EDMONTON, Alberta, Canada – Stanford’s Lena Giger earned a silver medal in the women’s hammer throw at the Pan Am Junior Track and Field Championships on Friday, reaching 190-3 on her final toss to break her own school freshman record.
The women’s hammer was the first final of the three-day competition that acts as the championship of the Americas for those 19 and under. Giger is among four Stanford athletes competing – three representing the United States and one for Canada.
Among them is Harrison Williams, the school decathlon record-holder and Pac-12 runner-up. Williams is aiming for the U.S. junior national record, which seems within his grasp after the first day of the 10-event competition.
Williams won four of the first five events and leads the competition with 4,182 points, 377 ahead of runner-up Travis Toliver of the U.S. Williams is far ahead of his first-day 4,098, which he scored on the way to 8,001 at the U.S. junior championships in June. That score left him shy of the American junior record of 8,018 set by Gunnar Nixon in 2012, but this time Williams is in much better position.
Williams, who is completing his freshman season, bettered his best in the 100, with a 10.67 aided by a 2.9 meters-per-second wind, and tied a personal record in the high jump (6-8).
In the hammer, Giger found herself in danger of missing the eight-thrower final after fouling on her first two throws. One more would result in elimination.
“I became pretty nervous pretty quickly,” Giger said via text-message.
Giger had strong weeks of training leading up to the meet and felt confident in her ability to compete, but needed some reassurance from Stanford associate head coach for throws Michelle Eisenreich to get through.
“She was a huge help with getting me to calm down mentally, as well as helping figure out what to fix technically,” Giger said. “Once I threw a fair throw and made finals, I knew that I just had to go for it. My body knew what it needed to do. I just had to get out of my own way.”
Giger’s third throw stayed in the sector and traveled 178-3, enough to squeeze into sixth place and earn three more throws for the final.
At that point, Giger felt she could be aggressive. Even though she fouled again, on her fourth throw, she uncorked a personal record 190-1 on her fifth to break the Stanford freshman record of 188-3 she set in her collegiate debut. She broke the mark again on her final throw, which also placed Giger No. 5 on Stanford’s all-time performers’ list.
“I’m super excited with my performance,” Giger said. “I’m looking forward to begin training for next season.”
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Pan Am Junior Championships
Stanford Results
Men
Decathlon (first day) – 1, Harrison Williams (U.S.-Stanford), 4,182 points.
Williams’ scores – 100: 10.67 (935); Long jump: 22-10 ¾ (6.98m) (809); Shot put: 44-11 ¾ (13.71m) (711). High jump: 6-8 (2.03m) (831); 400: 48.28 (896).
Women
Hammer final – 1, Haley Showalter (U.S.) 191-9 (58.45m); 2, Lena Giger (U.S.-Stanford) 190-3 (57.99m).
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Stanford Schedule (all times Pacific; updated times after weather delay)
Saturday
9:45 a.m.: Men’s decathlon 110 hurdles (Harrison Williams)
noon: Men’s decathlon discus (Harrison Williams)
1:05 p.m.: Men’s 400 hurdles prelims (Daniel Brady)
1:10 p.m.: Men’s decathlon pole vault (Harrison Williams)
4:15 p.m.: Men’s decathlon javelin (Harrison Williams)
6 p.m.: Men’s decathlon 1,500 (Harrison Williams)
Sunday
11:20 a.m.: Women’s 4x400 relay prelims (Olivia Baker)
6:10 p.m.: Women’s 4x400 relay final (Olivia Baker)