May 29, 2011
EUGENE, Ore. - The Cardinal completed the NCAA Preliminary Rounds with six more national qualifiers and a relay. Stanford was once again strong in the distances, advancing a pair in both the men's and women's 5,000 meters, while freshman Kori Carter also advanced in her second hurdles event and Geoffrey Tabor moved on in the discus.
The Stanford women were led by Kathy Kroeger and Stephanie Marcy in the 5,000 meters. Both will advance after placing 1-2 in their heat, while running times of 16:03.96 and 16:04.12. The times were both season bests and a career best for Marcy. Marcy will now compete in both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Carter finished an impressive meet by advancing to Des Moines in her second event. Carter placed second in her heat and sixth overall with a time of 13.23. She will compete in both hurdle events at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Carter also competed in the 4x100-meter relay on a team with Shataya Hendricks, Brittni Dixon-Smith and Carissa Levingston. The Cardinal ran a time of 45.40, but just missed qualifying in 13th place with on the top-12 advancing.
Levingston also competed in the 200 meters, but fell just short after running a time of 23.86.
The men once again excelled in the distances as Elliott Heath and Chris Derrick advanced to the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Running in the first heat, Heath, Derrick and Jake Riley ran with the lead pack that ran a tactical race. Heath ended up second in the heat in 13:47.38, while Derrick was fifth in 13:48.84. Riley was just behind Derrick in sixth, but will not advance because only the top-5 from the heat moved on after the second heat was run at a much faster pace.
Heath and Derrick will now compete in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters at the NCAA finals, while Riley will have to settle for just the 10,000.
The other big story of the day for the men was the 4x400-meter relay team will move on to Des Moines. The squad of Alfredo Corral, Spencer Chase, Amaechi Morton and Mark Mueller ran a time of 3:08.13 to place tenth overall and third in its heat. Mueller fought hard down the final stretch to hold off UTEP for the automatic bid out of the heat. As it turns out, the Cardinal would have qualified on time anyhow, but Mueller did not know that at the time.
In the field, Tabor moved on in the discus after tossing 187-4 to place fifth. Tabor will be the lone Cardinal male to compete in Des Moines in the field events.
The Cardinal will next compete in the NCAA Outdoor Championships on June 8-11.