Stanford's winning 4x400 relay team (from left): Olivia Baker, Ashlan Best, Carolyn Wilson, Missy Mongiovi.
SEATTLE – Elise Cranny shattered the Stanford mile record and Olivia Baker was a double winner as the Cardinal women won four events Saturday to finish second at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Indoor Track and Field Championships.
Cranny ran 4:31.29 while leading teammates Christina Aragon (4:34.76) and Vanessa Fraser (4:35.88) under the Stanford record of 4:37.07, held by Lauren Centrowitz since 2009. All three also bettered the school outdoor mile record of 4:36.23 by Aisling Cuffe in 2016. Cranny also broke the meet record of 4:35.01 by Oregon's Jordan Hasay in 2010.
"It was fun to be able to run with Vanessa and Christina," Cranny said. "I felt very calm with them in the race because it made it feel like practice. I also am very grateful to Vanessa for taking the race out hard to lead us to some fast times."
Cranny, Aragon, and Fraser also contributed to Fiona O'Keeffe's victory in the 3,000, with Cranny and Aragon pacing the first 1,000 meters, and Fraser leading through 2,000 before O'Keeffe was on her own.
Stanford won each distance from 800 to 3,000 and scored 33 of its 98 points in the 800 and mile alone. Stanford finished in the top three in the team standings for the third consecutive year, trailing only USC with 122.
Baker won her third consecutive MPSF 800 title and anchored Stanford to victory in the 4x400 relay, rallying from a big deficit with a 52.6-second split to pass USC on the homestretch of the 307-meter flat track at Dempsey Indoor. Freshmen Carolyn Wilson and Ashlan Best and junior Missy Mongiovi were part of Stanford's first MPSF title in that event since 2006.
The Stanford splits were 54.8 for Wilson, 54.5 for Best, and 53.3 for Mongiovi. Baker made up 10 meters on USC anchor Kennedy Gillian. The close race was quite different than the 800, when Baker bolted to clean initial lead and extended it throughout to win in 2:04.31.
The Stanford men placed 10th with 36 points, despite nearly pulling out a 4x400 victory, and getting a runner-up finish in the 3,000 from Steven Fahy.
The relay team of Julian Body, Gabriel Navarro, Isaiah Brandt-Sims, and Frank Kurtz ran 3:09.95 – the third-fastest indoor time in school history, but was edged by Washington and Arizona at the end. The splits went 47.6 for Body, 47.1 for Navarro, 47.9 for Brandt-Sims, and 47.2 for Kurtz.
Fahy got a boost from rabbit Alex Ostberg early in the men's 3,000 and pulled into the lead on the last lap. Fahy finished in 7:54.62 – a personal record by nine seconds – in finishing second to BYU's Rory Linkletter in 7:54.29.
Some MPSF women's championship facts: Baker has five MPSF titles while Cranny has two, plus a Pac-12 outdoor 1,500 title. In the 800, Stanford has won that event four of the past five years. O'Keeffe's victory was Stanford's 11th in the 3,000 since the MPSF meet began in 1993. The last time Stanford won as many as four events was in 2012 with the same number.
"Across all event groups, people competed so tough today, which was amazing to see," Cranny said. "There was a lot of great team energy. Overall, it was a really fun day."
As the conference results on the final weekend of NCAA Championships qualifying were coming in, it was difficult to see who on the Stanford team may have gotten in. Those with the top 16 season marks in individual events, and top 12 in relays, advance to nationals March 9-10 in College Station, Texas.
O'Keeffe may have been the biggest winner for Stanford. While many of her teammates already seemed assured of qualifying marks, O'Keeffe was the odd runner out in the 3,000 going into the weekend. However, her MPSF performance strengthens her chances because she improved her season-best time by 0.55, which may be enough to get her in. The fields will be announced early this coming week, after athletes choose their events and scratches are made.
For Stanford, a question will be what to do with Baker. The Friday schedule at NCAA's has the 800 semifinals only 1 hour, 35 minutes before the start of the distance medley relay, which means there probably will have to be a choice. The schedule works out better for Grant Fisher, who can run in the men's DMR on Friday and the 3,000 on Saturday, and Cranny, who can run the DMR-mile double a day apart.
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Saturday's results
MPSF Championships
At Dempsey Indoor
307-meter flat track
Winners and Stanford competitors
Men
Team scores – 1, USC 107; 2, BYU 75.5; 3, Oregon 65; 4, UCLA 62; 5, Washington State 54; 6, Colorado 49; 7, Washington 46.5; 8, California 46; 9, Arizona 42; 10, Stanford 36; 11, Long Beach State, Arizona State, 22; 13, Portland 20; 14, CSUN 13; 15, UC Riverside 1.
60 – 1, T.J. Brock (USC) 6.67; 8, Isaiah Brandt-Sims (Stanford) 6.95.
