Mueller breaks 26-year-old school record in heptathlon

Andrea Mueller set a new SBCC record in the women's heptathlon by scoring 4382 points on Thursday and Friday in the Jim Klein Combined Events at Westmont College.

Mueller, a freshman from Erlenbach, Switzerland, took fourth place in a strong field that featured mostly athletes from four-year schools. Lyndsey Lopes of USC was the champion with 5368 points and Becky Collier of Westmont took second with 4839. Annie Wright of George Fox was third at 4689 and Mueller placed fourth in a field of 11.

Mueller's total of 4382 is No. 5 in the state this year. She beat Penny Smith's 26-year-old school record, set in 1991, by 43 points.

Mueller qualified for the Southern California Multi-Event Championships at Cerritos College on April 4-5.

"Andrea concentrated on taking it event by event," explained SBCC coach Scott Fickerson. "She focused on her own technique and didn't worry about the other competitors.

"She had a great Day 1 with season bests in three of four events. Her 100 hurdles earned her the most points but ironically it was the only event that wasn't a season best on the first day. She has most room for improvement in the javelin and 800."

Mueller tied for third in the long jump on Friday with a season best of 5.25 meters (17 feet, 2¾ inches). She earned 628 points for that jump, which is No. 7 on SBCC's all-time list. She got 614 points for placing sixth in the 800 (2:36.51) and 336 points for her javelin toss of 22.51m.

The Vaquero men and women will compete in the Westmont Collegiate Classic on Saturday, starting at 10:30 a.m.