Glenn Connelly / Assistant Photo Editor

As each score flashed up, it became more and more surprising.

The San Diego State track and field team was missing four key athletes, yet was dominating the competition.

“We didn’t have everyone with us,” co-head coach Jennifer Nanista said. “It worked out well, though, because other girls could get their run in and give us an idea of who’s going to conference in the future.”

Despite losing three star sprinters and one top-tier jumper, SDSU won seven events this weekend at the APU Indoor Qualifier at Azusa Pacific Stadium in Azusa.

Missing important sprinters gave distance runners their chances to shine. The Aztecs won three events involving distance including the 3,000-meter, the 5,000 and the distance medley relay. The 5,000 went to junior distance runner Rachel Williams with a lifetime best of 17:50.

“That was my first win, and my first time ever racing it,” said Williams, who is going through her first season with SDSU. “It was really exciting, I didn’t know what to expect. I just went out there and did my best.”

Senior distance runner Kristin Glen won the 3,000 with a time of 10:25. The distance medley was also a success with a time of 12:41.39 featuring junior runners Nicole Stone and Darien Buc, sophomore Michelle Martinez and freshman Amy Brown.

“It’s exciting to see distances do better because the sprinters have always been a strength of ours,” Williams said. “But to do well in conference, distance has to be strong also and we have been doing really well.”

The Aztecs also won events in the pole vault and the weight throw. The pole vault title was taken by junior pole vaulter Dana Jensen with a throw of 11-9.75.

SDSU has been excelling in the weight throw so far this season and that success continued this weekend. Junior throwers Maria Rodriguez and Robyn Guzman took fifth and fourth place in the event, respectively. Third place went to sophomore thrower Jeanette McConnell and second place went senior thrower Andrea Martinez. Winning the weight throw with a throw of 54-0.5 was senior thrower Tamara McMillan.

“This is only our third meet and we’re off to a great start,” said sophomore sprinter Jessika Hornsby, who won the 200-meter dash with a time of 25:33. “I have confidence in what could happen in conference.”

The last of seven events that the Aztecs won on Saturday was the 4×400 relay. It didn’t include typical athletes for the event but SDSU still pulled it off. Participating in the event were junior sprinters Stone and Amber Waddell, and freshmen sprinters Jamie Ferguson and Leigh Rutherford. They finished with a final time of 3:58.57.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” Nanista said. “This is a strong start for us; we still have some work to do but there are positive things happening.”