Stanford sophomore Kristyn Williams broke the school indoor record for the 400 meters during a meet-record breaking performance at the UW Indoor Preview track and field meet Saturday.
Williams ran 53.39 on the 307-meter flat Mondo track at the Dempsey Indoor facility on the University of Washington campus.
The mark broke the Stanford mark of 53.57 by Amber Purnell and the meet mark of 55.41, by Amber Teteris, both from 2006. The time is the sixth-fastest, indoors or outdoors, in school history.
“She broke her foot in the 4×400 at the NCAA regionals last year,” Stanford sprints and hurdles coach Jody Stewart said. “She finished the race, but she’s spent all her time since then getting fit and getting strong. She’s had a challenging comeback. Now, she’s definitely proven she’s on pace to do something special.”
Stanford earned six victories in an impressive overall performance to open the season, including four additions to school Top 10 lists.
The Cardinal won both 4×400 relays, and its individual winners were Justine Fedronic in the women’s 1,000 (2:42.26), Luke Lefebure in the men’s 600 (1:18.39) and Darian Brooks in the men’s triple jump (a 49-11 3/4), as well as Williams.
Steven Solomon, a 2012 Olympic 400 finalist from Australia, made his collegiate indoor debut with a blazing 45.8 split on the third leg of the Cardinal’s winning 4×400 men’s relay. The sophomore joined Jackson Shumway, freshman Scott Buttinger, and Lefebure to run 3:13.62 — the No. 10 indoor time in Stanford history.
Williams finished her day with 53.1 split while running the second leg on the winning women’s 4×400, joining twin Kaitlyn Williams, Amy Weissenbach and Fedronic to post a time of 3:41.22.
Fedronic and Weissenbach (2:44.93) staged a memorable duel in the 1,000. The two are the fastest 800 runners in school history and both were first-team outdoor All-Americans last spring.
They finished 1-2, with teammate Rebecca Mehra (2:46.67) third. Official records for the seldom-run event are not kept by Stanford, but Fedronic’s time is most likely the fastest ever run.
Brooks returned after missing all of 2013 with a foot injury and leaped to a personal record despite using a short approach rather than the longer run he will use as the season unfolds. Brooks’ 49-11 ¾ was the No. 5 all-time indoor mark at Stanford.
Top recruit Dylan Duvio made his collegiate debut and earned the No. 5 indoor pole vault mark ever at Stanford. His third-place 16-10 3/4 was the second-highest ever by a Stanford freshman.
Five Stanford milers set personal records in the men’s event, with Joe Rosa (4:01.72) and Erik Olson (4:02.12) finishing second and third. Rosa, Stanford’s No. 1 runner during the 2012 cross-country season, missed cross country last fall because of injury, but made a strong season track debut, especially for a runner who specializes in longer distances.
“Every single person, across the board, competed today,” said Stanford coach Chris Miltenberg. “That was the most exciting thing. We are so far ahead of where we were last year. There were some really good signs of things to come.”
Men’s gymnastics
No. 3 Stanford extended its winning streak over No. 4 California to nine Saturday evening, earning a convincing 435.200-426.350 victory in the Cardinal’s home opener.
It was the second Stanford win in as many weeks over the Golden Bears after earning the victory last week in Berkeley.
And the results from both meets are eerily similar.
For the second consecutive week Stanford won four of six events, Cardinal gymnasts claimed six individual victories and Akash Modi and Chris Turner delivered standout performances.
After a collegiate debut that earned him conference and national recognition, Akash Modi continued to shine in his debut on The Farm. Modi earned the individual win on parallel bars, delivering an outstanding routine to earn a 15.850. According to the College Gymnastics Association, Modi’s score is the fourth-highest all-time collegiate score since the scoring system was adjusted in 2008.
Modi also posted victories in the all-around with a 90.100 and floor with a 15.400, for the second straight week.
“With Akash being a freshman, no matter how good you are in the junior ranks, there’s a transition period into the senior and collegiate ranks and he hasn’t missed a step,” head coach Thom Glielmi said. “He’s into the team concept and clearly a big contributor.”
