Stanford Announces Track and Field Recruiting Class

Eleven state champs and two foreign stars represented




First-year coach Chris Miltenberg announces his first recruiting class.



Feb. 20, 2013

STANFORD, Calif. - Chris Miltenberg, Stanford’s Franklin P. Johnson Director of Track and Field, has announced the signing of 13 athletes to letters of intent to his first recruiting class, including nine men and four women.

Each of the 11 Americans in the class have won state championships, six are state record-holders, and three are state track and field athletes of the year. Canada and Estonia also are represented among a group that consists of four distance runners, three middle-distance runners, two discus throwers, two horizontal jumpers, one javelin thrower, and one pole vaulter.

The Stanford men’s track and field class of 2017 is Scott Buttinger (Waterloo, Ontario), Tom Coyle (Lansdale, Pa.), Brendan Duncan (Waterloo, Ill.), Dylan Duvio (River Ridge, La.), Patrick Gibson (Squalicum, Wash.), Jack Keelan (La Grange Park, Ill.), Sean McGorty (Fairfax, Va.), Jaak Uudmae (Talinn, Estonia), and Sam Wharton (Tipp City, Ohio).

The women’s class is Valarie Allman (Longmont, Colo.), Sophia Chase (Burke, Va.), Carla Forbes (Newton, Mass.), and Megan Glasmann (Park City, Utah).

The class will strengthen a program coming off strong seasons in indoor and outdoor track and field, and in cross country.

In 2012 conference competition, the Cardinal women won the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation indoor track title, were second in the Pac-12 outdoors, and third in Pac-12 cross country. In women’s nationals, Stanford was third in cross country, sixth in outdoor track, and 13th in indoor track.

The Stanford men were first in NCAA West Regional cross country, second in Pac-12 cross country, second in the MPSF indoor track championships, and fifth in the Pac-12 outdoors. In men’s nationals, Stanford was 11th in indoor track, 13th outdoors, and 16th in cross country.

This year, the Cardinal returns nine 2012 All-America women and five men, spanning all disciplines. Among them are NCAA javelin runner-up Brianna Bain, reigning Pac-12 cross-country champ Kathy Kroeger, and defending Pac-12 100-meter hurdles champ Kori Carter. Expecting to make his collegiate debut during the outdoor season is 2012 Olympic 400-meter finalist Steven Solomon, a freshman from Australia.







Stanford competes in the MPSF indoor championships Friday and Saturday in Seattle and opens the outdoor season March 2 at the Outdoor Opener at Cobb Track and Angell Field.

Men:

Scott Buttinger (Ressurection Catholic Secondary School); Waterloo, Ontario, Canada: Buttinger ran 3:47.91 for the 1,500 meters in June to become the fastest Canadian high school runner of 2012 at that distance. He went on to finish sixth in the Canadian junior nationals in the 800, clocking 1:52.70. Buttinger’s sister Maddie was a track All-America in the multi-events at Notre Dame and two other sisters play NCAA Division I field hockey.

Tom Coyle (La Salle College HS); Lansdale, Pa.: The Pennsylvania state AAA champion at 1,600 meters, Coyle has bests of 1:51.78 in the 800 – among the nation’s top 10 times for a high school junior -- and 4:11.97 in the 1,600. Coyle has won multiple all-state honors in both track and cross country.

Brendan Duncan (Waterloo HS); Waterloo, Ill.: One of the top discus recruits in the nation, Duncan has the fourth-best throw in the nation (192-7) among returning high school throwers. He also has potential to throw the hammer at a high level. Duncan burst onto the scene as a sophomore, setting the Illinois Class 2A meet record of 170-9 and repeated as champ in 2012. He finished fifth in the New Balance Outdoor Nationals in the discus and eighth in the shot put.

Dylan Duvio (John Curtis Christian School); River Ridge, La.: One of the top young pole vaulters in the world, Duvio ranked No. 5 in the pole vault on the 2012 world youth list with a best of 16-6½. He improved upon that with a state indoor record clearance of 16-7 on Feb. 9 – the second-highest high school jump in the nation in 2013. He has cleared 16-0 in all five meets this season. Duvio, the defending Louisiana Class 2A outdoor champion and state indoor champ, will join his brother, sophomore pole vaulter Dalton Duvio, on the Stanford team.

