Photo of Valarie Allman throwing the hammer at the 2016 Big Meet by David Bernal/ISIphotos.com.
SEATTLE – For the fifth time this season, Valarie Allman broke her own Stanford record in the 20-pound weight throw, this time by 3 ½ feet at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation indoor track and field championships Friday at the University of Washington's Dempsey Indoor facility.
Allman, a senior and two-time Pac-12 discus champion, placed third at 68-5 ¾ (20.87 meters) to continue her impressive improvement in the event. In eight meets since taking up the weight throw last year, Allman has set a personal best in seven of them and has broken the school record six times.
"Today was awesome, and so exciting to have things really click," Allman said.
Stanford's throwers -- including Tristen Newman, who was fifth in the men's 35-pound weight throw at 62-6 ½ (19.06m) -- have benefited from first-year throws coach Zeb Sion, who has vast technical knowledge and keeps the mood light.
"He's built off the progress of the last few years and created a really positive environment," Allman said. "We were just hoping the things from practice would carry over into competition."
Allman gives herself a fighting chance at qualifying for the NCAA Championships. The top 16 individual season marks through conference championship weekend earn invitations to the nationals March 10-11 in College Station, Texas. According to his research, Sion had Allman at No. 15 on the national list at the time of her performance pending results of other conference meets – a huge step after being No. 38 going into the weekend based her 64-10 school-record mark from last week.
"It would be fun to say that today's performance was a surprise," Sion said. "But she has done things in training and in previous meets that demonstrated to me that she was capable of such a throw. That being said, you still have to do it when they're going to pull the tape."
Although she is a four-time All-America and was third at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the discus last year, Allman is seeking her first NCAA Indoor appearance.
"At this point, we've done everything we could to put Val in a good position," Sion said. "I'm definitely proud of her performance today."
Allman eclipsed her school record and had her best throw on her second attempt. It briefly put her in second, but Arizona State's Maggie Ewen produced her winning throw of 70-7 ¾ (21.53) at the end of the second round to take the victory.
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Stanford makes run at DMR title
Stanford's highest finish on the first of two days of competition was second in the women's distance medley relay with the team of Vanessa Fraser, Gaby Gayles, Malika Waschmann, and Elise Cranny clocking 10:59.82 – the sixth-fastest time in school history and a season best.
Fraser opened with a 3:22.2 split for 1,200 meters, Gayles ran 54.4 for 400, Waschmann ran 2:07.7 for 800, and Cranny closed with 4:34.8 for 1,600.
Fraser, a redshirt junior, had a rough start to her first collegiate relay, getting knocked to the ground at the gun while trying to squeeze to the front from lane one. After a restart, Fraser was muscled into the back, but moved up seven spots on the second lap into second place.
Gayles and Waschmann held that position behind Washington, but Cranny charged hard from 15 meters back and moved into the front with three laps on the 307-meter track to go. Though Cranny left Washington behind, Colorado's Dani Jones caught her on the final turn and pulled away over the final 150 to give the Buffaloes the victory in 10:58.68.
Both the Card men's and women's teams stand 11th in the team race. The men got points from Tristen Newman in the 35-pound weight throw (sixth, 62-6 ½, 19.06m), Jaak Uudmae in the long jump (sixth, 24-0 ¼, 7.32m), and Harrison Williams in the pole vault (sixth, 15-11 ¾, 4.87m).
The long jump was a personal best for Uudmae in the first long jump competition of the season for the redshirt junior from Estonia. It also puts him at No. 7 on Stanford's all-time indoor list.
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MPSF Championships
At Dempsey Indoor
(307-meter flat track)
Men
Team scores (Day 1) – 1, UCLA 32; 2, Arizona State 28; 3, Long Beach State 27; 4, Washington 25.5; 5, USC 21; 6, BYU 20; 7, Oregon 18; 8, Colorado 17; 9, Washington State 11; 10, California 10; 11, Stanford 9.5; 12, Arizona 8; 13, Portland 6; 14, UC Riverside 1.
200 – 1, Kyree King (Oregon) 21.04; 20, Colin Dolese (Stanford) 22.27; 29, Isaac Westlund (Stanford) 22.64.
60 hurdles prelims – 12, Harrison Williams (Stanford) 8.33; 13, Julian Body (Stanford) 8.33, PB, No. 8 Stanford all-time indoors; 19, Daniel Brady (Stanford) 8.46.
Long jump – 1, Kemonie Briggs (Long Beach State) 25-3 ¼ (7.70m); 6, Jaak Uudmae (Stanford) 24-0 ¼ (7.32m), PB, No. 7 Stanford all-time indoors.
Pole vault – 1, Chase Smith (Washington) 17-11 ¼ (5.47m); 6, Harrison Williams (Stanford) 15-11 ¾ (4.87m).
Weight throw – 1, James Hubbard (Long Beach State) 69-11 (21.31m); 5, Tristen Newman (Stanford) 62-6 ½ (19.06m).
Women
Team scores (Day 1) – 1, USC 51; 2, Colorado 32; 3, Washington 28; 4, UCLA 26.33; 5 (tie), Arizona State, Oregon, 21; 7, Washington State 16.5; 8, CSUN 15.33; 9, Utah 15; 10, California 14.33; 11, Stanford 14; 12, Oregon State 11; 13, Long Beach State 8; 14, BYU 6; 15, Portland 3; 16, Hawai'i 0.5; 17 (tie), Arizona, Cal State Fullerton, UC Irvine, UC Riverside 0.
200 – 1, Kendall Ellis (USC) 23.09, meet and track record; 15, Michaela Crunkleton Wilson (Stanford) 24.93.
60 hurdles prelims – 21, Hannah Labrie-Smith (Stanford) 9.05.
Distance medley relay – 1, Colorado 10:58.68; 2, Stanford (Vanessa Fraser, Gaby Gayles, Malika Waschmann, Elise Cranny) 10:59.82, No. 6 in school history.
Long jump – 1, Margaux Jones (USC) 20-5 ¾ (6.24m); 18, Marisa Kwiatkowski (Stanford) 17-9 ¾ (5.43m).
Pole vault – 1, Elizabeth Quick (Washington) 13-6 ¼ (4.12m); 26, Nicole Summersett (Stanford) 12-0 ½ (3.67m); 28, Taylore Jaques (Stanford) 11-6 ½ (3.52m).
Weight throw – 1, Maggie Ewen (Arizona State) 70-7 ¾ (21.53m); 3, Valarie Allman (Stanford) 68-5 ¾ (20.87), school record.
PB = personal best.
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Stanford's Saturday Schedule
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)
11:50 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 (Missy Mongiovi, Gaby Gayles, Michaela Crunkleton Wilson, Olivia Baker).
2:50 p.m.: Men's 4x400 relay (Frank Kurtz, Harrison Williams, Isaiah Brandt-Sims, Jackson Shumway).
