5/12/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
2015 Mountain West Outdoor Championships
Championships Central | Schedule | Live Results
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV track & field team will make its sixth appearance in the Golden State since early April for the 2015 Mountain West Outdoor Championships in San Diego, Calif. The four-day meet gets started Wednesday and Thursday with the women's heptathlon at San Diego State's Sports Deck.
Kylee Vandenberg will get things going for the Scarlet & Gray in the heptathlon Wednesday with the 100m, high jump, shot put and 200m. Vandenberg will participate in the long jump, javelin and 800m Thursday to close out the event that is comprised of seven disciplines.
Not only will Vandenberg compete in the heptathlon - seeded sixth (4838 points), but she will also participate in the javelin (fourth: 140-4/42.78m) and 400m hurdles, which will take place Friday and Saturday, respectively.
Friday's action gets underway at 11:00 am with the hammer throw, which will be held at UC San Diego's Triton Track & Field Stadium. The women's long jump will start the action at the Sports Deck one hour later, while the track portion begins at 3:00 pm with the steeplechase and concludes at 6:50 pm with the 10,000m.
The fourth and final day of the meet starts with the javelin and 4x100m at 10:00 am. The 4x400m relay closes the women's portion of the meet at 2:30 pm.
The Rebels finished seventh overall at last year's Conference meet in Laramie, Wyo. UNLV's Auzsane Crowe-Carter won the 800m with a stadium-record time of 2:08.76, while Erin Morris and both relay teams - 4x100m and 4x400m - claimed All-MW honors for their third-place finishes.
Crowe-Carter enters this week's meet with the fastest 800m amongst MW competitors. She ran 2:07.02 at the Stanford Invitational on April 5.
Krystal Wharton (Las Vegas/Valley HS), a 2014 NCAA Outdoor Championships participant, and MacKenna Howard are second in the long jump (19-9.75/6.04m - adidas/Steve Scott Invitational) and shot put (51-6.5/15.71m - Texas Relays), respectively. The Rebel 4x400m relay squad of Laura Anuakpado, Monay Meggs, Kenia Bonilla and Mandy Chitwood (Las Vegas/Canyon Springs HS) sits second, too, after running 3:42.76 at the Texas Relays.
In addition to those three individuals and one relay quartet, UNLV has nine more that are ranked in the top 10 in the most recent MW standings. Meggs is fourth in the 400m (54.83), while Anuakpado is ninth (55.25). Drea Austin (Las Vegas/Foothill HS) ranks sixth in both the 100m (11.80) and 200m (24.12). Chitwood is eighth in the 800m (2:10.53). In the hurdles, Taylor Pegram is sixth (13.67) and Ke'Nya Hardge is eighth (13.91) in the 100m, while Joniece Ervin is seventh in the 400m (1:01.59). Akia Armstrong sits fifth in the long jump (19-4.25/5.90m). Cortney Miller (Las Vegas/Calvary Chapel Christian HS) is fourth in the hammer throw (195-6/59.58m). The 4x100m relay sits third (45.39).
UNLV was fourth two months ago at the MW Indoor Championship with first-place finishes by Destiny Smith-Barnett in the 60m and the 4x400m relay (Meggs, Chitwood, Austin and Anuakpado). Chitwood and Anuakpado claimed second in the 800m and 400m, respectively. A pair of field athletes was second, as well, in the long jump (Wharton) and shot put (Howard).
