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

SAN DIEGO (UNLVRebels.com) - UNLV track & field's Kylee Vandenberg moved up three spots Thursday to finish sixth overall in the heptathlon at the 2015 Mountain West Outdoor Championships. Vandenberg entered the day in ninth place before she moseyed up the standings with a win in the javelin and a second-place showing in the 800m en route to a personal-best haul of 4,921 points at San Diego State's Sports Deck.

Vandenberg began the day with a seventh-place showing in the long jump (17-8/5.38m) before she unleashed a personal-best throw of 142-3 (43.37m) on her second attempt in the javelin. She concluded the seven-event discipline with a time of 2:19.80 in the 800.

Her 4,921 points are the most by a Rebel heptathlete since Christine Spence registered 4,956 (fifth place) at the 2005 edition in Fort Collins, Colo.

By virtue of Vandenberg's finish, the Scarlet & Gray earned three points and sits sixth overall in the Conference standings.

Utah State's Chari Hawkins won the heptathlon title with 5,622 points behind victories in four of the seven events. USU sits in first and leads Colorado State by one point, 10-9. CSU got eight points from Jessica Green and one more from Monica Franco behind their second (5,350) and eighth (4,760) finishes.

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).