SEATTLE – Stanford's track and field season begins in earnest Saturday when the Cardinal brings 41 athletes to the UW Indoor Preview at the University of Washington.
The official indoor opening came Dec. 1 when Abbie McNulty raced the 5,000 in Boston.
Stanford returns 19 indoor and outdoor All-Americans, including 13 who have earned first-team honors. The Cardinal has 11 indoor All-Americans, including six first-team selections.
Of the past indoor first-teamers, four compete Saturday – Julian Body and Harrison Williams for the men and Lena Giger and Missy Mongiovi for the women.
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Meet Information:
UW Indoor Preview
Where: Seattle, Wash.
Site: Dempsey Indoor
Surface: 307-meter flat track.
Events: 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
Follow the Action:
Live results: Link to come.
Webcast: FloPro (premium)
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Featured events:
Harrison Williams, the reigning Pac-12 decathlon champ and the third-place finisher at the U.S. Outdoor Championships, is scheduled to begin his fifth and final collegiate season by competing in three events – the 60-meter hurdles, pole vault and long jump.
The indoor season marks the end of Lena Giger's collegiate career. She is coming off her finest national finish, a third in the shot put at NCAA Outdoors -- Stanford's highest finish in that event since 2004. Giger, sixth at NCAA Indoors last year, competes in her specialty.
Julian Body and Missy Mongiovi were first-team indoor All-Americans in the distance medley relay. Mongiovi has been part of two NCAA women's runners-up and Body was on the Cardinal's fourth-place men's team. On Saturday, each is slated to run a 600 and 4x400 relay.
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Collegiate debuts:
Eight Cardinal are expected to make their collegiate debuts. For the men, they are: Liam Conway (mile, 4x400), Andrew Franco (60, 200), Clayton Mendez (mile, 4x400), and Miles Zoltak (60, 4x400). For the women: Jordan Fong (weight throw), Kennedy Gamble (60, 4x400), Allie Jones (60 hurdles, 4x400), and Samantha Seaton (60 hurdles, long jump).
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Two to watch:
Isaiah Brandt-Sims, one of the great relay racers in school history, has only indoor left in this track eligibility. He will race in the 60.
Brandt-Sims is part of school-record 4x400 teams indoors and outdoors and helped the Cardinal advance to its first NCAA 4x400 final last spring. He is part of the five fastest outdoor 4x400s in Stanford history and, in 2016, helped Stanford to its first conference mile relay/4x400 championship in 52 years. Last year, he was honored with the Jake Gimbel Award at the annual Stanford Athletic Board awards luncheon, for best competitive attitude by a male Stanford athlete.
Aria Small completed her freshman season with a lifetime best in the triple jump of 42-3 ½ (12.89m) for fourth at the U.S. junior championships in June. It placed her No. 6 on the school's all-time performers' list. On Saturday, she competes for the first time since.