STANFORD, Calif. -- Junior Aisling Cuffe (Cornwall-on-Hudson, N.Y./Cornwall Central High School) of the No. 24 Stanford women’s track and field team was selected as the Stanford/Muscle Milk Student-Athlete of the Week for the week of April 28-May 4.
Cuffe ran a stunning 15:11.13 in the 5,000 meters Sunday night at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational at Stanford’s Cobb Track and Angell Field. Cuffe, who placed sixth in a loaded 26-runner field that included both collegians and professionals, became the third-fastest collegian of all-time and No. 2 ever among American collegians, trailing only Jennifer Barringer Simpson, who ran 15:01.70 indoors for Colorado in 2009.
Cuffe shattered her personal record by more than 42 seconds and broke the Stanford record of 15:20.44 set in 2003 by three-time NCAA outdoor 5,000 champion Lauren Fleshman, who was in attendance Sunday.Cuffe, the 2014 NCAA indoor 5,000 runner-up, is now the fastest active collegiate 5,000 runner in the country, moving past Dartmouth’s Abbey D’Agostino, the reigning NCAA indoor and outdoor champion, who ran a 15:11.35 last year.
This is Cuffe’s second Stanford/Muscle Milk Student-Athlete of the Week honor and the second for the women’s track and field team in the 2014 season. Cuffe and the Cardinal next compete at the Pac-12 Championships May 17-18 in Pullman, Wash.
Also nominated: Brian Cook (Men’s Volleyball), Anna Dawson (Women’s Rowing), Kyle Fraser (Lacrosse), Molly Hayes (Lightweight Rowing), John Hochstatter (Baseball), Joe Rosa (Men’s Track and Field), Anthony Goods (Men’s Basketball), Kawika Shoji (Men’s Volleyball), Sam Woodward (Women’s Swimming).
Past Student-Athletes of the Week