Fresno State’s Sears golden in long jump, other ex-Edison teammates also impress at MW track finals

Edison High’s contingent at Fresno State is making a strong impression in the Mountain West Conference Championships on a track they have often competed on – Buchanan’s Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Former Tigers Je’Nia Sears, Nailah Harris-Murillo and Njeri Omawahleh put on a show for friends and family who were present Friday in the four-day meet that will close Saturday and is being hosted by Fresno State.

Colorado State leads both the men’s and women’s team standings. The Rams women are up 89-42 over San Diego State, with the Bulldogs ninth out of 11 teams. The men lead Air Force 73.5-62.

Sears, a senior, won the women’s long jump in a barely wind-legal 21 feet, 6  1/4 inches. That was the second conference title for Sears, who also won the event in 2014 before redshirting during the outdoor season as a junior.

Harris-Murillo emerged from the 400-meter preliminaries top-seeded at 54.99. San Diego State’s Tyra Lea is second at 55.26, followed by Omawahleh at 55.31. The finals are Saturday.

Omawahleh is also third-seeded in the 200 (23.45) behind UNLV’s Drea Austin (23.01) and San Diego State’s Ashley Henderson (23.11) entering Saturday’s finals.

Fresno State’s Kyra Johnson, a senior from Santa Rosa, delivered the fastest 400 hurdles time (59.15) in the prelims. She’s the defending champion. San Jose State’s Makayla Webb (59.71) was the only other hurdler to break a minute.

Among the stars for Colorado State is Aaliyah Pete, who with a top heave of 53-2  3/4 won her third consecutive shot put championship. Karly Reimel became the first Ram to win the women’s pole vault, clearing 13-5.

On Thursday, Colorado State’s Jessica Green was the first medalist of the meet, winning the heptathlon with 5,552 points. Green won two disciplines out of seven over the two-day event. Fresno State freshman Jestena Mattson debuted in the event with 4,300 points, finishing 15th in a field of 17.

Josh Cogdill of Colorado State repeated in the decathlon, scoring 7,149 points.

In the 10K, Boise State’s Elijah Armstrong became the first freshman to win the event since 2001, finishing in 30:08.25. Fresno State’s Matt Kwiatkowski (30:57.81) was ninth and Cooper Gill (33:25.25) 20th in the 21-runner field. New Mexico’s Calli Thackery, in the first 10,000-meter run of her college career, won the women’s race in 34:30.24.

This story was originally published May 13, 2016 at 10:38 PM with the headline "Fresno State’s Sears golden in long jump, other ex-Edison teammates also impress at MW track finals."