400 – 1, Rai Benjamin (USC) 45.94 (facility record, meet record); 10, Julian Body (Stanford) 47.69 (personal record; No. 8 all-time Stanford indoors); 20, Isaac Westlund (Stanford 49.33; 21, Lucas Ege (Stanford) 49.33; 27, Daniel Brady (Stanford) 49.73.
800 – 1, Robert Ford (USC) 1:49.85; 4, Hari Sathyamurthy (Stanford) 1:51.76; 9, Scott Buttinger (Stanford) 1:53.36; 12, Brian Smith (Stanford) 1:54.22; 25, Brandon McGorty (Stanford) 1:59.72.
Mile – 1, Abraham Alvarado (BYU) 4:02.70; 8, Tom Coyle (Stanford) 4:06.39; 9, Patrick Perrier (Stanford) 4:06.39; 13, Tai Dinger (Stanford) 4:08.72; 24, Isaac Cortes (Stanford) 4:20.80.
3,000 – 1, Rory Linkletter (BYU) 7:54.29; 2, Steven Fahy (Stanford) 7:54.62 (personal record); 7, Jack Keelan (Stanford) 7:59.84.
4x400 relay – 1, Washington 3:09.57; 3, Stanford (Body, Navarro, Brandt-Sims, Kurtz) 3:09.95 (No. 3 all-time Stanford indoors).
High jump – 1, Randall Cunningham (USC) 7-3 ¼ (2.22m); 11, Trevor Rex (Stanford) 6-8 ¾ (2.05m).
Triple jump – 1, Tuomas Kaukolahti (Cal) 53-5 ½ (16.29m); 9, Jaak Uudmae (Stanford) 46-8 ¾ (14.24m); 14, Fisayo Omilana (Stanford) 44-11 (13.69m).
Shot put – 1, Nicholas Ponzio (USC) 64-4 ½ (19.62m); 9, Tristen Newman (Stanford) 57-11 ¼ (17.66m).
Heptathlon – 1, Kevin Nielsen (BYU) 5,491; 7, Jack Herkert (Stanford) 4,420.
Herkert's day (Event, place, mark (meters), points):
60 hurdles: 2, 10.62, 430; Pole vault: 7, 11-9 ¾ (3.60m), 509; 6, Jack Herkert (Stanford) 3:00.52.
Women
Team scores – 1, USC 122; 2, Stanford 98; 3, Oregon 84; 4, California 56; 5, UCLA 55; 6, Colorado 41; 7, BYU 37; 8, Arizona State 35; 9, Washington 30; 10, Washington State 28; 11, Arizona 22; 12, UC Davis 12; 13, Hawaii 10; 14, Long Beach State 8; 15, Utah 7; 16, San Francisco 6; 18, Cal State Fullerton 5; 18, CSUN 4; 19, UC Riverside 3.
400 – 1, Kyra Constantine (USC) 52.73; 5, Missy Mongiovi (Stanford) 54.65; 7, Gaby Gayles (Stanford) 54.76.
800 – 1, Olivia Baker (Stanford) 2:04.31; 5, Carolyn Wilson (Stanford) 2:08.59 (personal record); 14, Julia Heymach (Stanford) 2:10.75; 25, Anna Laman (Stanford) 2:14.17.
Mile – 1, Elise Cranny (Stanford) 4:31.29 (meet record, personal record, school record); 4, Christina Aragon (Stanford) 4:34.76 (personal record, No. 2 all-time Stanford indoors); 5, Vanessa Fraser (Stanford) 4:35.88 (personal record, No. 3 all-time Stanford indoors); 18, Maddy Berkson (Stanford) 4:51.94.
3,000 – 1, Fiona O'Keeffe (Stanford) 9:04.77 (personal record, No. 9 all-time Stanford indoors); 12, Hannah DeBalsi (Stanford) 9:38.07.
4x400 relay – 1, Stanford (Carolyn Wilson, Ashlan Best, Missy Mongiovi, Olivia Baker) 3:35.34 (No. 5 all-time Stanford indoors).
High jump – 1, Lily Lowe (Hawaii) 5-10 ½ (1.79m); 11, Rachel Reichenbach (Stanford) 5-5 ¼ (1.66m); 21, Valerie Przekop (Stanford) 5-3 ¼ (1.61m).
Triple jump – 1, Jessie Maduka (UCLA) 43-6 (13.26m); 5, Marisa Kwiatkowski (Stanford) 40-7 ¾ (12.39m); 10, Aria Small (Stanford) 38-8 ¼ (11.79m).
Shot put – 1, Maggie Ewen (Arizona State) 63-3 ¼ (18.98m), facility and meet record; 2, Lena Giger (Stanford) 56-5 ¼ (17.20m).
