Photo of Olivia Baker from Millrose Games by Image of Sport.
SEATTLE -- The Stanford track and field team begins its postseason run at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation indoor championships this weekend at University of Washington's Dempsey Indoor. The meet also doubles as the final opportunity to earn qualifying marks to the NCAA Championships on March 10-11 in College Station, Texas.
The MPSF consists of 20 women's teams and 15 men's – schools traditionally from the Pac-12, Big West, and West Coast conferences. Stanford, which is bringing 40 athletes (23 women, 17 men) is seeking its first MPSF titles since the women won in 2012 and the men in 2011.
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Meet Information:
Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships
Where: Seattle, Wash.
Site: Dempsey Indoor
Surface: 307-meter flat track.
Events begin:
Friday: Noon
Saturday: 10:30 a.m.
Meet schedule: Click here.
Follow the Action:
Heat sheets: Click here.
Meet Central: Click here.
Live results: Click here.
Flotrack premium webcast (coverage begins at 4:30 p.m. Friday): Click here.
Past Stanford MPSF results: Click here.
Twitter: @StanfordXCTF
Instagram: StanfordXCTF
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Stanford in USTFCCCA rankings:
Men: No. 22
Women: No. 23
* * *Women's featured events:
Distance medley relay: Stanford already has a mark that should get it into the NCAA Championships, so the Cardinal is not likely to field its best lineup, but it should be fast. This should be a two-team race between Stanford and Oregon, which set a collegiate record of 10:48.77 on Jan. 28 at the Columbia East-West Challenge in New York City. Stanford is expected to run Elise Cranny, Gaby Gayles, Malika Waschmann, and Vanessa Fraser. Cranny and Gayles were part of the team that won the Penn State National Open in 11:01.39. Waschmann also ran the 800 leg on last year's NCAA third-place DMR, while this will be the first DMR in the career of Fraser, already a likely NCAA qualifier in the 3,000.
Stanford has won the women's DMR nine times in the 24 years of the MPSF Championships, most recently in 2015 with Cranny on anchor.
4x400 relay: Stanford was three spots and 0.45 seconds from advancing to NCAA's last year, and is poised to make another run. The Cardinal needs to improve by at least seven seconds to advance from its season best of 3:40.29. It pins its hopes on Gaby Gayles, Michaela Crunkleton Wilson, and Olivia Baker – three members of its 2016 Pac-12 runner-up team -- plus Hannah Labrie-Smith or Missy Mongiovi.
This relay begins only 1 hour, 35 minutes after the women's 800, where Baker will make an assault on an NCAA qualifying mark. She is the reigning champ in the MPSF indoor 800 and Pac-12 outdoor 400.
800 meters: Olivia Baker was the only collegian in the Millrose Games 800, getting a unique perspective of Ajee Wilson's American record. Baker faded down the stretch and her 2:05.00 was not enough to make NCAA's, but she will make another push Saturday while defending her MPSF title. She stands at No. 18 on the NCAA qualifying list with only 16 advancing, and will need something in the low 2:04's to get there.
Teammate Elise Cranny is confident of an NCAA berth in the 3,000 – she is ranked No. 11 in what would be a 16-runner NCAA field – and therefore will treat this race as a fast workout. She ran a 2:05.51 in the 800 on the 200-meter track at the Penn State National and the wider turns on Dempsey Indoor's 307-meter track should help her attack that personal best.
20-pound weight throw: Valarie Allman has broken the Stanford record in the 20-pound weight throw five times, including four times in as many meets this season. Allman, a two-time Pac-12 discus champ and a 2016 NCAA second-team All-America in the hammer, still needs a big improvement from her best of 64-10 (19.76 meters) to advance or even to win, but could smash her Stanford mark yet again.
High jump: Rachel Reichenbach has been the revelation of the indoor season. Reichenbach, the 2014 U.S. junior runner-up, tied her personal best of 5-8 ¾ (1.74m) at the Don Kirby Invitational two weeks ago to become No. 4 on Stanford's all-time indoor performers' list and tied for No. 10 on the school absolute list, which includes indoors and outdoors.
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Men's featured events:
Pole vault: Three-time multi-events first-team All-America Harrison Williams will bypass the heptathlon (he already has qualified for NCAA's) in this meet to focus on the pole vault and 4x400. Williams, a junior who is expected to redshirt the outdoor season, sprung to a 17-8 ½ (5.40m) in the pole vault at the same facility at the UW Indoor Preview on Jan. 14. It placed him No. 4 on Stanford's absolute performer's list. He has the third-highest season mark in the field and should be considered a contender for his first conference individual championship, indoors or outdoors.
