By Madyson Montoya (@MadysonMontoya):
San Jose State’s women’s track and field team traveled to compete at the Don Kirby Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M. over the weekend.
The jumpers and sprinters inside the Albuquerque Convention Center got to face some of the toughest teams in the country. Although the event placings were not high, the Spartans were able to practice performing at a higher level.
Senior Cambree Harbaugh started the meet off strong on Friday night placing fourth of 49 competitors in the long jump. Harbaugh jumped 6.05m on her third attempt, only .04m short of her personal best achieved at the Air Force Invitational two weeks ago.
The team’s best high jump result was junior Natalie Gutierrez, who came in 14th place with a height of 1.63m.
Lots of talent was present at the Don Kirby Invitational with all the results being close. Senior Makayla Webb represented SJSU well finishing in 69th place in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.39. Webb was only two seconds behind the first place competitor from University of Oregon.
Saturday was a much stronger day for the Spartans with the triple jump and sprinting events.
Junior Brittany Brown beat SJSU’s program 60-meter hurdle record of 8.68s with a time of 8.50s in the semifinals. Brown finished the event in eighth place.
Brown was also the top Spartan finisher in the triple jump checking in at 10th place.
Sophomore Destiny Longmire completed the 60-meter with a time of 7.67, putting her in 18th place during semifinals. It was not high enough to advance her to the finals.
Top finisher for San Jose State in the 400-meter was freshman Lovenie Dantes, who achieved the program’s second fastest time of 57.48. She finished the race in 30th place. Not far behind Dantes was sophomore Diamond Tabron with a time of 59.88.
This weekend was good practice for the team as they went against some of the top teams in the country. The Spartans were able to get a feel of the stadium as they will be returning at the end of the month for the Mountain West Championships.