March 8, 2013
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Stanford’s Michael Atchoo advanced to the mile final to complete a busy day for the Cardinal duo at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships on Friday.
The two also teamed on Stanford’s distance medley relay team that placed eighth on the first of two days of competition on the 200-meter banked Mondo track at the Randal Tyson Center.
Nine Stanford athletes competed Friday and four will do so Saturday: Jules Sharpe in the men’s high jump final, Alyssa Wisdom in the women’s shot put trials and final, and Atchoo and Stutzman in the mile.
Stutzman and Atchoo each were fourth in their semifinal heats and qualified in the seventh and eighth spots in the 10-runner mile field. Stutzman ran his second sub-four-minute mile of the season, going 3:59.93, and Atchoo ran 4:02.13.
A little more than three hours later, both returned to the track for the DMR, with Stutzman leading off on the 1,200-meter leg and Atchoo anchoring over 1,600. Luke Lefebure, the Elite 89 Award winner for having the highest cumulative grade-point average (3.85) among all the meet’s athletes, ran the 800.
The men’s DMR earned the only point for Stanford’s men or women on Friday, while Cardinal athletes competed in six events altogether.
Amy Weissenbach missed qualifying for the final in the women’s 800 by one spot. The freshman ran 2:06.66 to finish fourth in her semifinal and ninth overall. However, she did earn her first All-America honor by earning a top-16 national finish.
She picked up her second – both second-team selections – when she led off the Cardinal women’s DMR to 11th place. The team of Weissenbach, Kori Carter (400), Claudia Saunders (800), and Kathy Kroeger (1,600) was timed in 11:14.77. Kroeger earned her ninth All-America honor (including indoors, outdoors, and cross country), and the freshman Saunders her first.
Carter earned her sixth and seventh second-team All-America honors. The Stanford record-holder in the 60 hurdles, Carter was eighth in her semifinal heat in 8.29 and did not advance to the final, finishing 15th overall.
Jessica Tonn earned her first All-America honor by placing 15th in the women's 5,000. Tonn ran 16:10.42.
The meet continues with the following schedule for Stanford athletes (all times Pacific):
Saturday
1:30 p.m.: Men’s high jump final (Michael Atchoo, Tyler Stutzman).
The meet can be seen live on ESPN3.com.