LOS ANGELES – Allie Jones already was having the best competition of her life, but going into the final event of the seven-event two-day heptathlon on Saturday, she was asked to dig even deeper to become a Pac-12 champion.
Jones sat in third place after leading briefly after five events, but there was a chance. If she beat leader Ida Eikeng of Washington in the 800 by at least 12.65 seconds and second-place Lyndsey Lopes, also of Washington, by at least 1.13 seconds, then Jones would pull it off.
At the gun, Jones quickly bolted to a big lead over Eikeng, but Lopes latched on to Jones' tail. For the sixth time in seven events, Jones set or tied a lifetime best, clocking in at 2:18.62 – a three-second personal best. Though Jones beat Eikeng by more than 17 seconds, she couldn't quite shake Lopes, who finished only 0.43 seconds behind Jones.
It was just enough to give Lopes the victory, scoring 5,735 points to Jones' 5,727 – Jones' personal best by an incredible 455 points.
Jones, a sophomore in eligibility, was the highest Stanford placer on Day Two of the three-day Pac-12 Championships at USC's Loker Stadium, with Ky Robinson's third place and school freshman record in the 3,000 steeplechase highlighting performances by the Cardinal men.
Allie Jones. Photo by Jenny Chuang for the Pac-12.
With eight events scored on each side, the Stanford men are fifth with 24 points and the Cardinal women are ninth with 18.
Jones entered the meet as the fifth seed with a season and career best of 5,272. After earning a career-best first-day score of 3,504, Jones kept the momentum going by tying her best long jump of 19-6 ½ (5.96m) to move from second to first, a position she held through the first two events.
Her throw of 110-0 (33.53m) in the javelin was only three feet off her best, but it was only the 10th-best of the competition and dropped to her third going into the final event.
Though Jones was second by the narrowest of margins, the score was a national-level breakthrough. She vaulted from No. 8 on Stanford's all-time performers' list to No. 2, passing luminaries like Peggy Odita, the 1990 Pac-10 champion (and the mother of current Stanford beach volleyball player Xolani Hodel).
The only name ahead of Jones on the Stanford list is Tracye Lawyer, winner of one NCAA and three Pac-10 heptathlon titles and the Pac-10 player of the year in soccer. Lawyer had a wind-aided 5,855 at the 1999 NCAA meet, though her 5,809 at the 1998 Pac-10 meet counts as the school record. Jones was only 82 points short of that mark.
She wasn't the only Stanford women's standout on Saturday. Alexa Rossum was second in her 100 heat in 11.29, qualifying to the final on place and with the third-fastest time of the preliminary round. The time was not only a wind-legal personal best, tying a wind-aided time from the Big Meet against Cal, but it was the fastest by a Stanford woman since 2006. Rossum, a freshman in eligibility, now is No. 4 in Stanford history.
In her first race in nearly a month, Julia Heymach advanced to the 800 final on time, placing second in her heat in 2:04.36, a personal best that moved her past Regina Jacobs to No. 7 all-time at Stanford. Heymach joins Ella Donaghu, a heat winner in 2:04.70, another best that puts her No. 10 on the all-time Cardinal list.
Donaghu is slated to race in three finals on Sunday: the 1,500 at 3:30 p.m., the 800 at 4:40 p.m. and the 5,000 at 5:50 p.m. Whether she actually competes in all three is another matter, but Donaghu continues to showcase her incredible range and versatility. She is in Stanford's outdoor top-10 performers' lists in the 800, 1,500, steeplechase, and 5,000. Only Jacobs, Malindi Elmore and Arianna Lambie can claim spots on just two of those.
For Robinson, the true freshman from Australia held tough despite being spiked deeply in the left side of his face during the race, as blood dribbled down his neck and soaked his singlet.
A pack of five began to separate as Washington State's Colten Johnsen began to push the pace with three laps to go. Robinson, ripping off consistent laps of 69 and 70 seconds, was able to pass a faltering Johnsen on the final lap, but was unable to match the 63-second final laps of Oregon's Jackson Metzler and Washington's Joe Waskom, who took the top two places.
Robinson's 8:41.81 bettered his 8:45.32 from the West Coast Classic on April 17 and moved up one spot on the Stanford top-10 list, passing David Vidal for the No. 8 spot.
In the men's 800, Miles Smith stayed on the tail of Oregon's Cole Hocker in their heat and allowed the Ducks' standout to pull him to a personal record 1:49.17 and into the final. Smith, a graduate transfer from Maryland-Baltimore County, had never broken 1:50 before.
Miles Smith. Photo by John McGillen for the Pac-12.
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Pac-12 Championships
Saturday results (Day 2 of 3)
Winners and Stanford
Men
Team scores (8 of 21 events scored) – 1, Washington 68; 2, Oregon 54; 3, Arizona 38; 4, USC 36; 5, Stanford 24; 6 (tie), UCLA and Washington State, each 21.5; 8, California 20; 9, Arizona State 16; 10, Colorado 13.
