WILLIAMS SETS STANFORD INDOOR 400 RECORD

Jan. 28, 2014



WILLIAMS SETS STANFORD INDOOR 400 RECORD



Stanford opens track and field season



SEATTLE – 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 4x400 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 4x400 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 ¾), 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 4x400 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 4x400, 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 ¾ 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 Chris Miltenberg, Stanford’s Franklin P. Johnson Director of Track and Field. “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.”





For more information, contact:



David Kiefer

Assistant Athletic Communications Director

Stanford University

dkiefer@stanford.edu

(650) 759-0258, cell