June 21, 2013
Day Two of U.S. Championships eventful for Stanford
DES MOINES, Iowa – Stanford freshman Amy Weissenbach shattered the school record in the 800 meters while earning surprise passage to the U.S. Championships final on Friday, and NCAA 400 hurdles champion Kori Carter made her professional debut a day after agreeing to a sponsorship deal with Nike.
It was all part of an eventful day for Stanford track and field at Drake Stadium. Earlier, Megan Glasmann, an incoming Stanford freshman, won the junior women’s javelin title and current freshman Claudia Saunders was second in the junior women’s 800.
Carter, a junior, decided to forego her final season of eligibility after setting a collegiate record and world-leading time of 53.21 to win the NCAA Championships on June 7. She signed with an agent, Wesley Felix, on Monday night and agreed to a deal on Thursday.
On Friday, she took to the track in Nike gear and advanced easily out of her first round heat, finishing second in 55.69 to advance to Saturday’s semifinal (2:03 p.m.).
Of the 18 competitors in the first round, only two were eliminated, meaning that conserving energy was key. The first round also was notable in that Lashinda Demus, the 2012 Olympic silver medalist and defending U.S. champion, did not compete, leaving the U.S. title open to a newcomer - perhaps Carter.
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Weissenbach entered the meet with the 16th-best mark in the 33-runner field and qualified 15th of 16 for the semifinals. But Weissenbach, who turned 19 on Sunday, blazed to a time of 2:00.98 to capture fourth for her heat’s final qualifying spot in the final meters.
The time was a personal record, breaking the 2:02.04 that set a national record against high school-only competition during her junior year at Harvard-Westlake in North Hollywood, Calif. It also broke Justine Fedronic’s two-week old Stanford record of 2:01.67 set in finishing third at the NCAA Championships, with Weissenbach sixth in the same race.
Weissenbach achieved an IAAF World Championships 'B' standard and will run the final on Saturday at 12:02 p.m. PT.
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Glasmann, the Utah state record-holder from Park City, threw a personal record 166-7 on her first attempt – a distance that would be enough to win by nearly 10 feet. Her series included a 165-10 on her second throw and 166-5 on her sixth.
“It’s absolutely amazing,” Glasmann said during a public address interview on the awards stand. “My mom’s my coach, so it’s a family thing.”
Megan’s mother, the former Niki Nye, was a javelin All-America at University of Texas and continues to hold the school record there.
Her previous best was 159-1, achieved while winning the New Balance Nationals last week in Greensboro, N.C. She also added a Utah state title in the discus to her javelin victory.
At Stanford, Glasmann will join two-time Pac-12 champion and first-team All-America Brianna Bain among javelin throwers under associate head coach Michelle Eisenreich.
“I'm looking forward to a team that has a bunch of great throwers and an incredible coach,” Glasmann told the Park Record earlier this year.
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Saunders set a personal record of 2:06.46 – the fifth-fastest time ever among Stanford freshmen – in finishing just short in a duel with Baylor’s Olicia Williams. As they rounded the final turn, Saunders and Williams turned a four-runner race into two-runner sprint to the finish.
Williams held off Saunders’ charge to win in 2:06.35, but the race showed the continued improvement of Saunders, in her first season in the 800 after winning an Ohio state high school title in the 100 hurdles.
Saunders and Glasmann qualified to represent the U.S. at the Pan Am Junior Championships Aug. 23-25 in Medellin, Colombia. The top two U.S. junior finishers who have achieved the IAAF junior standard earn the right to compete in the 19-and-under competition for the best in the Western Hemisphere. Stanford recruit Dylan Duvio, who was second in the men’s pole vault Thursday, also earned passage.
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In the junior men’s 1,500, two Stanford runners and one Cardinal recruit advanced to Saturday’s final from the same heat. Justin Brinkley won the first heat in 3:49.90, with incoming freshman Sean McGorty in second (3:51.16) to earn automatic qualifying spots. Will Drinkwater was seventh in the race in 3:54.86, but advanced on time.
McGorty, who won the New Balance Nationals two-mile last week in 8:45.61, led the race until Drinkwater took the lead with 600 to go, only for Brinkley to swing around on the backstretch and extend his lead to the finish line.
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Stanford’s Friday results:
Senior nationals
WOMEN
800 semifinals – 10 (4,H1), Amy Weissenbach 2:00.98 (Stanford record), qualified for final.
400 hurdles first round – 4 (2,H3), Kori Carter 55.69, qualified for final.
Junior nationals
MEN
1,500 first round – 1 (1,H1), Justin Brinkley 3:49.90, qualified for final; 2 (2,H2), Sean McGorty* 3:51.16, qualified for final; 7 (7,H1), Will Drinkwater 3:54.86, qualified for final.
WOMEN
800 final – 2, Claudia Saunders 2:06.46.
Javelin final – 1, Megan Glasmann* 166-5.
* Incoming Stanford freshman
This summary will be updated on gostanford.com with more details from Carter and Weissenbach.
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