WILSON TO RUN AT SAN DIEGO STATE NEXT SEASON

LANCASTER - There are 800 reasons why Angela Wilson chose San Diego State, but the main reason despite the full ride scholarship that she received was that the coaching staff made her feel wanted.

"It (the campus) just drew me in. The facilities they have a beautiful and the academics are great," the redshirt freshman said. "They (coaches) made me feel special and wanted. I felt like I won't be another number."

Wilson, ranked No. 2 in the state, will compete in the 800 for the Aztecs. She was undefeated all season up until the final race-the State Championships-where she lost to Riverside College's Crystal Tejeda, despite running a personal best time of 2:11.28, which is a school record previously heled by Daunyea Harris.

Wilson had a phenomenal season, despite the fact that she had little to no competition until the final race of the season. Much of the season she trained with the men's team for competition was the women's team was so depleted.

"I wanted to go somewhere that will challenge me," Wilson said. "I know that I'm going to have rough days, but I'm looking forward to the challenge."

At San Diego State, which competes in the Mountain West Conference, Wilson will get a challenge. She will enter the season as a sophomore because she didn't compete in 2015 due to an injury which sidelined her. The Aztecs' top 800-meter runner last season was Ellison Grove, who finished third at the conference finals in 2:07.81.

Wilson was stuck consistently running 2:15s, partly because of the fact that the field was nearly 40 meters behind, but knows that she can run sub 2:10.

"I'm very driven. This is something I've set my mind to years ago back in middle school," said Wilson of running at the next level. "I have a passion for it. Something just drives me to better myself and not take the easy way out."

Wilson had several other offers from Georgia State, Boise State, Cal State-Fullerton, UC-Santa Barbara, and Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, but was sold on San Diego State.

Next year she plans on majoring in Business Administration or Communications.