Patrick Gibson (Squalicum HS); Squalicum, Wash.: Gibson set the Washington 2A record for 3,200 meters with his championship-winning time of 9:01.86. The time was among the top 15 in the nation among juniors for 2012. Gibson also was second in the state in the 1,600, in 4:11.29. Gibson set a Nike BorderClash record in winning the cross-country dual between top runners from Washington and Oregon in 13:44 for 2.73 miles, and was 24th at the FootLocker national championships.

Jack Keelan (St. Ignatius College Prep); La Grange Park, Ill.: Keelan ran one of the top five fastest 3,200-meter times for a junior in 2012 with an 8:55.86 at Arcadia. In cross country, Keelan ran away from the field at the Illinois 3A championship meet while clocking 14:05 for three miles – the 10th-fastest time in state history – and went on to place 26th at the Nike Cross Nationals.

Sean McGorty (Chantilly HS); Fairfax, Va.: One of the top recruits in the country, McGorty won every one of his cross-country races in 2012, except for a runner-up finish in the FootLocker nationals in San Diego. Among his victories was a state-meet record 14:47 over 5K to win the Virginia Group AAA title. This year, McGorty has run the fastest 1,600 (4:11.55) and second-fastest 3,200 (9:07.50) indoor times in the nation. McGorty is the defending Virginia AAA champion in the 3,200 (9:05.51) and ran a 4:11.95 mile during a special Nike Elite camp high school race at the Olympic trials. He also has a 1,600 best of 4:09.19.

Jaak Uudmae (Talinn English College); Talinn, Estonia: One of the top young horizontal jumpers in Europe, Uudmae comes from a distinguished family of triple jumpers. His father, Jaak, was the 1980 Olympic gold medal winner while competing for the Soviet Union. Brother Jaanus won the 2005 NCAA indoor title while competing for Arkansas, and sister Merilyn jumps for Alabama. Uudmae has a best of 49-11¾ and could make an immediate impact for the Cardinal.

Sam Wharton (Tippecanoe HS); Tipp City, Ohio: Wharton won the Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Ore., to complete an impressive senior cross-country season in which he won the Ohio Division 1 title and was sixth at the FootLocker nationals. In track, Wharton was second in the Ohio Division 1 3,200 final last spring, but his time of 9:01.24 is the 14th-best returning time in the country. Wharton was fifth in the New Balance Outdoor Nationals in the 5,000 with a time of 14:46 – the third-best returning time in the nation.

Women:

Valarie Allman (Silver Creek HS): Longmont, Colo.: Allman is the Colorado state record-holder in the discus despite only two years of training in the event. Her potential for improvement is high and Allman could make a big impact at Stanford in the years to come. Allman recorded her best of 164-0 on her final throw at the state Class 4A meet, breaking an 18-year-old state mark. Allman, who carries a perfect 4.0 GPA, was named Gatorade Colorado Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year and finished the season ranked No. 4 among all high school throwers.

Sophia Chase (Lake Braddock HS); Burke, Va.: Chase is a three-time FootLocker nationals finalist and two-time FootLocker All-American. The Gatorade Virginia Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year is a two-time Virginia Group AAA state cross-country champion and a two-time defending state 3,200-meter champ in track. Chase went undefeated in cross country until placing sixth at the FootLocker nationals in San Diego. Chase ran a 4:51.30 in the 1,600 on Saturday to break a Virginia AAA Northern Region indoor record that had stood since 1998. On the same day, she competed in the state swimming championships, finishing 14th in the 100-yard breaststroke. Her best track times are 2:10.81 (800), 4:50.81 (1,600), and 10:27.13 (3,200).

Carla Forbes (Newton North HS); Newton, Mass.: One of the top athletes in the nation, Forbes has won nine national championships, including indoors and outdoors in the long and triple jumps. In addition, Forbes has won six Massachusetts All-State titles, including three outdoor and three indoor. She is the Gatorade Massachusetts Athlete of the Year and owns the state and New England record in the triple jump at 42-9½, and set a New Balance Indoor National meet record of 42-5¼. Forbes also has a best of 20-3 in the long jump.

Megan Glasmann (Park City HS); Park City, Utah: Glasmann broke her own Utah record in the javelin when she unleashed a toss of 149-0¼ to win the state 3A title last spring. Glasmann, who doubled as the state javelin and discus champ (129-3¼) for the second consecutive year, is the No. 4 returning javelin thrower in the country. Glasmann was fifth at the 2012 U.S. junior nationals. Her mother is the former Niki Nye, a javelin All-American who continues to hold the school record at Texas.
Courtesy Stanford