Turner continued the strong start to his senior campaign, finishing first on pommel horse with a collegiate-best 15.100 and tying California’s Donothan Bailey for the high bar victory with a collegiate-best 14.950. Turner also posted collegiate-bests in the all-around (87.150) and parallel bars (15.000).
“He’s put in so much time and work over the past three and a half years, and it’s nice to see him enjoying competing without being stressed out,” Glielmi said.
Along with Modi and Turner, Stanford received balanced scoring from a variety of Cardinal gymnasts throughout the meet. Stanford outscored California on pommel horse (72.250-66.150), rings (72.750-72.600), vault (73.900-73.750) and parallel bars (73.100-69.550).
“What really stood out to me was how the team paced themselves, especially for the second meet of the season,” Glielmi said. “The leadership of the captains keeps the team on track and focused so they’re able to be consistent in all six events.”
Freshman Taylor Seaton had a big day on vault and claimed the first individual victory of his collegiate career, recording a meet-best 15.300. He was followed by Kevin Baker who tallied a collegiate-best 15.000 and Mike Levy (14.650).
Stanford got off to strong start on floor to take an early 71.050-66.150 lead after the first rotation and never trailed in the competition. Modi led the way on floor with a 15.400, followed by Levy (14.500) and Jonathan Deaton (14.300).
The Cardinal hit all six pommel horse routines and had five of six gymnasts score 14.050 or higher. Turner led with a 15.100, followed by Modi (14.850), Andrew Misiolek (14.150) and Andrew McCabe (14.100).
Stanford’s rings team continued provide consistent scores with Modi earning top marks on the team with a 15.150. Mike Levy earned a collegiate-best 15.100 and was followed by Jordan DeClerk (14.450) and Brandon Beckhardt (14.100).
Turner and Baker tallied collegiate bests on parallel bars, scoring 15.000 and 14.400, respectively. David Frankl contributed a strong routine as well with a 14.150.
Holding a comfortable lead entering the final rotation, the Cardinal closed out the meet with six hit routines on high bar. Turner led the way with a collegiate-best 14.950, followed by Paul Hichwa (14.850) and Modi (14.500).
Stanford will see California for a third consecutive week next Saturday at the Stanford Open in Burnham Pavilion at 7 p.m. The two schools will be joined by defending NCAA Champion, Michigan, and the Washington club team.
Men’s volleyball
For the second straight night, the No. 1 Stanford men’s volleyball team fell in five sets on the road, this time at No. 11 UC Santa Barbara, 13-25, 25-21, 25-12, 23-25, 12-15, Saturday, in Rob Gym. The Cardinal drops to 3-2 overall and 0-2 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The Gauchos improve to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the conference.
“UCSB came out well to start the match,” said head coach John Kosty. “I think we did a nice job of regrouping, and then it just became a battle between two good teams. The ball bounced their way more at the end of the match and we just were not able to get over the hump.”
enior outside hitter Brian Cook led Stanford with 17 kills, seven digs and three blocks and hit an even .300. Senior outside hitter Steven Irvin added 16 kills and nine digs, but had eight attack errors. Redshirt junior Scott Sakaida entered the match as the libero in the second set and finished with a season-high 12 digs.
“[Brian] Cook finished the match really strong for us tonight,” said Kosty. “I also thought Scott Sakaida came in at libero in the second set and did a really good job for the rest of the match.”
Sophomore setter James Shaw totaled 45 assists, five kills and three blocks. Sophomore middle Conrad Kaminski finished with a match-high eight blocks to go with six kills.
Stanford remains on the road next week, travelling to Provo, Utah for an MPSF match at No. 8 BYU on Friday.
Women’s tennis
Ellen Tsay will face off against No. 1-ranked Robin Anderson of UCLA on Sunday afternoon in the championship match of the Freeman Memorial Invitational in Las Vegas, Nev.
Tsay, ranked No.94 in the nation, has already knocked off three ranked players along the way.
No. 1 Stanford is competing at a pair of tournaments this weekend, with a split squad also participating at the NCTC Classic in Indian Wells, Calif.
By Stanford Athletics
By Stanford Athletics
By Stanford Athletics