LOS ANGELES -- Stanford seeks to continue its streak of individual Pac-12 women’s track and field championships to 19 years, the longest such streak in the conference, when it competes at the Pac-12 Championships Saturday and Sunday at UCLA’s Drake Stadium.
Senior Brianna Bain attempts to win her fourth Pac-12 javelin title and is among four Cardinal women ranked No. 1 in the conference, including national 5,000-meter leader Jessica Tonn.
The Stanford men return Darian Brooks, who won the 2014 triple jump title on his final jump while breaking a 44-year-old school record. The Cardinal also will look to shine in the distance events, with U.S. cross country national team runner Maksim Korolev seeking a title in the 10,000.
In this 121st season of Stanford track and field, the Cardinal brings 47 athletes – 26 men and 21 women.
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MEET INFORMATION:
What: Pac-12 Championships
Where: Los Angles, Calif.
Site: Drake Stadium, UCLA
Forecast: Saturday, partly cloudy, high 68;
Sunday, partly cloudy, high 69.
Events begin:
Saturday: Field, 10 a.m.; Running, 1 p.m.
Sunday: Field, 9 a.m.: Running, 1 p.m.
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FOLLOW THE ACTION:
Live results: Click here
Entries: Click here
Schedule: Click here
Pac-12 Championships Central: Click here
TV: Pac-12 Networks
Tape delayed,
Sunday, May 24, 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Pac-12 Top-10 lists: Click here
Stanford Top-10 lists:
Men: Click here
Women: Click here
Stanford in USTFCCCA rankings:
Women - No. 13
Men - No. 23
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Stanford’s Top-Ranked Competitors:
Stanford athletes ranked among the top three in the Pac-12 this year (TFRRS rankings):
MEN
10,000: Garrett Sweatt (No. 1, 28:51.56)
Pole vault: Dylan Duvio (No. 3, 18-1 3/4)
Triple jump: Darian Brooks (No. 1, 52-5 1/2)
WOMEN
800: Claudia Saunders (No. 1, 2:01.79)
1,500: Elise Cranny (No. 3, 4:16.22)
5,000: Jessica Tonn (No. 1, 15:18.85)
3,000 Steeplechase: Danielle Katz (No. 3, in 10:25.00)
4x400 relay: Stanford (No. 3, 3:36.8187-7)
Triple jump: Marisa Kwiatkowski (No. 1, 41-7)
Discus: Valarie Allman (No. 3, 188-7)
Javelin: Brianna Bain (No. 1, 174-10)
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Stanford’s Schedule:
SATURDAY
Noon: Women’s long jump (Daryth Gayles, Marisa Kwiatkowski)
1 p.m.: Men’s pole vault (Dalton Duvio, Dylan Duvio, Dan Emery, Garrett Starkey)
1 p.m.: Women’s javelin (Brianna Bain)
1:15 p.m.: Women’s shot put (Lena Giger, Rebecca Hammar)
1:25 p.m.: Women’s 1,500 prelims (Maddy Berkson, Elise Cranny, Molly McNamara, Rebecca Mehra)
1:40 p.m.: Men’s 1,500 prelims (Justin Brinkley, Thomas Coyle, Will Drinkwater, Sean McGorty)
2:35 p.m.: Women’s 400 prelims (Kaitlyn Williams, Kristyn Williams)
3:20 p.m.: Men’s 100 prelims (Isaiah Brandt-Sims)
3:35 p.m.: Women’s 800 prelims (Olivia Baker, Claudia Saunders, Malika Waschmann)
3:50 p.m.: Men’s 800 (Scott Buttinger, Luke Lefebure)
4 p.m.: Men’s javelin (Charles Kerr, Andrew Rondema)
4 p.m.: Men’s shot put (Tristen Newman)
4:05 p.m.: Women’s steeplechase (Danielle Katz)
5 p.m.: Men’s 400 hurdles prelims (Daniel Brady, Jackson Shumway)
5:15 p.m.: Women’s 200 prelims (Michaela Crunkleton Wilson)
5:30 p.m.: Men’s 200 prelims (Isaiah Brandt-Sims)
5:45 p.m.: Women’s 10,000 (Vanessa Fraser, Jessica Tonn)
6:30 p.m.: Men’s 10,000 (Maksim Korolev, Erik Olson, Garrett Sweatt)
SUNDAY
9 a.m.: Women’s hammer (Valarie Allman, Lena Giger)
11:30 a.m.: Women’s triple jump (Marisa Kwiatkowski)
Noon: Women’s discus (Valarie Allman, Rebecca Hammar)
1:20 p.m.: Women’s 1,500 final
1:30 p.m.: Men’s 1,500 final
2 p.m.: Men’s high jump (Dartis Willis II)
2:05 p.m.: Women’s 400 final
2:30 p.m.: Men’s triple jump (Darian Brooks, Jaak Uudmae)
2:35 p.m.: Men’s 100 final
2:45 p.m.: Women’s 800 final
2:55 p.m.: Men’s 800 final
3 p.m.: Men’s discus (Nick Budincich)
3:20 p.m.: Men’s 400 hurdles final
3:35 p.m.: Women’s 200 final
3:45 p.m.: Men’s 200 final
3:55 p.m.: Women’s 5,000 (Elise Cranny, Vanessa Fraser, Danielle Katz,
Molly McNamara, Rebecca Mehra, Jessica Tonn)
4:20 p.m.: Men’s 5,000 (Thomas Coyle, Patrick Gibson, Jack Keelan,
Maksim Korolev, Sean McGorty, Erik Olson, Garrett Sweatt)
4:45 p.m.: Women’s 4x400 relay (Olivia Baker, Michaela Crunkleton Wilson,
Gaby Gayles, Claudia Saunders, Malika Waschmann, Kaitlyn Williams, Kristyn Williams)
5 p.m.: Men’s 4x400 relay (Daniel Brady, Isaiah Brandt-Sims, Scott Buttinger,
Luke Lefebure, Jackson Shumway, Harrison Williams)
MEN’S NOTES: Stanford as a team should score highly in distance events, but a misconception is to consider the Cardinal only as a distance-running power. Last year, 38 of Stanford’s 71 points came in events other than distances. This year, the non-distance totals could be even higher with freshman sprinter Isaiah Brandt-Sims making his Pac-12 Championships debut and with depth in the 400 hurdles, pole vault, jumps, and javelin. The Cardinal already secured eight points from Harrison Williams’ decathlon runner-up finish last weekend.
