SEATTLE – In its second indoor track and field meet of the season as a full team, Stanford ups the stakes at the UW Invitational.
Competing Friday and Saturday at the same Dempsey Indoor facility as its de facto season opener on Jan. 12, Stanford begins to think toward NCAA qualifying, particularly in the distance medley relays. There will be other opportunities if the Cardinal seeks to improve upon its national standing established here, but these will be good benchmarks in the quest to reach the NCAA Championships March 8-9 in Birmingham, Alabama.
Stanford brings 52 athletes to the meet, including NCAA champ Grant Fisher, a redshirt junior in indoor eligibility who is scheduled to race in his first collegiate mile.
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Meet Information:
UW Invitational
Where: Seattle, Wash.
Site: Dempsey Indoor
Surface: 307-meter flat track.
Events:
Friday: 1-8:40 p.m.
Saturday: 10 a.m.-5:05 p.m.
Full schedule: Click here.
Heat sheets: Click here.
Accepted entries: Click here.
USTFCCCA Rankings:
Men: No. 13
Women: No. 17
Follow the Action:
Live results link: Click here.
Webcast: FloPro (premium), begins at 4 p.m. Friday, 1 p.m. Saturday.
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Men
Events to watch: Grant Fisher, a sub-4 miler in high school, will run his first collegiate mile. Fisher leads a Stanford contingent of five All-America distance runners expected to race the mile on Saturday. The others are Fisher, Tai Dinger, Steven Fahy, Alex Ostberg, and Alek Parsons, each of whom is making his season debut at this meet. The invitational mile is scheduled for Saturday at 4:07 p.m. Fisher is a nine-time All-America, three-time Pac-12 champion, and 2017 NCAA outdoor 5,000 titlist … Another All-America, Brian Smith, will run the 800, alongside up-and-coming redshirt sophomore Hari Sathyamurthy … Stanford will make a serious run in the DMR, with a team of Isaac Cortes, Julian Body, Sathyamurthy and Fisher competing on Friday at 8:30 p.m. The Stanford men have qualified for NCAA's the past nine years. If the Cardinal doesn't feel completely confident in their time achieved here, it could make another run Feb. 16 at Notre Dame's Alex Wilson Invitational … Sophomore Louis Stenmark, coming off his school-record 600 of 1:17.59 at the UW Indoor Preview, runs the 400 and 4x400 relay.
Women
Events to watch: Stanford has reach the NCAA Championships the past seven years in the DMR, but this year's version will have a much different look. In the past, the likes of Olivia Baker, Elise Cranny, and Vanessa Fraser were – each of whom has graduated – were regulars on those teams. The squad that will race Friday is expected to be redshirt sophomore Ella Donaghu, sophomore Ashlan Best, sophomore Carolyn Wilson, and redshirt freshman Jessica Lawson. This will be the first collegiate DMR for each … Pole vaulters Kaitlyn Merritt and Erika Malaspina, NCAA outdoor qualifiers last year, seek to draw closer to NCAA indoor range … Jordan Fong, whose 55-0 ¼ (16.77m) in the weight throw two weeks ago is believed to be a Stanford freshman record, competes in her second collegiate meet … Fifth-year senior Abbie McNulty will rev it up in the 3,000 invitational … Freshman Caitlin Collier, the 2017 U.S. junior national 800 champion, is scheduled to make her collegiate track debut, in her signature event.
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Stanford's tentative schedule
(Note: In events in which different sections start at different times, all Stanford entrants are listed in each, pending release of heat sheets)
Friday
1:30 p.m.: Women's pentathlon 60 hurdles (Samantha Seaton).
2:30 p.m.: Women's pentathlon high jump (Samantha Seaton).
4 p.m.: Women's 60 hurdles, prelims (Giana Gayles, Allie Jones).
4:25 p.m.: Men's 60 hurdles, prelims (Julian Body).
4:30 p.m.: Women's pentathlon shot put (Samantha Seaton).
5 p.m.: Women's pole vault, flight 1 (Erika Malaspina, Jackie McNulty, Kaitlyn Merritt, Nicole Summersett).
5:30 p.m.: Women's 60 hurdles, finals (Giana Gayles, Allie Jones).
5:30 p.m.: Women's weight throw (Jordan Fong).
5:40 p.m.: Men's 60 hurdles, finals (Julian Body).
5:45 p.m.: Women's pentathlon long jump (Samantha Seaton).
6 p.m.: Men's high jump (Trevor Rex, Harrison Williams).
6 p.m.: Women's high jump (Giana Gayles, Allie Jones, Rachel Reichenbach).
6:30 p.m.: Women's 200 (Ashlan Best, Kennedy Gamble).
7 p.m.: Men's 200 (Isaiah Brandt-Sims, Andrew Franco, Gabriel Navarro, Isaac Westlund, Miles Zoltak).