4x400 relay: At the 2016 Pac-12 Championships, next door at Washington's outdoor track, Stanford won the 4x400 relay. It was the first time Stanford had won a conference 4x400 or mile relay since 1954 (also at Washington). The Cardinal foursome from the 2016 relay – Harrison Williams, Frank Kurtz, Isaiah Brandt-Sims, and Harrison Williams – all are available to run here. Stanford never has won an MPSF title in the event.
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Stanford Schedule:
Friday
Noon: Women's weight throw (Valarie Allman)
2 p.m.: Women's pole vault (Taylore Jaques, Nicole Summersett)
4:30 p.m.: Women's 60 hurdles prelims (Hannah Labrie-Smith)
4:45 p.m.: Men's 60 hurdles prelims (Julian Body, Daniel Brady, Harrison Williams)
5:15 p.m.: Men's weight throw (Tristen Newman)
5:30 p.m.: Women's long jump (Marisa Kwiatkowski)
5:30 p.m.: Men's long jump (Jaak Uudmae)
5:30 p.m.: Men's pole vault (Harrison Williams)
6:20 p.m.: Women's 200 (Michaela Crunkleton Wilson)
6:50 p.m.: Men's 200 (Colin Dolese, Isaac Westlund)
7:15 p.m.: Women's distance medley relay (Vanessa Fraser, Gaby Gayles, Malika Waschmann, Elise Cranny)
Saturday
10:30 a.m.: Women's shot put (Lena Giger)
10:30 a.m.: Women's high jump (Rachel Reichenbach)
11 a.m.: Women's triple jump (Marisa Kwiatkowski)
11 a.m.: Women's mile (Maddy Berkson, Vanessa Fraser, Catherine Pagano, Claire Smith)
11:25 a.m.: Men's mile (Scott Buttinger, Isaac Cortes, Patrick Perrier)
11:40 a.m.: Women's 60 hurdles final
11:45 a.m.: Men's 60 hurdles final
11:50 a.m.: Women's 400 (Hannah Labrie-Smith, Missy Mongiovi)
12:15 p.m.: Men's 400 (Julian Body, Daniel Brady, Colin Dolese, Jackson Shumway, Isaac Westlund)
12:45 p.m.: Men's shot put (Tristen Newman)
12:45 p.m.: Men's high jump (Trevor Rex)
12:50 p.m.: Women's 800 (Olivia Baker, Elise Cranny, Anna Laman, Sarah Walker, Malika Waschmann)
1 p.m.: Men's triple jump (Jaak Uudmae)
1:10 p.m.: Men's 800 (Brian Smith)
1:25 p.m.: Women's 3,000 (Sophie Chase, Danielle Katz, Julia Maxwell, Abbie McNulty)
1:50 p.m.: Men's 3,000 (Blair Hurlock, Patrick Gibson)
2:25 p.m.: Women's 4x400 relay (Pool: Olivia Baker, Michaela Crunkleton Wilson, Gaby Gayles, Hannah Labrie-Smith, Missy Mongiovi).
2:50 p.m.: Men's 4x400 relay (Pool: Julian Body, Isaiah Brandt-Sims, Frank Kurtz, Jackson Shumway, Isaac Westlund, Harrison Williams).
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Stanford athletes ranked in NCAA Division I top 30:
Men
Mile: 24, Jack Keelan, 3:59.62.
3,000: 7, Jack Keelan, 7:51.20.
Distance medley relay: 1, Stanford (Tai Dinger, Jackson Shumway, Brian Smith, Jack Keelan), 9:28.72.
Pole vault: 21, Harrison Williams, 17-8 1/2 (5.40m).
Heptathlon: 6, Harrison Williams, 5,828.
Women
800: 23, Elise Cranny, 2:05.51; 25, Rebecca Mehra, 2:05.81.
3,000: 5, Vanessa Fraser, 9:04.78; 11, Elise Cranny, 9:06.35.
5,000: 14, Vanessa Fraser, 15:56.89.
Distance medley relay: 8, Stanford (Elise Cranny, Gaby Gayles, Olivia Baker, Rebecca Mehra), 11:01.39.
Shot put – 30, Lena Giger, 52-9 ¼ (16.08m).
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How to qualify for nationals: There are no specific qualifying standards for the NCAA Indoor Championships, which will be held in College Station, Texas, on March 10-11. Rather, the individuals who register the top 16 marks in each event will advance. Because not all tracks are the same size, all marks will be converted to a formula that is based on making it equal to a standard 200-meter banked track. After those conversions are determined, the final 16 will advance.