400 prelims – 9, Gabriel Navarro (Stanford) 47.23 (PB); 12, Miles Zoltak (Stanford) 47.74.
800 prelims – 5, Miles Smith (Stanford) 1:49.17q (PB); 21, Liam Conway (Stanford) 1:59.23.
3,000 steeplechase – 1, Jackson Mestler (Oregon) 8:35.32; 3, Ky Robinson (Stanford) 8:41.81 (PB; Stanford frosh record; No. 8 Stanford AT); 7, DJ Principe (Stanford) 8:57.69 (PB).
110 hurdles prelims – 11, Jack Herkert (Stanford) 14.72.
High jump – 1, Justice Summerset (Arizona) 7-2 ½ (2.20m); 10, James Stevens (Stanford) 6-5 ½ (1.97m).
Long jump – 1, Harrison Schrage (UCLA) 25-7 ½ (7.81m); 7, Allan Hunter (Stanford) 23-10 (7.26m).
Women
Team scores (8 of 21 events scored) -- 1 (tie), Arizona State and Oregon, each 56; 3, Washington 53; 4, UCLA 27; 5, Colorado 23; 6, California 22; 7 (tie), Arizona and Oregon State, each 21; 9, Stanford 18; 10, USC 14; 11, Washington State 1; 12, Utah 0.
100 prelims – 4, Alexa Rossum (Stanford) 11.29q (PB; No. 4 Stanford AT); 15, Kennedy Gamble (Stanford) 12.01.
400 prelims – 9, Ashlan Best (Stanford) 54.59.
800 prelims – 2, Ella Donaghu (Stanford) 2:04.70q (PB; No. 10 Stanford AT); 6, Julia Heymach (Stanford) 2:04.36q (PB; No. 7 Stanford AT); 15, Ellie Deligianni (Stanford) 2:08.57; 17, Kaitlin Ryan (Stanford) 2:08.99; 23, Lily Flynn (Stanford) 2:11.56; 26, Sarah Walker (Stanford) 2:12.51.
Pole vault – 1, Makenna Barton (Washington) 13-9 ¼ (4.20m); 5, Erika Malaspina (Stanford) 13-5 ¼ (4.10m); 9, Laurel Wong (Stanford) 12-11 ½ (3.95m).
Long jump – 1, Alysah Hickey (Oregon) 21-7 ¼ (6.59m); 16, Yinka Braimah (Stanford) 17-11 ¾ (5.48m); Aria Small (Stanford) foul.
Shot put – 1, Samantha Noennig (Arizona) 56-10 (17.32m); 15, Jaimi Salone (Stanford) 43-1 ¾ (13.15m); 16, Jordan Fong (Stanford) 41-10 ½ (12.76m).
Heptathlon – 1, Lyndsey Lopes (Washington) 5,735; 2, Allie Jones (Stanford) 5,727 (PB; No. 2 Stanford AT).
Allie Jones (event, place in event, mark, points, place in competition):
First day: 100 hurdles – 1, 13.40 (PB; No. 3 Stanford AT), 1,065 (1); High jump – 3, 5-6 ½ (1.69) (PB), 842 (1); Shot put – 5, 38-10 ¼ (11.84m) (PB), 651 (2); 200 – 2, 24.36 (PB), 946 (2). First-day total: 3,504 (PB).
Second day: Long jump – 2, 19-6 ¾ (5.96m) (PB), 837 (1); Javelin -- 10, 110-0 (33.53m), 544 (3); 800 – 4, 2:18.62 (PB), 842 (2). Second-day total: 2,223 (PB). Final total: 5,727.
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Stanford's Sunday Schedule
1:15 p.m.: Men's discus – Max McKhann.
2 p.m.: Men's triple jump – Keyshawn King, Kevin Yang, Jerry Zheng.
2:30 p.m.: Women's high jump – Valerie Przekop.
3 p.m.: Men's 4x100 relay – Stanford.
3:10 p.m.: Women's 4x100 relay – Stanford.
3:30 p.m.: Men's pole vault – J.T. Herrscher, Max Manson.
3:30 p.m.: Women's 1,500 – Christina Aragon, Ella Donaghu, Lucy Jenks, Jessica Lawson.
4 p.m.: Women's discus – Jaimi Salone.
4 p.m.: Women's triple jump – Aria Small, Ellie Talius.
4:25 p.m.: Women's 100 – Alexa Rossum.
4:30 p.m.: Men's 800 – Miles Smith.
4:40 p.m.: Women's 800 – Ella Donaghu, Julia Heymach.
5:30 p.m.: Men's 5,000 – Meika Beaudoin-Rousseau, Callum Bolger, Thomas Boyden, Devin Hart, Charles Hicks, Alek Parsons, DJ Principe, Cole Sprout.
5:50 p.m.: Women's 5,000 – Grace Connolly, Ella Donaghu, Julia Heymach, Lucy Jenks, Jessica Lawson.
6:10 p.m.: Men's 4x400 relay – Stanford.
6:25 p.m.: Women's 4x400 relay – Stanford.