AUSTIN, Texas – Harrison Williams completed the most successful collegiate career ever for a Stanford decathlete with second place at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Thursday.
It was the highest outdoor finish for the 2019 NCAA indoor heptathlon champ, and the highest by a Stanford decathlete. Williams, a fifth-year senior, scored 8,010 points while earning his sixth first-team All-America honor.
Stanford athletes were involved in three other events at Mike A. Myers Stadium on a day in which competition was delayed four hours by weather and the women's javelin was postponed until Friday.
In her first NCAA Outdoor Championships, fifth-year senior Abbie McNulty ran a gritty 10,000 meters, placing 10th in her final collegiate race to earn second-team honors. Also, Kaitlyn Merritt earned her first All-America honor, placing 23th in the pole vault at 13-3 ½ (4.05m). And Ella Donaghu and Jessica Lawson advanced to Saturday's women's 1,500 final.
Harrison Williams. Photo by Spencer Allen/SportsImageWire.com.
Williams trailed Georgia sophomore Johannes Erm by only 75 points after the first day, but Erm never gave Williams a break on Day Two, using consistently strong performances to record 8,352 points.
Williams didn't have his best day, but other than a brief drop to fifth after the discus, he remained locked into second as other contenders dropped away. By the end of the meet, only 15 of the 24 finished the competition.
"I'm a little disappointed," Williams said. "I wanted to come out with a win."
Williams began with a tough 110 high hurdles race to open the day and then fouled twice in the discus, before getting in a throw. By that point, Erm had assembled a substantial lead and would have needed to falter for Williams to catch him.
"Johannes had an incredible meet," Williams said. "I'm glad that he beat me and not the opposite."
"The main thing I've learned is just to stay consistent and put together a mark in every event, which is what I did and I was fortunate to come out in second place."
Harrison Williams in the javelin. Photo by Spencer Allen/SportsImageWire.com.
Williams won the pole vault at 16-9 ¼ (5.11m), but had grip problems when he went up to a bigger pole to tackle 17-1 (5.21m) and the pole dislodged from his hands on his final attempt at that height, preventing a final chance to really dig into Erm's lead.
Williams will compete at the USATF Championships in Des Moines in July in an attempt to finish among the top three and reach the standard (8,200) to make the U.S. squad for the World Championships in Doha, Qatar.
"I think it's very doable," Williams said. "I was definitely on pace to score 8,200 in this meet after the first day, and even left a lot of points out there."
Williams, who broke the school decathlon record five times, will continue to train at Stanford under associate head coach Michael Eskind through the 2020 Olympic cycle.
* * *
Abbie McNulty. Photo by Spencer Allen/SportsImageWire.com.
Abbie McNulty had a plan for her first NCAA 10,000 – to stick to the lead pack as long as possible, and then try to pick off runners coming back to her in the later stages of the race. That's exactly what McNulty did.
McNulty remained in the lead pack until six laps remained, even moving up as other runners fell off the pace. The final six laps were tough, but McNulty kept her poise.
"I tried to keep racing my own race," she said. "Just look for them to come back and try to catch the next person, which worked out well. When I saw runners coming back towards me, it was like another target to try to reach."
Four runners still had a shot at two remaining spots in the top eight – and first-team All-America honors -- and McNulty pushed hard over the final lap to be one of them. Though she didn't reach that goal, but left everything out there, staggering in her final laps to the finish.
Having graduated in March with a degree in bioengineering, McNulty finished her career strong, also reaching her first NCAA Indoor meet in March.
"I want to keep running, for sure," she said. "I really feel like I found my groove, not only physically, but mentally, learning how to race and be in control of myself.
"I want to keep on finding my potential. I feel like there's a lot left to find and I'm not ready to stop exploring that. My heart's still 100 percent in this. I want to see if there are opportunities, and I think there are."
* * *
Ella Donaghu and Jessica Lawson at the finish. Photo by Spencer Allen/SportsImageWire.com.
In the women's 1,500, Ella Donaghu and Jessica Lawson each advanced to Saturday's final, but it looked for a moment as if Donaghu displaced Lawson.
With five automatic qualifiers coming out of each of the two section, plus the next two fastest out of either race, Donaghu and Lawson found themselves in a six-runner pack down the homestretch, with one runner to be left out of an automatic qualifying spot.
