Day One Results
Schedule
June 5, 2013
EUGENE, Ore. - Stanford sophomore Brianna Bain collected her second top-three javelin finish and teammate Kori Carter set an obscure NCAA record to highlight Cardinal performances on the first day of the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Wednesday at Hayward Field.
Bain, the 2012 NCAA runner-up, rallied from seventh to third on her fourth throw, but was unable to improve upon her mark of 176-11 or her place.
"I didn't accomplish what I set out to do," said Bain, who entered the meet with a collegiate-leading throw of 183-10. "But at the same time, I feel like I competed well."
Among other Stanford athletes, Carter ran the fastest women's 400 hurdle prelim in meet history and joined 800-meter runners Justine Fedronic and Amy Weissenbach to advance to Friday finals. Carter runs at 4:30 p.m. and the 800 is at 5:20.
Also, freshman Steven Solomon was unable to escape his opening heat in the men's 400, placing sixth in the race and 15th overall, and senior Karynn Dunn placed 15th in the women's long jump.
Bain, a native of Beaverton, Ore., was competing on familiar ground, having thrown at Hayward Field an estimated 20 times, she said, in high school and even in open meets such as the 2012 Olympic trials.
Last year, she jumped to second on her final throw and hoped for more late heroics this year, especially in front of friends and family - though she tried to block that part out of her mind and "act like it was just a regular meet."
With three attempts remaining for each in the nine-thrower final, Bain sat in seventh at 168-1, more than 10 feet behind the leader. However, that was not a concern.
"I didn't worry about that," Bain said. "I knew I had one in me."
She uncoiled the 176-11, and may have thrown farther on her fifth try, but we'll never know. It floated to the right of the sector for a foul.
"That one felt great," she said. "I felt if I lined that one up, it would have been a better throw."
On her final chance, a technical flaw limited it to 163-10, Bain's shortest of the day. Instead, Georgia freshman Freya Jones rallied to throw 180-3 on her fifth try and overtake and Florida's Marija Vucenovic, another freshman, who was second at 179-8.
However, Bain's six points extended Stanford's scoring streak to all 32 NCAA women's championships, a figure matched only by Nebraska and UCLA.
For Carter, her 54.67 not only won her heat, but allowed her to advance to the finals as the top qualifier and become Stanford's first NCAA finalist in that event. Even more impressive, it broke the NCAA prelim record of 55.35 by Virginia Tech's Queen Harrison in 2010. Both Carter and Arizona's Georganne Moline, a 2012 Olympic finalist, surpassed the mark.
In their fourth matchup this season, Carter used a late-race surge to maintain her undefeated record against Moline, who was second in the race in 54.89.
For Carter, this is the first time she has qualified for an NCAA final, after three previous appearances in NCAA indoor and outdoor championship meets. Her time is nearly 10 seconds faster than she ran in this meet last year (1:04.19) and more than four seconds faster than she ran as a freshman (59.14).
Carter now has broken 55 seconds four times this season. No other collegian besides Moline has done so even once.
Fedronic and Weissenbach allowed their finishing kicks to propel themselves into qualifying position. Running in the second of three heats, Fedronic was second in 2:04.07 to earn the heat's final automatic qualifying spot. Weissenbach was third in 2:04.19, and was the first to advance on time.
Weissenbach broke her own Stanford freshman record of 2:04.24 and remains at No. 2 on Stanford's all-time performance list behind the senior Fedronic, who owns the 2012 school record of 2:03.54.
This is the first time Stanford has sent two to the final in this event. They also become the first from Stanford to reach a women's 800 final since Ashley Freeman in 2006. The race served as a bit of redemption for Fedronic, who missed qualifying for the 2012 final by one spot.
Fedronic was fortunate to avoid disaster on the first lap. As the runners broke from their lanes after the first turn, Texas-Arlington's Ashly Wright, positioned at the rail just inside Fedronic, went down as they merged into a tight pack.
Fedronic kept her stride and stayed out of trouble by moving to the outside for most of the race. Coming into the homestretch in fourth and fifth in a five-runner pack, the Stanford runners pushed hard as they stayed wide. Fedronic held the outside of lane two and Weissenbach made a sudden move to find space on the inside of lane three on the way to the finish line.
Fedronic qualified with the sixth-fastest time among the 24 competitors and Weissenbach was seventh.
For Solomon, a lane eight position didn't help because he could not guage his pace off other competitors. However, Solomon's time of 46.41 and 15th place earned him second-team All-America honors.
Dunn earned her third All-America honor, this time with a second-team distinction. Her best jump of 20-3 came on her first attempt. She followed with a 20-0¼ and fouled on her third try. Only the top nine were awarded three additional jumps.
The four-day meet resumes Thursday with Stanford competing in the opening round of three events - the men's 1,500 (Tyler Stutzman), the women's 100 hurdles (Carter), and the women's 4x400 relay.
Stanford's Day One Results:
MEN
400 - 15, Steven Solomon (6,H1) 46.41, DNQ.
WOMEN
800 - 6, Justine Fedronic (2,H2) 2:04.07, Q; 7, Amy Weissenbach (3,H3) 2:04.19, Q.
400 hurdles - 1, Kori Carter (1,H1) 54.67, Q.
Long jump - 15, Karynn Dunn 20-3 (6.17m).
Javelin - 3, Brianna Bain 176-1 (53.93m).
Stanford's Thursday Schedule:
4:45 p.m.: Men's 1,500 semifinal (Tyler Stutzman)
5:05 p.m.: Women's 100 hurdle semifinal Kori Carter)
6:20 p.m.: Women's 4x400 relay semifinal (Carissa Levingston, Justine Fedronic, Amy Weissenbach, Kori Carter, or Kala Stepter)