7:30 p.m.: Women's pentathlon 800 (Samantha Seaton).
8:15 p.m.: Women's distance medley relay, invite (Stanford: Ella Donaghu, Ashlan Best, Carolyn Wilson, Jessica Lawson).
8:30 p.m.: Men's distance medley relay, invite (Stanford: Isaac Cortes, Julian Body, Hari Sathyamurthy, Grant Fisher).
Saturday:
10 a.m.: Men's weight throw (Landon Ellingson, Jake Koffman).
10:20 a.m.: Women's 60, qualifying (Ashlan Best, Kennedy Gamble).
10:40 a.m.: Men's 60, qualifying (Isaiah Brandt-Sims, Andrew Franco, Gabriel Navarro, Miles Zoltak).
11 a.m.: Women's mile (Ella Donaghu, Julia Heymach, Jessica Lawson, Fiona O'Keeffe, Jordan Oakes, Catherine Pagano).
11:22 a.m.: Men's mile (Isaac Cortes, Tai Dinger, Steven Fahy, Grant Fisher, Alex Ostberg, Alek Parsons, DJ Principe).
11:45 a.m.: Women's 60, prelims (Ashlan Best, Kennedy Gamble).
Noon: Men's 60, prelims (Isaiah Brandt-Sims, Andrew Franco, Gabriel Navarro, Miles Zoltak).
12:25 p.m.: Women's 400 (Ashlan Best, Missy Mongiovi, Sarah Walker, Carolyn Wilson).
12:50 p.m.: Men's 400 (Julian Body, Louis Stenmark, Isaac Westlund).
1 p.m.: Women's shot put (Giana Gayles, Allie Jones, Jaimi Salone, Lena Giger).
1 p.m.: Men's shot put (Harrison Williams).
1:15 p.m.: Women's 800 (Caitlin Collier, Julia Heymach, Kaitlin Ryan, Carolyn Wilson).
1:40 p.m.: Men's 800 (Isaac Cortes, Nathaniel Kucera, Hari Sathyamurthy, Brian Smith).
2 p.m.: Women's triple jump (Aria Small).
2 p.m.: Men's triple jump (Fisayo Omilana).
2 p.m.: Women's pole vault, invite (Erika Malaspina, Jackie McNulty, Kaitlyn Merritt, Nicole Summersett).
2:05 p.m.: Women's 3,000 (Abbie McNulty).
2:30 p.m.: Men's 3,000 (Liam Conway, Connor Lane, Clayton Mendez, Michael Vernau).
3:05 p.m.: Women's 4x400 relay (Stanford: Ashlan Best, Kennedy Gamble, Missy Mongiovi, Carolyn Wilson).
3:15 p.m.: Men's 4x400 relay (Stanford teams: A – Louis Stenmark, Julian Body, Isaiah Brandt-Sims, Gabriel Navarro. B – Hari Sathyamurthy, Nathaniel Kucera, Isaac Cortes, Andrew Franco).
3:45 p.m.: Women's 60, finals (Ashlan Best, Kennedy Gamble).
3:52 p.m.: Men's 60, finals (Isaiah Brandt-Sims, Andrew Franco, Gabriel Navarro, Miles Zoltak).
4 p.m.: Women's mile, invite: (Ella Donaghu, Julia Heymach, Jessica Lawson, Fiona O'Keeffe, Jordan Oakes, Catherine Pagano).
4:07 p.m.: Men's mile, invite (Isaac Cortes, Tai Dinger, Steven Fahy, Grant Fisher, Alex Ostberg, Alek Parsons, DJ Principe).
4:15 p.m.: Women's 400, invite (Ashlan Best, Missy Mongiovi, Sarah Walker, Carolyn Wilson).
4:17 p.m.: Men's 400, invite (Julian Body, Louis Stenmark, Isaac Westlund).
4:20 p.m.: Women's 800, invite (Caitlin Collier, Julia Heymach, Kaitlin Ryan, Carolyn Wilson).
4:25 p.m.: Men's 800, invite (Isaac Cortes, Nathaniel Kucera, Hari Sathyamurthy, Brian Smith).
4:30 p.m.: Women's 3,000, invite (Abbie McNulty).
4:42 p.m.: Men's 3,000, invite (Liam Conway, Connor Lane, Clayton Mendez, Michael Vernau).
4:55 p.m.: Women's 4x400 relay, invite (Stanford: Ashlan Best, Kennedy Gamble, Missy Mongiovi, Carolyn Wilson).
5 p.m.: Men's 4x400 relay, invite (Stanford teams: A – Louis Stenmark, Julian Body, Isaiah Brandt-Sims, Gabriel Navarro. B – Hari Sathyamurthy, Nathaniel Kucera, Isaac Cortes, Andrew Franco).
