The Stanford track and field team will make its final indoor appearances before the postseason, when it sends athletes to the Husky Classic in Seattle and the Don Kirby Elite invitational in Albuquerque, N.M. on Friday and Saturday.
In all, 31 Cardinal will compete – 27 in Seattle and four in Albuquerque – in a quest for marks that will qualify for the NCAA championships. The qualifying period ends with the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championships on March 1. Only the top 16 around the country in each event advance to the NCAA meet March 14-15 in Albuquerque.
The following is a Stanford-centric breakdown of each meet:
HUSKY CLASSIC
City: Seattle, Wash.
Site: Dempsey Indoor
Track surface: 307-meter flat Mondo track
Events begin: Friday, 4 p.m.; Saturday, 8 a.m.
Live stats: A link will be provided when available.
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Stanford Schedule
Friday
5:30 p.m.: Women’s invitational 5,000 meters (Aisling Cuffe, Kathy Kroeger)
5:50 p.m.: Men’s invitational 5,000 (Erik Olson, Jim Rosa)
6:10 p.m.: Women’s 5,000 (Emma Fisher, Megan Lacy)
7:30 p.m.: Men’s 5,000 (Patrick Gibson, Thomas Graham, Garrett Sweatt)
Saturday
10 a.m.: Women’s 400 (Kaitlyn Williams)
10:25 a.m.: Men’s 400 (Jackson Shumway)
11:15 a.m.: Women’s 800 (Jaye Buchbinder)
2 p.m.: Women’s mile (Molly McNamara, Rebecca Mehra, Tate Murray)
2:25 p.m.: Men’s mile (Tom Coyle, Will Drinkwater)
3:20 p.m.: Women’s invitational mile (Cami Chapus)
3:35 p.m.: Men’s invitational mile (Marco Bertolotti)
3:50 p.m.: Women’s invitational 400 (Kristyn Williams)
3:58 p.m.: Men’s invitational 400 (Steven Solomon)
4:10 p.m.: Women’s invitational 800 (Justine Fedronic, Claudia Saunders, Amy Weissenbach)
4:18 p.m.: Men’s invitational 800 (Scott Buttinger, Luke Lefebure)
4:30 p.m.: Women’s invitational 3,000 (Aisling Cuffe, Kathy Kroeger)
4:55 p.m.: Men’s invitational 3,000 (Michael Atchoo)
5:20 p.m.: Women’s invitational 4x400 relay (Justine Fedronic, Amy Weissenbach, Kaitlyn Williams, Kristyn Williams)
5:25 p.m.: Men’s invitational 4x400 (Scott Buttinger, Luke Lefebure, Jackson Shumway, Steven Solomon)
NOTES: Among those shooting for NCAA qualifying, sophomore Steven Solomon, a 2012 Olympic finalist, will make his collegiate indoor debut in the 400. Solomon has been impressive in his first indoor season, running a swift 1:01.44 for 500 at Penn State on Feb. 1 and a 45.8 400 leg in the distance medley relay … Michael Atchoo, a 2013 first-team All-America in the mile, will shoot for a fast 3,000, with an eye toward running the event at the NCAA’s, which would allow him to be more fresh for the DMR … The past two Pac-12 women’s cross country champions, Kathy Kroeger (2012) and Aisling Cuffe (2013), are scheduled to compete in invitational sections of the 5,000 (Friday) and 3,000 (Saturday) … Justine Fedronic and Amy Weissenbach ran the two fastest indoor women’s 800’s in school history (2:03.25 and 2:05.50, respectively) two weeks ago and join teammate Claudia Saunders in the same event … Kristyn Williams broke the school indoor women’s 400 record (53.39) on this track in the season opener. She returns to run the invitational 400 on Saturday.
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DON KIRBY ELITE
City: Albuquerque, N.M.
Site: Albuquerque Convention Center
Events begin: Friday, 3 p.m. PT (4 p.m. MT); Saturday, 9:45 a.m. PT (10:45 a.m. MT)
Live stats: A link will be provided when available
Stanford Schedule (All times Pacific)
Friday
3 p.m.: Men’s pole vault (Dylan Duvio)
3 p.m.: Women’s weight throw (Rebecca Hammar)
Saturday
10 a.m.: Women’s shot put (Alyssa Wisdom)
10 a.m.: Women’s pole vault (Ellie McCardwell)
NOTES: This is the fourth meet for Dylan Duvio, who has established himself as the second-best pole vaulting freshman ever at Stanford, behind only Olympic medalist Toby Stevenson. Duvio has jumped a personal record of 17-4½ in his past two meets, but will need to go higher to reach the NCAA’s. He is two inches shy of the Top 16 and will undoubtedly have to go higher than that to make the final field.
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Team USTFCCCA Rankings:
Men, 20th
Women, 9th
Individual Rankings: The following are Stanford athletes in the 2014 indoor Top 20 Division I rankings. The Top 16 on March 3 advance to the NCAA championships:
Men
800: 20, Scott Buttinger (1:49.38).
3,000: 10, Erik Olson (7:57.78)
Distance Medley Relay: 3, Stanford (9:28.95)
Women
400: 16, Kristyn Williams (53.39)
800: 2, Justine Fedronic (2:03.25); 4, Amy Weissenbach (2:05.50); 18, Claudia Saunders (2:07.17).
Mile: 19, Kathy Kroeger (4:42.46)
3,000: 7, Kathy Kroeger (9:10.34)
Distance Medley Relay: 1, Stanford (10:54.04; world-leading time)