April 5, 2009
Austin, Texas - Stanford track and field completed a great weekend at the Texas Relays where the sprinters and hurdlers took center stage. Facing some top competition, Stanford recorded some top marks including a pair of athletes recording top-10 all-time marks for the Cardinal.
The most impressive performance of the day came from Myles Bradley in the 110-meter hurdles. Bradley finished second against a stacked field with a wind-aided time of 13.55 seconds. The time would have smashed Bradley's own school record of 13.78 in the event as well as been a regional standard, but does not count because the wind was over the allowable level.
In the 400-meter hurdles, Amaechi Morton recorded a regional standard time of 51.03. The time was also the third-fastest in Stanford history for the Cardinal freshman. Morton finished third in the finals of the event.
The Stanford men also competed in trio of relays. In the sprint medley, Zach Chandy, Morton, Andrew Dargie and Jacob Evans finished ninth with a time of 3:21.35. In the 4x400-meter relay the same squad finished 11th with a time of 3:13.43. Finally the group of Daniel Belch, Dargie, Chandy and Bradley finished 15th in the 4x100-meter relay.
The women were led by Whitney Liehr in the heptathlon. Liehr finished with a career-best and NCAA provisional score of 5,210 points, which is seventh on the Stanford all-time list. Her time of 14.15 in the 100-meter hurdles was her top event with 957 points.
Recording a regional standard in the long jump was Arantxa King. King's leap of 20-1 guarantees her a spot at the NCAA West Regional meet.
In the 400-meter hurdles, Idara Otu finished with a career best time of 1:02.22. Freshmen Josefine Kvist (1:03.57) and Jordan Merback (1:05.04) also posted good efforts.
In the relays, the Cardinal posted a time of 46.50 in the 4x100-meter relay and a time of 3:48.97 in the 4x400-meters. Liehr, King, Brittni Dixon-Smith and Griffin Matthew combined in the 4x100, while Claire Cormier Thielke, Otu, Kvist and Merback combined in the 4x400.
The Cardinal will be back in action next weekend, April 9-11, in the Rafer Johnson/JJK Invitational in Westwood, Calif.