SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego State track and field team will have three current and former athletes in action this weekend at their respective national events. Rising senior Shaquena Foote and Aztec hall of famer Shanieka Ricketts (Thomas) will each be competing at the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA)/Puma Senior Championships in Kingston, Jamaica, while rising senior Anna Mager will represent Austria at the European Team Championships in Maribor, Slovenia.
Foote will run the 400 meters, which begins Thursday at Kingston’s National Stadium. Foote is seeded fourth out of 26 entrants in the 400 prelims, which start at 6:05 p.m. PDT. The semifinals are set for 4:40 p.m. PDT Friday with the finals taking place at 3:55 p.m. PDT Sunday.
Foote finished 11th at the NCAA Championships in the 400 on June 12, running a time of 51.40 seconds in the semifinals, just 0.06 seconds short of qualifying for the June 14 final. Foote’s 50.95 set on May 29 in the NCAA West First Round set a Mountain West and SDSU record, and is her seeded time for this weekend’s championships. Foote became just the second San Diego State athlete to run in multiple 400s at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, taking 17th in 2024 in 52.10 and coming in 11th this year in 51.40. She won the 400 at the MW Outdoor Championships, and both the 200 and 400 at the indoor meet.
Ricketts, meanwhile, is the second-ranked triple jumper in the world and the reigning silver medalist at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Her season-best mark of 48 feet, 0 ½ inches (14.64 meters) is over a foot ahead of Ackelia Smith’s 46-09.50 mark (14.26m). Both Ricketts and Smith are sponsored by Puma. The triple jump is set to start at 2:10 p.m. PDT Saturday. Ricketts, who was the flag bearer for Jamaica at the 2024 opening ceremony of the Olympics, has won the last six Jamaican Championships in the triple jump.
Ricketts was a three-time NCAA triple jump champion (2013-14 outdoor, 2014 indoor) and a two-time runner-up finisher (2012 outdoor, 2013 indoor) while at San Diego State. She is a two-time silver medalist at the World Championships.
Mager is set to compete in both the 400 meters and mixed 4x400 meter relay at the European Team Championships at Athletic Stadium in Maribor, Slovenia. The European Athletics Team Championships is the biennial showdown where Europe’s top athletes compete for their country, earning points based on their finishing position with each country having one entry across 37 disciplines along with the 4x400 relays. Austria is currently in the second division but can be promoted to the first division if it finishes among the top 3 out of the 16 teams. The 400 final starts at 9:55 a.m. PDT Saturday with the mixed 4x400 set for 10:40 a.m. PDT Sunday.
Last month, Mager finished 23rd at the NCAA West Quarterfinals in the 400 hurdles in 59.95, but had a season best of 58.64, which she accomplished twice on the year. She enters the 400 with a personal best of 54.26 and a season-best time of 54.50.
Current and former San Diego State athletes will also compete in national events this summer with details to be announced at a later date.