By Madyson Montoya — Staff Writer
San Jose State track and field had its final showdown as it went down to Fresno to compete in the Mountain West Outdoor Championship.
The best performance of the season and of his career was senior Craig Huff’s first-place finish in the 3000-meter steeplechase. His time of 8:48.02 was the second fastest in Mountain West history.
This was the Spartans first individual conference champion since 1985.
The women did pretty well in the event as well. Junior Jeanette Zambrano took sixth place with a time of 10:15.72.
On the final day of the meet, the men’s 4×4 team took fourth out of nine teams and were less than a second away from the podium.
Another top-10 finish came from junior thrower Silvia Gutierrez. Her hammer throw has been consistent all year and she ended the season with an eighth-place finish.
Freshman Eseta Finau finished her pole vaulting season in a three-way tie for 10th place with a height of 3.64 meters.
Junior Aidan Jardon and sophomore Dominic Tanner were able to qualify for the finals in the 400-meter dash, but they placed eighth and ninth.
As for the rest of the events, it was a rough go-around as many Spartans did not make it past the preliminaries.
Senior Savanna Perez finished her track and field career with a 19th placing in the 800-meter prelims. Out of the 24 competitors, only nine qualified for the finals.
The women’s team took 11th place and the men’s took seventh out of eight teams. A lack of facility contributes to the fact that the Spartans were not able to enter more events.
SJSU will continue to struggle with this problem next season as well. It has been a great year for personal records, but it is time to get team victories.
Follow Madyson on Twitter @MadysonMontoya