May 14, 2011
TUCSON, Ariz. - The Stanford men grabbed a share of the team lead on the final event of the opening night of the Pacific-10 track and field championships on Friday.
The Cardinal, seeking its first conference title since 2002, scored 22 points the 10,000 meters to pull into a tie with Arizona going into Saturday's final day.
The race capped off a strong day for Stanford, which featured individual titles by Stephanie Marcy and Katerina Stefanidi in the women's competition.
All-America Marcy captured her first Pac-10 title by winning the 10,000. The senior had finished third and fourth the past two years, but this time outdueled San Jose native Jennifer Bergman of Arizona to earn a narrow victory, 35:47.37 to 35:47.91.
Two victories - including Stefanidi's in the pole vault -- helped the Cardinal to fourth in the team race, with 48 points.
As for the Stanford men, 36 points in the two distance-running finals have put the Cardinal into a first-place tie with Arizona, with 45 points apiece.
Stanford placed four among the top six in the men's 10,000, scoring 22 points in the final event of the day. Chris Derrick (29:19.90), Elliott Heath (29:20.24), and Jake Riley (29:26.02) placed second through fourth, respectively in a star-studded field, behind Arizona's Stephen Sambu (28:57.72).
The Stanford trio will be asked to do even more when they line up against Sambu for the 5,000 on Saturday night in one of the featured events. Field events begin at 3 p.m. at Drachman Stadium and running events at 6. Stanford is searching for its first Pac-10 men's title since 2002 and first women's title since 2005.
Stanford also collected 14 points in the 3,000 steeplechase when Benjamin Johnson and John Sullivan placed second and third, respectively, behind Oregon's Steve Finley (9:04.62) in a close race. Johnson clocked 9:05.09 and Sullivan 9:09.12.
Most of the running events were preliminaries, with Stanford's highlight coming from Amaechi Morton, who qualified second for Saturday's final. Morton, the school record holder, ran 49.79.
For the Stanford women, Stefanidi cleared 14-0½ to tie Oregon's Melissa Gergel for the top height, but the Cardinal vaulter won the title on fewer misses, repeating her title of a year ago in Berkeley.
Senior Eda Karesin shattered her collegiate best in the javelin, throwing 172-11, good for the No. 2 mark in Stanford history. Karesin entered with a best of 168-4, but bettered that on the last of her six throws. Her new best is the No. 2 performance on the Stanford all-time list.
Other Stanford highlights were a third and fourth in the women's long jump by Brittni Dixon-Smith (20-11¾) and Whitney Liehr (20-4½). Dixon-Smith also qualified for the 100 final.
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