WOMEN’S NOTES: Stanford expects to score big in the distance events and throws as it seeks to duplicate its’ top-three finish of last year. There are a number of Cardinal runners who could contend in events from 800 on up – Olivia Baker, Elise Cranny, Rebecca Mehra, Claudia Saunders, and Jessica Tonn. But Stanford also has contenders in the javelin and discus, as well as the triple jump. It would be a tall task to crown more than three different individual champions, but if that happened, it would be the first time for Stanford since 2005.
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Four for four?: Stanford senior Brianna Bain is attempting a career sweep of Pac-12 women’s javelin championships. Bain has won the title in each of her first three years and comes into Saturday’s competition as the conference leader, with a throw of 174-10. However, Bain has competed in earnest only once this season, at the Texas Relays on March 27. She also made a casual toss to secure a point in the dual-meet against Cal on April 4, but this will be her first real competition in nearly three months. Career sweeps are not unusual in Pac-12 women’s javelin. It has happened twice since 2000, most recently by Oregon’s Rachel Yurkovich from 2006-09. Bain could became Stanford’s first career-sweep winner since Erica McLain collected Pac-10 women’s triple jump titles from 2005-08.
Back for more: Last weekend, Stanford freshman Harrison Williams broke Stanford’s oldest and most hallowed track and field record – the decathlon mark set by Bob Mathias in winning the gold medal at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. Mathias scored a world-record 7,887 points, a total that has been adjusted to 7,592 to reflect changes in the scoring tables. Williams scored 7,679 to finish second in the Pac-12 Championships. Williams, a native of Memphis, who set the national high school record last year, jumped to No. 3 on the all-time U.S. junior list. Williams will compete on Stanford’s 4x400 relay team this weekend.
National-team runner: Stanford graduate student Maksim Korolev, who will run the 10,000, was the only collegiate runner to qualify for the U.S. national team that competed in the IAAF World Cross-Country Championships on March 28. Korolev was 57th in Guiyang, China, and the fifth American. Korolev graduated from Harvard last spring in human development and regenerative biology and now is using a fifth-year of eligibility while working toward his master’s in management science and engineering. He was fourth at the 2014 NCAA Cross Country Championships while helping Stanford to a runner-up finish. Korolev earned the sixth and final qualifying spot for the American team through his performance at the U.S. Championships in Boulder, Colorado, on Feb. 7. He first represented the U.S. national team at the Pan Am Cup on Feb. 22, winning the race in Barranquilla, Colombia. In track, Korolev has competed only once, finishing third at the Big Meet against Cal in the 3,000 on April 4.
On a Roll: Jessica Tonn, the 2014 Pac-12 10,000 champion, ran the fastest women’s collegiate 5,000 this year when she clocked 15:18.85 at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational on her home track on May 2. The time places her No. 7 all-time on the American collegiate list. Tonn finished 13th in a loaded field that included an Olympic silver medalist and featured 15 runners who beat the World Championships qualifying standard, including Tonn. She broke her personal record by 14 seconds and moved past three-time NCAA outdoor 5,000-meter champion Lauren Fleshman into No. 2 on Stanford's all-time list and No. 2 in Pac-12 history. She is entered in both the 5,000 and 10,000 this weekend.
Distance strength: The Stanford men have combined for 20 victories in Pac-12 distance events since 2000. Last year, Joe Rosa, who is redshirting this year, captured the 10,000. The list includes luminaries such as Olympians Gabe Jennings and Michael Stember, three-time U.S. cross-country champion Chris Derrick, and current U.S. 5,000 leader Garrett Heath. This year’s top contenders include Luke Lefebure in the 800, Sean McGorty in the 1,500 and 5,000, Erik Olson in the 5,000, and Maksim Korolev in the 10,000.
Stanford’s oldest record: Since Bob Mathias’ decathlon record, which held strong since 1952, was broken by Harrison Williams last week, Stanford’s oldest records is now the 200 meters. Larry Questad, a 1964 Olympian, set the record of 20.74 in 1963. The record was matched in 1978 by NFL Hall of Famer James Lofton. Questad’s time is converted from a hand-timed 20.6 for 220 yards. Lofton’s is converted from a hand-timed 20.5 for 200 meters. Like Mathias’ mark, this record also could be broken by a current freshman -- Isaiah Brandt-Sims, who is No. 4 on the Stanford all-time list at 20.93.
Big-meet jumper: Triple jumper Darian Brooks defends a title he won in dramatic fashion last year. He came from behind on the final jump of the competition, breaking a 44-year-old Stanford record. Brooks set lifetime bests on his final four jumps on the way to becoming Stanford’s first conference men’s triple jump champion since 1970. Despite his career day, Brooks found himself trailing Arizona State’s Josh Dixon by ¾ of an inch with one jump left. Brooks responded with a 52-6 ¾ to win by 17 inches, breaking Allen Meredith’s longstanding Stanford mark of 52-3.