STANFORD, Calif. – Upon returning from three meets in three time zones, the Stanford track and field team can revel in a job well done after breaking or tying four school indoor records in one day.
On Saturday, Lena Giger broke the women's shot put record held by an Olympian, Valarie Allman broke the women's 20-pound weight throw record for the seventh time, Olivia Baker tied a three-year-old mark in the women's 400 meters, and the men's 4x400 relay mark fell to a team with two freshmen and a sophomore.
Giger's 58-4 (17.78m) and Allman's 70-3 ½ (21.42m) came at the Husky Classic at Seattle's Dempsey Indoor. Baker's 53.35 and the 3:09.38 by the team of Julian Body, Frank Kurtz, Louis Stenmark, and Gabriel Navarro at New Mexico's Don Kirby Collegiate Invitational came on the 200-meter banked track at the Albuquerque Convention Center.
In all, Stanford had 18 additions or improvements to its indoor top-10 lists, by 16 individuals and two relay teams over the weekend, with 12 on Saturday alone. Besides the records, five other marks cracked Stanford's all-time top three, including No. 2 performances from Grant Fisher's 7:48.56 in the men's 3,000 at the Iowa State Classic and Kaitlyn Merritt's 13-5 ¼ (4.10m) in the women's pole vault in New Mexico.
In the Husky Classic women's 3,000 alone, Stanford had three Top-10 movements -- No. 3 Vanessa Fraser (8:59.23), No. 6 Christina Aragon (9:01.86), and No. 10 Fiona O'Keeffe (9:05.22) – and Elise Cranny (9:06.24) would have been the fourth if not already at No. 2.
"This weekend was a great sign of the progress our teams have been making on both sides," said Chris Miltenberg, Stanford's Franklin P. Johnson Director of Track and Field. "Especially when put in the context of our incredible history, four school records in the same weekend is an enormous accomplishment. Those results were also right on course with how their seasons have been progressing and we know they will keep getting better."
Giger's record may have been the most noteworthy because of the individual she displaced – two-time Olympian Jillian Camarena, a former American indoor and outdoor record-holder. Giger said she targeted Camarena's 57-2 ¾ (17.44m) while goal-setting 17.45 before the season.
Giger moved to No. 2 on Stanford's absolute list, behind Camarena's outdoor 59-6 ¾ (18.15m) from 2004, but leaped over two Olympians – Carol Cady and Pam Dukes – to get there.
Giger's 58-4 (17.78m) was her third personal record in four meets this season and places her No. 2 on the NCAA Division I season list. She is unbeaten against collegiate competition and a lock to advance to her first NCAA Indoor championship meet. Giger, a history major from Highland, Illinois, is a redshirt junior indoors.
In winning the Husky Classic, Giger earned her first victory in three tries this season against Iron Wood Track Club's McKenzie Warren. Giger's second put of 55-11 ¾ (17.06m) would have been enough to win, but she unleashed her best throw on her sixth and final attempt, barely keeping her balance for fear of a foot fault that would have negated it.
"I'm really happy with that accomplishment," Giger said. "All of the throws built on each other. This was the best series I've ever had."
Giger said the competition brought the best in her, just as it did last week when she won Michigan's Power Five Invitational by beating Louisville All-America Emmonnie Henderson, an Illinois high school rival, with a then-best of 56-10 ¾ (17.34m).
Giger's improvement the past year has been fueled by second-year throws coach Zeb Sion and increased strength, she said. In training last year, she felt stronger, but the power numbers in the weight room did not necessarily reflect it. This year, her numbers are up substantially and her familiarity with Sion has been a boost technically.
"I'm more familiar with what we've been working on and I have clear mission of what I want to accomplish," Giger said. "That's been the key."
Allman came in with a best of 68-5 ¾ (20.87m), but eclipsed that on her record throw, breaking the 70-foot barrier while winning the competition. Allman, a discus specialist who competed for the U.S. at the IAAF World Championships in London last summer, has positioned herself to advance to the NCAA Indoor Championships for the first time.
Allman is No. 9 on the national season list with two weekends of qualifying to go. The top 16 advance to nationals March 9-10 in College Station, Texas.
Baker tied the Stanford record set by Kristyn Williams at the 2015 Husky Classic. Baker and Williams each have an advantage in comparing their 53.35 times. Baker's came at Albuquerque's 5,300-foot altitude while Williams ran hers on Dempsey Indoor's oversized 307-meter flat track.
Baker, a four-time NCAA finalist in the 800, has a strong history in the 400. She set the New Jersey high school record in the event and won the 2016 Pac-12 title.
"I went into the race without many expectations, just looking to have fun getting back to a race I had come to love early in my track career," said Baker, who finished fourth in a fast race. "I feel like I came out and executed the race best as I could at this fitness level and feel blessed to come away with a great time and the school record."
Shortly after this race, Baker ran a 52.7 split to anchor the Stanford 4x400 team to the third-fastest time in school history (3:34.73). Baker is No. 6 on the national season list in the 800, No. 20 in the 4x400, and No. 25 in the 400.
The men's 4x400 relay team broke the school record of 3:09.80 set during a runner-up finish at the 2017 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships in Seattle by a team of Kurtz, Harrison Williams, Isaiah Brandt-Sims, and Jackson Shumway.
The splits on Saturday were: Body in 47.2, Kurtz in 46.5, Stenmark in 47.3, and Navarro in 48.3.
Stenmark and Navarro are freshmen, Body is a sophomore, and Kurtz is a redshirt junior. The team should be even stronger outdoors when Williams, a decathlete with an open 400 best of 46.66, will rejoin the team after redshirting this indoor season. Brandt-Sims, part of Stanford's 2016 Pac-12 championship 4x400 team, is in the mix as well.
"I'm incredibly excited not just for where this group is at, but where it is heading, both in the short and the long term," said Stanford sprints coach Gabe Sanders. "It's still so early in the calendar year to be putting down efforts like this, knowing there's even more in the tank."
Considering Stanford's record-setting day, Baker said, "Something that we talk about all the time is that this team 'does what we do' wherever we are and whatever the stakes may be. I think this weekend is just a byproduct of that mentality.
"We may have been spread across three different meets, but everyone showed up regardless of the condition, to work toward our common goals. This team seriously has something good going right now and I'm just excited to be one of the pieces in that puzzle."