LINCOLN, Neb. – Stanford fifth-year senior Harrison Williams will make a run at an NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships qualifying score when he competes at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational on Friday and Saturday at Nebraska's Bob Devaney Sports Center.
Individuals who achieve the top 16 marks in the nation through the conference championship weekend earn advancement to the NCAA meet, March 8-9 in Birmingham, Alabama. Williams, a four-time top-six NCAA multi-events placer, is expected to once again be among the contenders for a national title. But first he must get there.
This will be Williams' first heptathlon – the seven-event indoor version of the outdoor decathlon – since the 2017 NCAA Championships when he broke his own school record with 5,970 points. It was the highest sixth-place score in NCAA heptathlon history. Williams was second at this meet in 2017 with 5,828 points.
This is his first multis competition since placing third at the 2018 USATF Outdoor Championships in the decathlon in Des Moines, Iowa. Williams also is the reigning Pac-12 decathlon champ.
Two Stanford women will compete in their first collegiate multi-event competitions. Allie Jones, a freshman from Santa Barbara who placed third in the outdoor heptathlon at the 2018 U.S. junior nationals, and sophomore Giana Gayles, fifth at the 2016 New Balance Outdoor Nationals in the same event, will compete in the five-event single-day pentathlon.
Meet Information:
Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational
Where: Lincoln, Neb.
Site: Bob Devaney Sports Center
Surface: 200-meter banked track.
Events:
Friday: 10 a.m.-7:10 p.m. PT
Saturday: 7:30 a.m.-3:05 p.m. PT
Full schedule: Click here.
Accepted entries: Click here.
Live results link: Click here.
USTFCCCA Rankings:
Men: No. 11
Women: No. 15
Stanford's schedule (All times Pacific):
Friday
10 a.m.: Men's heptathlon 60 (Harrison Williams)
10:30 a.m.: Women's pentathlon 60 hurdles (Giana Gayles, Allie Jones)
11:15 a.m.: Women's pentathlon high jump (Giana Gayles, Allie Jones)
10:40 a.m.: Men's heptathlon long jump (Harrison Williams)
Noon: Men's heptathlon shot put (Harrison Williams)
1 p.m.: Men's heptathlon high jump (Harrison Williams)
1 p.m.: Women's pentathlon shot put (Giana Gayles, Allie Jones)
2 p.m.: Women's pentathlon long jump (Giana Gayles, Allie Jones)
3 p.m.: Women's pentathlon 800 (Giana Gayles, Allie Jones)
4 p.m.: Women's pole vault (Erika Malaspina, Kaitlyn Merritt).
Saturday
7:30 a.m.: Men's heptathlon 60 hurdles (Harrison Williams)
8:15 a.m.: Men's heptathlon pole vault (Harrison Williams)
11:10 a.m.: Men's heptathlon 1,000 (Harrison Williams)
* * *
Throwers in spotlight
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Stanford brings five throwers to the Mountain T's Invite at Northern Arizona's J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome.
Lena Giger, third in the NCAA outdoor shot put final last year, will try to improve upon her No. 9 standing on the national season list. Giger's season best is 55-5 ½ (16.90 meters). She will be joined by teammate Jaimi Salone in that event.
Landon Ellingson and Jake Koffman compete in the men's weight throw. Freshman Jordan Fong will compete in the women's weight throw – she is No. 2 in Stanford freshman history.
Meet Information:
NAU Mountain T's Invite
Where: Flagstaff, Ariz.
Site: J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome
Events:
Friday: 8 a.m.-7 p.m. PT
Saturday: 7 a.m.-2 p.m. PT
Full schedule: Click here.
Live results link: Click here.
Stanford's Schedule (All times Pacific):
Friday
5 p.m.: Women's shot put (Lena Giger, Jaimi Salone)
Saturday
9 a.m.: Men's weight throw (Landon Ellingson, Jake Koffman)
(after men's weight throw): Women's weight throw (Jordan Fong)
* * *
A tradition to uphold
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Stanford freshmen Meika Beaudoin-Rousseau and Charlie Perry will compete in the men's junior (under-20) race at the USATF Cross Country Championships on Saturday at Apalachee Regional Park.
Stanford has had great success in this race. Last year, Connor Lane, now a Stanford sophomore, captured the title on the same 8-kilometer (4.97-mile) course, with teammate Michael Vernau in third.
Lane became the eighth Stanford runner to win the U.S. junior men's title and the first since Sean McGorty in 2014. Stanford's list of winners: Greg Jimmerson (1994), Brad Hauser (1995), Brent Hauser (1996), Gabe Jennings (1997), Elliott Heath (2007), Erik Olson (2011), McGorty (2014), and Lane (2018).
Beaudoin-Rousseau, from Sunnyvale and a graduate of San Jose's Bellarmine College Prep, was the only Stanford freshman in its NCAA Championships lineup. He placed 33rd in the Pac-12 Championships and 174th at NCAA's. Perry, from Superior, Colorado, has yet to compete officially for Stanford, but will wear the Stanford singlet on Saturday.
Two alumnae are scheduled to compete in the women's open race: Aisling Cuffe and Jessica Tonn, who were Cardinal teammates and are close friends. Cuffe was a two-time Pac-12 cross country champion. They rank No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, on Stanford's all-time 5,000-meter performers' list for outdoor track and field.
Both the men's and women's open races will be at the 10K (6.2-mile) distance. Stanford alum Garrett Heath will compete in the men's open race. Heath has had great cross country success in recent years while representing the U.S. at the Great Edinburgh meet in Scotland -- winning the 4K in 2014 and 2015, and the 8K in 2016, each over top international competition.
Meet information:
USATF Cross Country Championships
Where: Tallahassee, Fla.
Site: Apalachee Regional Park
Stanford Race Time (men's U-20): Saturday, 8:40 a.m. PT
Stanford Race Distance: 8K (4.97 miles)
Results: Click here.
Premium Webcast: Click here.
Stanford's Schedule:
Saturday
8:40 a.m. PT: Men's junior (Meika Beaudoin-Rousseau, Charlie Perry)
