June 3, 2008

SAN DIEGO - San Diego State junior Kristin Olafsdottir and freshman Briana Johnson received berths to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Tuesday. The Aztec duo will join senior Sherraine Pencil, junior Decontee Kaye and sophomore Stephanie Bagan at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa, June 11-14.

Olafsdottir earned an invitation to nationals in the heptathlon behind the strength of her performance at the Mountain West Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships, May 14-15. The junior finished in fourth place with a provisional qualifying total of 5,342 points and will be making her first appearance at nationals.

Johnson will join Olafsdottir as a first-timer at the championships after receiving a national bid in the 100-meter hurdles. The Orlando, Fla., product just missed an automatic berth by 0.18 seconds at the NCAA West Regionals after finishing in sixth place. Johnson's top time of 2008 came at the MWC Championships when she ran a personal-record 13.72 in the preliminaries.

Olafsdottir and Johnson will joined by the aforementioned Pencil, Kaye and Bagan, who all earned automatic invites as a result of their performances at the regional meet.

Pencil will vie for a national title at 200 and 400 meters, while Kaye will look to improve upon her All-America and fourth-place effort in the triple jump from a year ago. Bagan, meanwhile, enters the Championships as the top-rated pole vaulter after she won the West Regional with a clearance of 14 feet, 3.50 inches (4.36m). She sits atop the performance list with a vault that is four centimeters better than the next-best vaulters in Arkansas' Katie Stripling and Arizona State's April Kubishta, who both go into the meet with season-best clearances of 14-2.00 (4.32m).

San Diego State's five individual national-meet athletes rank second to 2008 MWC outdoor champion Colorado State's six for most in the league.