Lawson made a move at the top of the final turn, but labored over the final 50 as Donaghu found room on the inside. With a lean, Donaghu edged Lawson for fifth, 4:12.65 to 4:12.69.
"I knew it was close," Donaghu said. "I feel there was a whole bunch of people and I was just trying to get every possible inch at the end."
But Lawson wound up the top qualifier on time.
"I'm so stoked that we get to go together to the final," Donaghu said. "We've really been feeding off each other's energy so it's awesome that we get to have one more race together."
This is the first NCAA meet for the sophomores, and they will follow Elise Cranny and Christina Aragon, who were third and fourth last year, into the 1,500 final.
"We both feed off each other and the other girls at home," Lawson said. "We have a really solid training group. It's awesome to represent everyone here. For me personally, it's very calming to have someone else to warmup with and race with. It's even more special doing it with your teammate right alongside you."
This is the first full season for Donaghu, a junior academically, and by far her best.
"It's been a long time coming," she said. "I knew I belonged at this meet since the second I got to Stanford. Being here isn't something that's shocking to either of us because we know we belong here. And the beautiful thing about being in the West region is you race the absolute best girls in the country – at the conference meet, at the regional meet.
"We knew coming in here this is no different than we've done all year and we're trying not to view it as this huge deal, because we absolutely belong here. It's cool to finally prove that to ourselves and be where we want to be at the end of the season."
This marks the fifth consecutive year that Stanford has qualified at least one runner into the women's 1,500 final and sixth consecutive year the Cardinal has been represented in the 1,500 semifinals.
* * *
Kaitlyn Merritt. Photo by Spencer Allen/SportsImageWire.com.
NCAA Championships
At Mike A. Myers Stadium
Thursday's results
Winners and all Stanford
Men
Decathlon – 1, Johannes Erm (Georgia) 8,352; 2, Harrison Williams (Stanford) 8,010.
Harrison Williams (event, place in event, mark, points, place in competition):
First day: 100 – 4, 10.85, 894 (4); Long jump -- 4, 24-0 ¼ (7.32m), 891 (4); Shot put -- 9, 45-5 (13.84m), 719 (3); High jump – 3, 6-7 (2.01m), 813 (3); 400 – 2, 47.19, 813 (2). First-day total: 4,266.
Second day: 110 hurdles – 6, 14.55, 905 (2); Discus – 10, 128-11 (39.30m), 650 (5); Pole vault – 1, 16-9 ¼ (5.11m), 944 (2); Javelin – 13, 157-2 (47.91m), 558 (2); 1,500 – 7, 4:39.01, 687 (2). Second-day total: 3,744.
Women
1,500 semifinals – 7, Ella Donaghu (Stanford) 4:12.65q; 8, Jessica Lawson (Stanford) 4:12.69q.
10,000 final – 1, Weini Kelati (New Mexico) 33:10.84; 10, Abbie McNulty (Stanford) 33:38.55.
Pole vault – 1, Victoria Hoggard (Arkansas) 14-11 ½ (4.56m); 23, Kaitlyn Merritt (Stanford) 13-3 ½ (4.05m).
* * *
Stanford's schedule
Friday
12:30 p.m. PT (2:30 p.m. CT): Women's javelin final (Flight 1: Virginia Miller; Flight 2: Jenna Gray, Mackenzie Little).
5:54 p.m. PT (7:54 p.m. CT): Men's 3,000 steeplechase final (Steven Fahy).
7:25 p.m. PT (9:25 p.m. CT): Men's 5,000 final (Grant Fisher, Thomas Ratcliffe).
Saturday
3 p.m. PT (5 p.m. CT): Women's high jump final (Rachel Reichenbach).
3:05 p.m. PT (5:05 p.m. CT): Women's discus (Flight 1: Jaimi Salone).
3:41 p.m. PT (5:41 p.m. CT): Women's 1,500 final (Ella Donaghu, Jessica Lawson).
5:25 p.m. PT (7:25 p.m. CT): Women's 5,000 final (Fiona O'Keeffe).
* * *
Broadcast Schedule (All times Pacific)
Friday
12:30-7:30 p.m.: ESPN3
5:30-8 p.m.: ESPN
Saturday
11:30 a.m.-5:15 p.m.: ESPN3
3:30-6 p.m.: ESPN2
The decathletes. Photo by Spencer Allen/SportsImageWire.com.