June 6, 2018
Five seasons was all it took for San Jose State University to send its first women's track and field student-athlete to the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
Sophomore Destiny Longmire from Rancho Verde High in Moreno Valley, Calif., carries the banner as one of 24 women's long jumpers entered in the event scheduled for June 7, 5:30 p.m. at legendary Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus.
"It's been a great experience so far. Everything is so official and real. (It) reminds me of why I fell in love with the sport to begin with," said Longmire, the #6-qualifier in the event at the NCAA West Preliminary Round meet held in Sacramento.
"I can tell it's Track Town USA. There are banners and posters everywhere regarding track and field, even in the outside cities leading up into (Eugene)," she added about Eugene, Oregon's reputation as a community in the world of track and field.
Longmire's 2018 outdoor season includes becoming the second athlete in Mountain West history to win the women's long jump at the conference championship as a freshman and a sophomore with her 6.24 meters wind-aided winning mark. She also became the sixth two-time Mountain West conference meet winner in the women's long jump regardless of class standing.
Should Longmire finish in the top-eight and score for the Spartans in the team scoring, there would be a fitting symmetry with the history of the San Jose State men's program. The first Spartan men's track and field athlete to score at a NCAA Men's Track and Field Championship was Dough Taylor, who placed sixth in the long jump at the 1934 championship meet.
San Jose State's presence at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships is well-established. Led by the legendary John Carlos, who won the 100 and 220 yard dashes and anchored the winning 4x100 yard relay, the Spartans won the 1969 men's team championship in Knoxville, Tenn. Besides its 1969 championship, San Jose State has 15 more top-10 men's team finishes.
The Spartans' 24 NCAA individual men's champions presently ranks tied for 21st among Division I schools despite discontinuing the program in 1988. San Jose State men's track and field is scheduled to return in Fall 2018.
ESPN2 is providing television coverage of the 2018 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships.