Distance Runners Come Up Big At Texas A&M

Distance Runners Come Up Big At Texas A&M
Jake Riley, Dylan Ferris, Georgia Griffin and Whitney Liehr earn meet titles for Stanford.

Dylan Ferris won the 800 meters.

Jan. 30, 2010


College Station, Texas - The Stanford track and field teams took part in the Texas A&M Challenge on Saturday with strong results. The unique meet pitted Stanford and other Pac-10 schools against schools from the Big-12 and the SEC. The Cardinal, Oregon and Washington State represented the Pac-10 and finished second in both the men's and women's competitions. The Big-12, represented by Texas A&M, Texas and Baylor won both competitions, while the SEC, represented by Arkansas, Florida and South Carolina finished third.

The Stanford men were led by a big day from the distance runners. Jake Riley led the way with a personal-best time of 13:52.87 to win the 5,000 meters. The time was an NCAA provisional mark and also moved Riley into 10th all-time on men's indoor 5K list. Brendan Gregg also competed in the 5,000, finishing third with a time of 14:30.97.

The other event champion was Dylan Ferris who captured the 800 meters with a provisional time of 1:48.67. Ferris missed the auto standard by less than a second, but did set an indoor PR and moved all the way to second on the Stanford all-time list indoors. Justin Reed also competed in the 800, finishing ninth with a time of 1:52.32.

The Cardinal also had strong results in the 3,000 meters with three NCAA provisional times. Leading the way was Justin Marpole-Bird who placed second with a time of 7:57.15. The time puts Marpole-Bird in good position to earn his first trip to an NCAA Championships in track and field. Also earning provisional marks were JT Sullivan who finished seventh (8:01.61) and Benjamin Johnson who finished eighth (8:04.54). Miles Unterreiner (8:05.41) just missed the mark to place ninth, while Tyler Valdes made his Stanford debut, finishing 15th (8:21.28).





Other freshmen debuts came in the mile, where Andrew Berberick, Tyler Stutzman and Ramsey Chapin ran well. Berberick finished third with a time of 4:04.74 to lead the way, while Stutzman was fifth (4:06.79) and Chapin was ninth (4:14.93).

In the distance medley relay, the Cardinal also earned the NCAA provisional standard with a time of 9:30.25 to finished second. The team of Sullivan, Amaechi Morton, Ferris and Marpole-Bird just missed winning the event in a battle with Oregon.

In the sprints, Stanford was led by Morton who placed sixth in the open 400 meters with a time of 47.41. Durell Coleman also competed in the event finishing 16th (49.09).

Both Tyrone McGraw and Daniel Belch doubled in the 100 and 200 meters. McGraw recorded times of 6.95 and 22.15, while Belch was at 6.97 and 22.11. Zach Chandy led Stanford in the 200 with a time of 21.86 to finish ninth.

Finally, the Cardinal placed fifth in the 4x400 meters with a time of 3:14.14. The Cardinal team was made up of Morton, Coleman, Chandy and Reed.

In the field, Stanford was led by Jules Sharpe who placed second in the high jump with a leap of 6-11. In the throws, Geoffrey Tabor finished fourth in the shot put with a toss of 55-1 ½, while Carter Wells finished fifth in the weight throw with a toss of 58-8 ¾.


Georgia Griffin (r) and Kate Niehaus finished 1-2 in the 5,000 meters



The women were also led by the distance runners with Georgia Griffin capturing the meet title in the 5,000 meters. Griffin earned an NCAA provisional mark of 16:38.25. Placing second and also earning a provisional mark was Kate Niehaus with a time of 16:41.07. Madeleine O'Meara placed third with a time of 16:50.68.

In the 3,000 meters Stephanie Marcy barely missed the provisional standard, finishing fifth. Her time of 9:32.93 missed the mark by less than a second. Also competing in the event was Madeline Duhon who finished 10th with a time of 9:39.59.

In the middle distances, Stanford was represented by Victoria Pennings and Kristin Reese in the mile and Justine Fedronic in the 800 meters. Pennings (4:59.18) placed ninth, while Reese (5:06.39) placed 14th in the mile and Fedronic (2:13.32) placed 11th in the 800.

The Cardinal team of Fedronic, Hannah Farley, Duhon and Reese competed in the DMR to place fifth. The team finished with a time of 11:38.74 in an event that covers 4,000 meters.

The sprint/hurdle group was led by Griffin Matthew and Whitney Liehr, who both made a final. Matthew placed seventh in the 60 meters (7.57) and Liehr placed seventh in the 60-meter hurdles (8.77). Both athletes actually ran faster in the prelims with Matthew finishing with a time of 7.51 and Liehr at 8.71. Matthew also led Stanford in the 200 meters, placing eighth with a time of 24.49.

Also competing in the sprints were Carissa Levingston (7.58), Arantxa King (7.77) and Brittni Dixon-Smith (8.12) in the 60 meters and Karynn Dunn (8.84) in the 60-meter hurdles. In addition, Hannah Farley (55.25) and Shataya Hendricks (55.44) placed seventh and eighth, respectively, in the 400 meters.

In the 4x400-meter relay, the Cardinal team of Farley, Hendricks, Levingston and Matthew finished eighth with a time of 3:47.20.

In the field, Stanford was led by Liehr who took home the meet title in the triple jump. The Stanford junior earned the provisional standard with a mark of 41-10 ½. Also competing in the event was Jordan Merback who placed fifth with a mark of 38-9 ½.

The Cardinal were well represented in the long jump, led by King who placed sixth with a mark of 19-9 ¾. Also faring well were Dunn (19-4 ¾) in seventh, Liehr (19-2) in eighth and Dixon-Smith (18-9) in 10th.

The other jumper was Elaine Patten who placed third in the high jump with a leap of 5-6 ½.

Finally, in the throws Stanford was represented by Molly Kinsella who placed sixth in the weight throw (48-7 ½) and 10th in the shot put (38-4 ¾).

Stanford will be back in action next weekend with several options of meets to attend. Nebraska, New Mexico and Washington all will be hosting meets that should offer the Cardinal plenty of competition in all events.

Courtesy Stanford