LAWRENCE, Kan. – Five Stanford athletes qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships through their performances Friday at the NCAA West preliminary meet.
Claudia Saunders and Olivia Baker won their sections of the women’s 800 meters to qualify automatically. In the field events, Valarie Allman advanced in the women’s hammer throw, freshman Mackenzie Little in the women’s javelin, and Dylan Duvio in the men’s pole vault.
Stanford will attempt to qualify more individuals Saturday on the final day of competition. They would join decathlete Harrison Williams, who had previously qualified.
The meet was suspended much of the day by thunderstorms, and the jumps and pole vault were moved inside. Thunderstorms had postponed Thursday’s action and the meet schedule was condensed to two days, Friday and Saturday, at Rock Chalk Park. Out of fields of 48 individuals in each event, the top 12 advanced through a myriad of heats and flights to the NCAA Championships in Eugene,m Oregon, June 8-11.
Saunders ran in the first of six heats in an event in which only the winner qualified automatically and Baker was in the third. Though in separate races, Saunders and Baker executed the same gameplan: Take the lead and stay out of trouble.
Saunders, a senior seeking her third consecutive NCAA Outdoor berth, took the lead from the break, took the rail and held it. Washington’s Baylee Mies tried to pass Saunders on the final turn, but Saunders refused to give up ground. Instead, Saunders outran Mires down the stretch to win in 2:05.37.
Baker did the same, taking a quick lead and leading a tight pack. On the backstretch of the final lap, Arkansas freshman Ceara Watson passed Baker. However, Baker refused to give up the rail and pushed just hard enough to prevent Watson from cutting in front of her. Finally, with 200 left, Baker released her controlled pace and kicked to the finish, winning in 2:06.58.
Little, the Pac-12 champion, extended an annual streak of Stanford women javelin NCAA qualifiers to six. Little’s top throw of 171-8 came on her third and final throw, though any of her three-throw series would have been enough. She placed fifth overall.
Allman placed 11th in the hammer by throwing 200-6 to improve upon her personal best by a foot. It also allowed her to jump Jaynie Goodbody (200-5, 2010) into second on Stanford’s all-time performers’ list, behind only Sarah Hopping (219-8, 2006).
Allman also was to compete in the discus, but it was postponed until Saturday.
Duvio, who was third at NCAA Outdoors last year, was second in the pole vault at a season-best 17-7 ¾. Duvio opened with a miss at 16-10, but was clean through the next two heights and did not have to jump again because he had qualified.
Among those who did not qualify were senior Kristyn Williams, who missed advancement by one place and 0.08 of a second. She was seeking her first individual berth in an NCAA championship meet, though she still could compete on Stanford’s 4x400 relay team, which attempts to qualify Saturday on the final day of competition.
Fifth-year senior high jumper Dartis Willis II also missed by one place, losing in a jump-off for the final spot. Willis was clean through his first two jumps – at 6-9 ½ and 6-11 ½ -- before missing at 7-1. However, Texas Tech’s Bradley Adkins also was clean through 6-11 ½, and won the tiebreaking duel to advance.
Another close miss came in the women’s steeplechase, when junior Danielle Katz placed fifth in her heat (the top three advanced automatically) and 15th overall in 10:17.46, missing qualifying by three seconds. In the men’s steeplechase, sophomore Steven Fahy also was 15th (8:57.51).
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Leaders and Stanford results
Top 12 advance to NCAA’s
Men
800 – 1, Donavan Brazier (Texas A&M) 1:46.53; 23, Tai Dinger (Stanford) 1:50.00.
3,000 steeplechase – 1, Bernard Keter (Texas Tech) 8:39.92; 15, Steven Fahy (Stanford) 8:57.51.
10,000 – 1, Edward Cheserek (Oregon) 29:45.41; 24, Garrett Sweatt (Stanford) 30:27.16; 30, Sam Wharton (Stanford) 30:35.53.
400 hurdles – 1, Sean Pille (Nebraska) 50.72; 23, Jackson Shumway (Stanford) 52.37.
High jump – 1, Ken LeGassey (Arkansas), Christoff Bryann (Kansas State), Randall Cunningham (USC), 7-1 (2.16m); 13, Dartis Willis II (Stanford) 6-11 ½ (2.12m).
Pole vault – 1, Matthew Ludwig (Missouri) 17-7 ¾ (5.38m); 2, Dylan Duvio (Stanford) 17-7 ¾ (5.38m); 32, Garrett Starkey (Stanford) 16-4 (4.98m).
Javelin – Ioannis Kyriazis (Texas A&M) 248-4 (75.70m); 33, Andrew Rondema (Stanford) 199-6 (60.80m); 36, Charles Kerr (Stanford) 193-4 (58.92m).
Women
400 – 1, Courtney Okolo (Texas) 51.06; 13, Kristyn Williams (Stanford) 54.19; 22, Gaby Gayles (Stanford) 54.80.
800 – 1, Shea Collinsworth (BYU) 2:04.82; 3, Claudia Saunders (Stanford) 2:05.37; 9, Olivia Baker (Stanford) 2:06.58; 31, Anna Laman (Stanford) 2:10.20.
3,000 steeplechase – 1, Courtney Frerichs (New Mexico) 9:51.48; 15, Danielle Katz (Stanford) 10:17.46.
Javelin – 1, Maggie Malone (Texas A&M) 190-3 (57.99m); 5, Mackenzie Little (Stanford) 171-8 (52.32m).
Hammer – 1, DeAnna Price (Southern Illinois) 235-1 (71.66m); 11, Valarie Allman (Stanford) 200-6 (61.12m) (PB, No. 2 in Stanford history).
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Stanford’s Saturday schedule (all times Pacific)
7 a.m.: Women's discus -- Flight 3, Valarie Allman.
7 a.m.: Men’s triple jump – Flight 3, Jaak Uudmae; Flight 4, Darian Brooks.
7:30 a.m.: Women’s shot put – Flight 3, Lena Giger.
8:30 a.m.: Women’s 1,500 – Heat 1, Maddy Berkson, Molly McNamara; Heat 2, Elise Cranny, Rebecca Mehra; Heat 4, Malika Waschmann.
9 a.m.: Men’s 1,500 – Heat 1, Patrick Perrier; Heat 2, Justin Brinkley, Tom Coyle.
10 a.m.: Men’s 110 high hurdles – Heat 1, Harrison Williams.
10:30 a.m.: Women’s triple jump – Flight 2, Marisa Kwiatkowski; Flight 3, Carla Forbes.
11:20 a.m.: Women’s 5,000 – Heat 1, Aisling Cuffe, Emma Fisher, Vanessa Fraser, Julia Maxwell.
Noon: Men’s 5,000 – Heat 1, Grant Fisher, Jack Keelan,Collin Leibold, Sean McGorty.
12:30 p.m. Men's shot put -- Flight 2, Tristen Newman.
12:30 p.m.: Women’s 4,x400 relay – Heat 3, Stanford (Possible lineup: Gaby Gayles, Olivia Baker, Michaela Crunkleton Wilson, Kristyn Williams).
12:50 p.m.: Men’s 4x400 relay – Heat 3, Stanford (Possible lineup: Harrison Williams, Frank Kurtz, Isaiah Brandt-Sims, Jackson Shumway).