By Madyson Montoya & Jose Trujillo @MadysonMontoya & @jAy_Ay_T
San Jose State’s women’s track and field topped off spring break by breaking multiple records and achieving personal bests.
The team split up to compete at the Stanford Invitational and the San Francisco State Distance Carnival this past weekend.
Junior Jeanette Zambrano and sophomore Camilla Hanson were the only two runners to compete at the San Francisco State Distance Carnival on Friday.
Zambrano broke her own school record in the 3,000 meter steeplechase by a whole 16 seconds, and finished fourth out of 55 competitors with a time of 10:30.69.
Hanson finished in 65th out of 166 runners in the 1,500 meters with a time of 4:46.17.
Over at Stanford sophomore Jennifer Sandoval followed Zambrano by beating her school record as well in the 10,000 meters by over 40 seconds. Sandoval finished in 10th at the invitational, crushing her last year’s record.
This is familiar territory for Sandoval. The Fontana, Calif. native held the previous record after running a 34:44.17 at the 2017 Mt. Sac relays.
“It was her best race to date,’’ said SJSU distance coach Wick to Spartan Athletics. “She took a risk by committing to the pace and ran like a champ through the finish.”
At the San Francisco State Distance Carnival in Hayward, Calif., junior Jeanette Zambrano also broke her own record in the 3,000 meter steeplechase with a time of 10:30.69.
According to www.tfrrs.com, Zambrano’s improved time is ranked No. 1 in the Mountain West and No. 6 nationally.
Like Sandoval, Zambrano set her previous high at the 2017 Mt. Sac relays where she clocked a 10:47.47.
Continuing the trend of personal records, sophomore Destiny Longmire achieved her season best in the 100 meters with a time of 12.26. Longmire finished in 18th with senior Kelsey Johnson-Upshaw behind her in 25th in the prelims.
Both SJSU runners were less than a second behind the first place competitor, but did not advance to the finals for the event.
No surprise that the Spartans performed well in the long jump as it proves to be their stronger event. Junior Kolbi Sims took home first with junior Brittany Brown in sixth in the collegiate section.
Senior Cambree Harbaugh had the best distance in long jump as part of the invitational section, as she jumped 6.02 meters. Harbaugh finished in fifth out of 12 competitors, Longmire was right behind in sixth and Johnson-Upshaw in 12th.
SJSU had six runners compete in the 100 meter hurdles preliminaries. Brown was the top finisher for the Spartans in 12th place with a time of 14.17 seconds. This was not fast enough to advance in the event.
Sunday was a strong day for the Spartans at Stanford as they competed in the triple jump and 4×100 relay.
Senior Nicole Iloanya achieved her season best with a distance of 12.68 meters. Iloany finished in fourth out of 12 competitors.
Harbaugh finished the triple jump in ninth.
Iloanya doubled up on events as she competed in the 4×100 relay with Brown, Longmire and sophomore Jayla Williams.
The quartet came in 10th place with a time of 47.89.
Because of Sandoval’s most recent performance, she now has an opportunity of competing in the NCAA Outdoor Championship West Preliminaries at the end of the season.
Until then, the team has five meets to get through. That means at least five more opportunities to improve times.
If that happens, expect to see them in Sacramento for a chance to advance to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
The Spartans travel down to San Diego on Friday for the Mountain West Conference Challenge next week.