March 3, 2012
Berkeley, Calif. - On the day when the Cardinal track and field teams opened up the outdoor season, Stanford also had a few athletes in Seattle at the UW Last Chance Meet. Stanford started off the season with some great results at the Cal Outdoor Opener, but it was Aisling Cuffe who stole the day indoors.
Cuffe won the 3,000 meters at the UW Last Chance Meet, running a time of 9:07.79, which broke her own American Junior Record, but more importantly was under the NCAA auto standard, securing her trip to Boise for the NCAA meet. Cuffe's time was also a meet record and the fifth-fastest time in Stanford history.
Also running well in the 3K was Jessica Tonn who improved her personal best to 9:12.97. Tonn placed third, while Emilie Amaro was fifth in 9:31.53.
Several others competed for Stanford with the last opportunity to secure a mark for the NCAA Indoor Championships, but only Cuffe and Tonn improved on their season bests. Tonn will likely fall just short of the NCAA meet, despite running less than three seconds off the NCAA auto. Arantxa King (triple jump) earned a meet title and Justine Fedronic (800 meters) just missed her own school record, but both fell just short of improving their marks.
Most of the Stanford team competed in Berkeley, however, as the Cardinal got the outdoor season started.
Geoffrey Tabor led the Cardinal men, earning a double victory in the shot put and the discus. Tabor tossed 181-7 in the discus and 54-8 ¾ in the shot put to earn the two wins. Stanford also got a big throw in the javelin from Aaron Konigsberg who set a personal best with a toss of 214-3. The throw was also the fourth best in school history.
The final meet title in the field for the Cardinal men was Dalton Duvio in the pole vault as he cleared 15-1.
On the track, Marco Bertolotti paced the Stanford men, winning the 800 meters in a personal-best time of 1:51.44.
The women got double meet titles from Shataya Hendrick as the senior won both the 100 and 200 meters. Hendricks ran 11.56 in the 100 and then a personal-best time of 23.82 in the 200 meters.
In the field, Stanford dominated the throws, winning all four events. Rebecca Hammar earned two wins, but it was freshman Brianna Bain who came up big, tossing 164-9, which ranks third in Stanford history. Hammar won both the shot put and discus, tossing 48-0 ¾ in the shot put and 148-1 in the discus. Her heave in the shot put is ninth all-time for the Cardinal. Alyssa Wisdom won the hammer throw with a toss of 151-1.
Also in the field Stanford got meet titles from Elaine Patten and Ellie McCardwell. Patten won the high jump in 5-8, while McCardwell won the pole vault in 12-7 ½. Patten set a personal best with the leap and is now less than an inch from making the Stanford top-10 list.
Next up for the Cardinal is the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 9-10. The select few of Stanford qualifiers will look to bring home some hardware in Boise, while the rest of the team will prepare for the next outdoor meet, the Texas Relays, which begin March 28 and last four days.