Championships, which will be held June 12-14 at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
A day after setting a San Diego State and Mountain West Conference record with a 50.95-second time in the 400-meter heats, Foote finished seventh overall in the NCAA Western Regionals at College Station, Texas, with a time of 51.38.
Her time of 50.95 seconds on Thursday was tied for the third-fastest time among the 48 entrants at the regionals.
Foote was the only athlete from SDSU or UC San Diego to advance out of the regionals to the NCAA finals. The top 12 finishers in each event at the regionals advanced.
San Diego State’s 4×100 relay team of Mikaela Warr, Jada Pierre, Olivia Hicks and Aji Mbye finished 20th in 44.72. Anna Mager ran a time of 59.95 in the 400-meter hurdles to finish 23rd. Charlize James did not start in the 100-meter hurdles.
James advanced to Saturday’s qualifying heat with a time of 13.32, while Pierre missed the cut at 13.46. Mager ran 58.64 last Thursday, posting the 10th-best mark in Aztecs history to advance.
Other Aztecs who failed to advance Thursday were long jumper Pavana Nagaraj (20 feet, 1 inch) and two competitors in the 800 — Lauren Harper (2:07.73) and Sophia Wolf (2:10.42).
Five UC San Diego athletes competed as the first group of Tritons to ever participate in the NCAA Division I regionals. The Tritons, who won the Big West Conference title, didn’t advance anyone to the NCAA finals.
Tamara Aimufia finished her season with a long jump of 19-1. Feyi Olukanni had a shot put of 47-9. Amari Jenkins ran the 400 meters in 59.47. Sylvana Northrop had a time of 17:12.80 in the 5,000 meters. And Miles Bennett cleared 6-8 in the men’s high jump.
