SDSU Track And Field Athletes To Compete At NCAA Meet

Miller, Dyer, Balentine to represent Aztecs in Baton Rouge.

Freshman pole vaulter Shayla Balentine is one of four SDSU athletes headed to next week's NCAA Championships.
Track Home HEADLINES Seven MWC Track & Field Programs Earn USTFCCCA All-Academic Honors Sixty-One MWC Student-Athletes Receive 2009 USTFCCCA All-Academic Track & Field Honors Three MWC Student-Athletes Named to Academic All-America Track & Field and Cross Country Teams RELATED LINKS • Follow all of the college track action at CollegeSports.com • Email this to a friend

May 23, 2002

SAN DIEGO - Three members of the San Diego State track and field team were named qualifiers on Thursday for the NCAA Outdoor Championships to be held May 29-June 1 in Baton Rouge, La.

Highlighting the list is junior heptathlete Leslie Miller. Miller enters nationals with the nation's eighth-best score this season, registering 5,472 points at Mt. SAC in April. She was crowned champion of the event two weeks ago at the Mountain West Conference Outdoor Championships, scoring 5,292 points.

Aztec sophomore Tonette Dyer, who hails for Shreveport, La., will make a homecoming of sorts when she competes in the 400-meter dash. She holds the nation's 10th-fastest clocking of 52.48 in the event this season.

SDSU will also be represented in the pole vault, with freshman Shayla Balentine owning the nation's 16th-best height of 13-1.50 this season. That clearance helped her earn the MWC title in the event and was a league meet record.

"These athletes worked very hard to earn this honor," said SDSU head coach Rahn Sheffield. "I'm expecting great things from each of them. Leslie Miller has the ability to place in the top six, Tonnette Dyer in the top three and Shayla Balentine in the top 10."

Dyer (200 and 400 meters) and Balentine (pole vault) have also qualified for the USA Track and Field Championships to be held June 20-23 in Palo Alto. Junior Melinda Smedley will compete in the 200 meters at that event.