Stanford’s Elise Cranny and Jaak Uudmae earned Pac-12 track and field athlete of the week honors for their performances last weekend.
Cranny, a freshman from Longmont, Colo., was named Pac-12 Women’s Track Athlete of the Week and Uudmae, a sophomore from Estonia in his first season of eligibility, was named Men’s Field Athlete of the Week.
Cranny led Stanford to its first victory at the Penn Relays since 2006 by running the fastest split in the women’s 4×1500 meters in Philadelphia on Friday.
Cranny ran 4:17.2 on the third leg, helping the Cardinal cross the finish line with a time of 17:27.54. Cranny received the baton in the lead, but broke the race open to create a huge gap for anchor Claudia Saunders, who finished off the victory.
A day earlier, Cranny anchored Stanford to second place in the distance medley relay. Cranny covered 1,600 in 4:40.87 for the third-fastest split of the race.
Uudmae set two personal records at the Brutus Hamilton Open and Challenge in Berkeley.
At the Open meet on Friday, Uudmae jumped 6-10.75 in only his second collegiate high jump competition, bettering his previous best of 6-9 to move to No. 9 on Stanford’s all-time outdoor performers’ list.
On Saturday, he finished second among collegians and third overall in the Challenge triple jump. In his first collegiate competition in that event, Uudame improved his personal best by nearly four inches while cracking the 50-foot mark for the first time, recording a mark of 50-3.50 to place third.
Uudmae, the son of the USSR’s 1980 Olympic champion in this event, accomplished the feat despite using a short approach run. Uudmae has set a personal record (including the long jump) in every indoor and outdoor meet this year.
Women’s golf
Stanford earned a spot in the NCAA Regional Championships for the 23rd consecutive season.
The Cardinal will compete in the St. George Regional to be played at Entrada at Snow Canyon Country Club in St. George, Utah.
The NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Committee announced the teams and individuals selected to participate on Monday.
Four regional tournaments will be conducted May 7-9 to determine the championships field. Regional tournaments are considered preliminary rounds of NCAA championships competition and all national championships policies apply.
The national championships will be May 22-27 at The Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Florida, hosted by the University of South Florida.
The final three days of the championship will be televised live by the Golf Channel.