2015 Mountain West Outdoor Championships
Championships Central | Schedule | Live Results

SAN DIEGO (UNLVRebels.com) - Kylee Vandenberg kicked off the UNLV track & field team's participation at the 2015 Mountain West Outdoor Championships with the completion of four events in the heptathlon Wednesday. Vandenberg sits in ninth place - one out of a scoring position - behind a total of 2,698 points accumulated at San Diego State's Sports Deck.

Vandenberg's best effort came in the shot put with a second-place showing that earned 625 points. Her throw of 37-6.75 (11.45m), which came on her second of three attempts, tied a season- and career-best mark that was previously achieved at the Randall Cunningham Track Classic in early March.

In the three other events contested Wednesday, she was seventh in the 200m (26.57), ninth in the high jump (4-10.50/1.49m) and 10th in the 100m hurdles (15.99).

Utah State's Chari Hawkins leads the event comprised of seven disciplines with 3,494 points. Hawkins finished first in the 200m, high jump and 100m, but was third best in the shot put.

Vandenberg, Hawkins and nine others will return to the Sports Deck Thursday for the long jump, javelin and 800m.

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 things off 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.

Saturday, 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).