Stanford Women's Indoor Track And Field Captures MPSF Title

Women's Indoor Track And Field Captures MPSF Title
The women win their fifth MPSF title, while the men finish seventh.




Arantxa King



Feb. 28, 2009


Complete Results




Updated Women's Indoor Records



Updated Men's Indoor Records


Seattle, Wash. - The Stanford women's track and field team captured the MPSF title on Saturday afternoon, totaling 115 point to easily outdistance second-place Oregon who finished with 91.5. On the men's side, Stanford finished with 68 points to finish in seventh place.

The women claimed their first MPSF title since 2006 and their fifth overall.

The Stanford women had a trio in individual conference champions on Saturday, a day after Kate Niehaus earned the first victory of the weekend for the Cardinal in the 5,000 meters.

Stanford continued to prove their strength in the distances by sweeping the individual championship in each of the three longest races of the meet. Lauren Centrowitz came through with the title in the mile, while Laurynne Chetelat captured the 3,000 meters.

Centrowitz finished with a time of 4:39.00 to break the meet record set by former teammates Arianna Lambie by just a hundredth of a second.

A second meet record of Lambie's would fall in the 3,000 meters when Chetelat finished with a time of 9:08.15. The time by Chetelat was the fastest by a Stanford runner this season and the sixth fastest all-time at that distance for Stanford. It was also a NCAA automatic standard for the Stanford freshman.

Also in the 3,000, Niehaus came back a day later from her 5,000-meter title to place seventh in the 3k with a time of 9:28.81, which was a provisional standard.

The third individual champion of the day was Arantxa King in the triple jump. King, a 2008 Olympian for Bermuda, won the event with a mark of 42-4. It was a NCAA provisional standard for King who competed last season at the NCAA Indoor meet in the long jump.

Also scoring in the triple jump for Stanford was Brittni Dixon-Smith who finished seventh with a mark of 39-1 ¾.

Other top finishers in the field events for Stanford were Michaela Wallerstedt and Tessa Flippin. Wallerstedt finished third in the shot put with a personal-best toss of 51-7 ¾, while Flippin was sixth in the high jump with a personal-best of 5-8 ½.

The Cardinal showed their depth in the 800 meters where three athletes finished in the top eight and scored team points. Freshman Maria Lattanzi led the way with a personal best and NCAA provisional standard time of 2:08.51. The time also moved Lattanzi into seventh on the Stanford all-time list.

Just behind Lattanzi were Kaylin Pennington in fifth with a time of 2:09.10 and Madeline Duhon in seventh with a time of 2:09.48. Both times were personal bests for the Stanford runners.

In the 4x400 relay the Cardinal finished sixth with a time of 3:45.21. The team of Joy O'Hare, Idara Otu, Claire Cormier Thielke and Ashley Menzies scored more key points for the Cardinal.

Finally in the sprints, Stanford scored in the 60 meters with an eighth place finish from Griffin Matthew (7.59) and in the 400 meters with an eighth place finish from Idara Otu (55.67).


Myles Bradley



On the men's side, Myles Bradley led the way with a MPSF title in the 60-meter hurdles. Bradley finished with a time of 7.79 seconds to take home the title.

Also in the event was J.J. Jackson who finished fifth with a time of 8.14 seconds.

Freshman long distance specialist Chris Derrick competed in the 3,000 meters where he finished second with a provisional time of 7:57.30. Derrick already has an auto time in the 5,000 meters where he will likely compete at nationals.

In the mile, a pair of Stanford veterans scored points. Elliot Heath finished third with a time of 4:01.91, while Justin Marpole-Bird finished fifth with a time of 4:04.43.

The other freshman senstation on display was Amaechi Morton in the 400 meters. Morton finished fourth with a time of 47.08.

Morton also doubled up in the 4x400-meters when he teamed with Spencer Castro, Zach Chandy and Durell Coleman. The Stanford team finished fourth with a time of 3:13.00.

Finally in the pole vault a pair of Stanford athletes scored points. Corey Dysick led the Stanford vaulters with a personal-best mark of 16-11 ½. In addition, Casey Roche cleared 16-5 ½, which was good enough for seventh.

The Cardinal will complete their indoor season from College Station, Texas, on March 13-14 at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Entering the MPSF Championships both the men's and women's teams were ranked No. 25 in the country.

Courtesy Stanford