SEATTLE – Racing on the track for the first time since the Paris Olympics, Stanford junior Juliette Whittaker was the top collegiate finisher in the women’s invitational mile at the UW Indoor Preview/Mile City meet on Saturday.
Whittaker and sophomore teammate Sophia Kennedy placed fourth and fifth with stellar times on the 307-meter track at Dempsey Indoor. Whittaker clocked 4:31.72 and Kennedy in a big personal record of 4:32.47.
Whittaker raced three times during the cross country season, but this was her first race on the track since August 5, when she placed seventh in the 800-meter final. It also was her first race indoors since winning the 2024 NCAA indoor 800 final on March 9.
Until Saturday, Kennedy’s best mile was 4:43.09. She destroyed that and moved to No. 4 on Stanford’s all-time indoor list, trailing only Whittaker, Olympian Elise Cranny, and school 1,500 record-holder Julia Heymach.
For the men, Thomas Boyden and Cole Sprout each cracked the four-minute barrier. Boyden was eighth in the invitational mile in 3:57.35 and Sprout was ninth in 3:57.64. This was the third sub-4 each for Boyden and Sprout.
UW Indoor Preview/Mile City
At Dempsey Indoor
(307-meter flat track)
Men
Mile – Invitational: 1, Nathan Green (Washington) 3:50.74; 8, Thomas Boyden (Stanford) 3:57.35; 9, Cole Sprout (Stanford) 3:57.64; 19, Zane Bergen (Stanford) 4:00.11 (PB); 23, Leo Young (Stanford) 4:01.24; 26, Lex Young (Stanford) 4:03.59; 46, James Dargan (Stanford) 4:10.26 (PB).
Women
Mile – Invitational: 1, Gabija Galvydyte (Nike Bowerman TC) 4:27.96; 4, Juliette Whittaker (Stanford) 4:31.72; 5, Sophia Kennedy (Stanford) 4:32.47 (PB; No. 4 Stanford AT); 18, Nicola Hogg (Stanford) 4:44.61 (PB); 26, Amelia Everett (Stanford) 4:47.97 (PB); 33, Riley Stewart (Stanford) 4:49.82; 34, Hillary Studdert (Stanford) 4:50.25 (PB).