June 9, 2012
Live Results | Stanford Women's Top-10 List | Stanford Men's Top-10 List
DES MOINES, Iowa -- The Cardinal track and field teams completed the NCAA Outdoor Championships on Saturday with more top finishes. The Cardinal women completed an outstanding meet to place sixth, while the men ended up 16th.
The Stanford women scored 25 points for the meet, including two more scoring performance on Saturday. LSU took the team title with a whopping 76 points, while Oregon and Texas A&M rounded out the top three.
Kathy Kroeger led the Cardinal Saturday, placing seventh in the 5,000 meters. Kroeger hung with the leaders for much of the race and finished with a time of 16:22.60. It was the third-straight year that Kroeger scored in the 5K. She will earn first-team All-America honors for her effort and scored two points for Stanford.
The other Cardinal scorer on Saturday was Katie Nelms in the 100-meter hurdles. The sophomore ran her first NCAA final, placing eighth with a time of 13.97. Nelms finishes a fantastic season where she showed marked improvement over her freshman season.
Also competing was Arantxa King in the triple jump. King had a career-best leap of 43-2 ¼ on her second jump and advanced to the final. In the final, King did not improve and settled for ninth with the same mark. The mark ranks fourth in Stanford history.
On the men's side, just Benjamin Johnson competed on Saturday. Johnson placed 11th in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 8:52.96. It was an impressive season for Johnson who battled back after missing most of the winter with injury.
The Cardinal men did not score on Saturday and completed the meet in 18th place with 16 points. Florida won the team title with 50 points, just edging LSU who had 48. Texas A&M finished third with 40, while Arizona was the top Pac-12 team in seventh place.
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Miles<!> Unterreiner earned the NCAA Elite 89 Award |
In addition to the top performances on the track, Miles Unterreiner was honored by the NCAA for his work in the classroom. Unterreiner earned the NCAA Elite 89 Award for the being the student with the top grade point average at the NCAA Championships. It was the second award of its kind for the senior as he was also honored by the NCAA indoors in 2011.
The NCAA meet concludes the collegiate season for Stanford, but several of the Cards top athletes will continue to train in preparation for the U.S. Olympic Trials in two weeks. Stanford will have several current and former athletes looking to fulfill their dreaming of competing in London.