FULLERTON, Calif. - The Cal State Fullerton women's indoor track and field team is set to kick off the 2020 indoor season with the Martin Luther King Jr. Invitational this weekend. The meet will take place at Albuquerque Convention Center, hosted by the University of New Mexico. Competition begins on Friday at 3 p.m. PT and on Saturday at 8:30 a.m. PT. Many of the women on this year's indoor squad also won the 2019 Big West Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championship and the 2019 Big West Women's Cross Country Championship, both firsts for their respective programs.
Along with the Lobos, who are ranked sixth in the country by the U.S. Track & Field Cross Country Coaches' Association (USTFCCCA), the Titans will compete against other top teams in the western part of the country.
Four school records were broken or tied during the 2019 season and all of the record-breakers are back on the squad for the 2020 season. Junior Iesha Hamm tied her own high jump record of 5-10.5 (1.79m) last season at the Air Force Open. That mark was ranked fourth in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). Senior Samantha Huerta is back after breaking her own school mile record last year with a time of 4:47.50 at the MPSF Championships. Senior Trinity Ruelas broke a school record last year as well, running the 3K in 9:37.75, also at the MPSF Championships. At the same meet, both of those ladies also ran on the distance medley relay team that clocked a school-record time of 11:41.06. Sandra Flores was also part of that quartet and is a senior on the 2020 roster.
Huerta (800 meters; 1,500 meters) and Hamm (high jump) both won individual Big West Outdoor Track and Field Championships and both claimed Second-Team NCAA Outdoor All-America accolades last season.
As the 2020 season gets underway, cross country and track and field head coach John Elders enters his 32nd season at the helm of each program making him the longest tenured head coach in the history of Cal State Fullerton. Cal State Fullerton won the 2017 Big West Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championships, the first conference title in program history, then repeated that feat in 2018 to become back-to-back champions. The Titans then won the 2019 Big West Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championship and the 2019 Big West Women's Cross Country Championship, both firsts for their respective programs.
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