ANN ARBOR, Mich. – With an all-star lineup that has combined for 20 All-America honors, Stanford ran the fastest women's distance medley relay in the country this year to win at the first Power Five Invitational indoor track and field meet Friday at University of Michigan.
Christina Aragon, Gaby Gayles, Olivia Baker, and Elise Cranny ran 10:58.93 in a relay with legs of 1,200, 400, 800, and 1,600 meters. The event traditionally is a Stanford strength, and the Cardinal ran the fifth-fastest time in school history while establishing meet and stadium records in the first year of the U-M Indoor Track Building.
The Stanford men placed second in the DMR, with junior Grant Fisher anchoring with a 3:58.93 split in his first indoor meet in a Cardinal singlet. The team of Tom Coyle, Julian Body, Brandon McGorty and Fisher ran 9:32.98, which places them No. 3 in the country.
The nation's top 16 individual marks and top 12 in the relays earn passage to the NCAA Indoor Championships March 9-10 at Texas A&M.
Over the past eight years, every time of 11:04.31 or faster has been enough to advance to NCAA's in the women's DMR. The Stanford women have advanced the past six years and seem a good bet to make it seven.
Aragon, in her Stanford indoor debut, put the Cardinal in the lead with a 3:23.02 split for 1,200 and Gayles maintained the lead with a 53.51 for 400. Baker extended it with an 800 in 2:05.68, and Cranny finished with a blazing 1,600 in 4:36.73, the fastest of any anchor by more than four seconds and the Cardinal won by more than five over runner-up Michigan.
The Cardinal men were fourth through the first two exchanges before McGorty turned in a 1:49.14 split for 800 to move Stanford to second. But Indiana got a strong anchor leg of its own – Kyle Mau's 3:58.38 -- to hold off Fisher's charge.
Last year, the No. 16 mark for the men was 9:32.13, and the cutoff in 2015 was 9:30.48. The Stanford men have advanced to the NCAA the past eight years.
In the seven-event heptathlon, Jack Herkert won the high jump at 6-8 ¾ (2.05 meters) to move into the Stanford all-time indoor Top 10 list at No. 9. Herkert is seventh after the four-event first day, with 2,837 points.
The two-day meet continues Saturday.
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Friday results
Power Five Invitational
At U-M Indoor Track Building
200-meter banked track
Winners and other Stanford athletes
Men
Distance medley relay – 1, Indiana 9:31.64; 2, Stanford (Tom Coyle, Julian Body, Brandon McGorty, Grant Fisher) 9:32.98.
Heptathlon – First day: 7, Jack Herkert (Stanford) 2,837.
Herkert's results (place in event, mark, points):
First day – 60: 9, 7.47 (723); Long jump: 4, 22-0 ¼, 6.71m (746); Shot put – 8, 34-6 ¾, 10.53m (518); High jump – 1, 6-8 ¾, 2.05m (850). Total: 2,837.
Women
200 – 1, Rachel Schow (Minnesota) 24.72; 4, Michaela Crunkleton Wilson (Stanford) 25.11.
Distance medley relay – 1, Stanford (Christina Aragon, Gaby Gayles, Olivia Baker, Elise Cranny) 10:58.93.
