Alejandro Salinas – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com Breaking news from the Farm since 1892 Sun, 13 Jun 2021 07:03:16 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://stanforddaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/cropped-DailyIcon-CardinalRed.png?w=32 Alejandro Salinas – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com 32 32 204779320 Salinas: Thank you, Stanford https://stanforddaily.com/2021/06/12/salinas-thank-you-stanford/ https://stanforddaily.com/2021/06/12/salinas-thank-you-stanford/#respond Sun, 13 Jun 2021 01:31:18 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1183376 Looking back on it all, the last four years have gone by faster than I could have imagined. While it still feels like the pandemic “robbed” us of a more traditional senior year, I am grateful for the time I did spend on campus and the memories that came along with it.

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When I was a freshman, I came to campus a week early to participate in the Stanford Pre-Orientation Trip (SPOT), a week-long backpacking trip at Plumas National Forest in northern California. I remember only signing up for the trip because they said we’d be done by 8 a.m. on move-in day, which to me meant I’d have a good chance at picking the better side of my freshman dorm room — turns out my freshman roommate was an athlete so he arrived over the summer. 

Nevertheless, the experience was incredible. That backpacking trip was my first taste of what the next four years would turn out to be like: a collection of memories forged together by laughter, humility and teamwork. With the exception of our two fabulous upperclass group leaders, Grayson and Austin, we were all complete strangers to each other, but nevertheless excited to literally take the first steps of our Stanford experiences together.

Over the course of the week, our group bonded over memes, math riddles, funny inside jokes, and, of course, the 11-person midnight group poop on our final night, which I believe still stands as a record in SPOT. That week was unforgettable largely due to the friends I made, who turned the seven to 10 miles we hiked each day into what felt like a stroll around Lake Lag. 

On our final night, we wrote letters to our senior selves in which I explained in as much detail as I could fit onto a single piece of paper all of the memories from that week, fearful that four years later I’d forget how much fun it was. 

At the end of the letter I wrote to myself, “I have had a wonderful time laughing with these guys. I can’t imagine what the next 4 years will hold … Good luck!” That night, we traveled back to Stanford and slept under the stars on Roble Field, sharing one last night together before parting ways the next morning and moving into our respective dorms.

In my freshman year, I did whatever I could to meet my classmates. I became a co-president of my frosh dorm, helping to plan and facilitate dorm events such as a Halloween haunted house and ski trip to Mammoth. I connected with my Latinx classmates through a club called Hermanos, joined The Daily as a cross-country beat reporter and rushed SigEp in the Spring. 

My sophomore year saw me become a leader in the sports section as a desk and then a managing editor, and in my junior year, I became a resident assistant in an all-frosh residence where I met fantastic residents and built a strong connection with my amazing co-staff.

Salinas: Thank you, Stanford
Alejandro Salinas ’21 with his frosh dorm co-staff posing with Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne on Move-In Day, fall 2019. (Courtesy of Alejandro Salinas)

In each of those communities, I met incredible, genuine individuals, motivated and driven to share their passions and build meaningful relationships. Ultimately, that’s what Stanford is about: finding and sharing your passions in hopes of making a positive difference in the world.

After reminiscing over the last four years, the quote that comes to mind is one I recently read by Sarah Hall ’05, the second-fastest American women’s marathoner of all time. She said, “The thing you will value most from your time on the Farm will be the relationships formed with so many amazing individuals.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself. I’m so grateful to have met so many incredible people on the Farm. I will always cherish my friendships and memories made here. 

Before concluding my final article for The Daily, I need to thank my former editor Bobby Pragada ’19 for believing in me and allowing me to flourish as a writer and editor for the Sports Section. His guidance, wisdom and enthusiasm brought The Daily’s sport section back to life. 

I want to thank the organization as a whole for giving me the opportunity to cover absolutely incredible athletic experiences at Stanford. As a former high school runner, I remember feeling so enthusiastic to cover the highly-talented men’s and women’s cross country teams, which consistently recruit some of the fastest athletes in the country. It was also through The Daily that I got to meet and interview dozens of athletes and coaches, as well as the president of Costa Rica, in my one and only attempt at a news article. 

Looking back on it all, the last four years have gone by faster than I could have imagined. While it still feels like the pandemic “robbed” us of a more traditional senior year, I am grateful for the time I did spend on campus and the memories that came along with it. Thank you, Stanford!

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Part 2: Olympic hopefuls adjust training to year-long delay, shelter-in-place orders https://stanforddaily.com/2020/05/29/part-2-olympic-hopefuls-adjust-training-to-year-long-delay-shelter-in-place-orders/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/05/29/part-2-olympic-hopefuls-adjust-training-to-year-long-delay-shelter-in-place-orders/#respond Fri, 29 May 2020 17:45:08 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1168639 Now that an official Olympic start date has been set for July 23, 2021, many athletes are beginning a revised journey towards the next Olympics.

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Part 1 on reactions to the postponement can be found here.

In late March, 2016 Olympic water polo gold medalists Makenzie ’20 and Aria Fischer ’22 woke up to the news that the Olympics had been postponed.

The two sisters, who both play for Stanford and the U.S., elected to take off the 2019-20 academic year to prepare for the Olympics shortly after claiming the NCAA Championship title last spring. Up until mid-March 2020, the reigning gold medalists had been training full-time with the U.S. national team in Los Alamitos, Calif. in hopes of making their second appearance at the Games.

But the 2020 Tokyo Games’ postponement presented a difficult scenario: to compete, they would have to put everything non-water polo on hold for an additional year.

“There was a moment when I didn’t know if I could do this Olympics thing again,” Mackenzie said. 

Like many other team sports, water polo has a “hard and fast rule” that requires its top athletes to devote the entire year leading up to the Olympics to training together and “gelling” as a team, the Fischer sisters said. For the two of them, that means practicing with the U.S. national team nearly every day for upwards of seven hours.

Mackenzie had planned to return to Stanford in the fall and focus solely on school. With the postponement of the Games, she now hopes to pursue a “hybrid” plan where she can both prepare for the Olympics and enroll at Stanford. Despite the challenges, Mackenzie is taking on the balancing act in order to continue both her athletics and academics.

“I started thinking about why I do love [water polo] so much, and now I’m at a place where I’m willing to make whatever work,” she said.

What does the additional year mean for Stanford athletes?

Now that an official Olympic start date has been set for July 23, 2021, many athletes are beginning a revised journey towards the next Olympics. For a number of athletes, while the postponement delays their path to the games, their ambitions are left unhindered.

“Yes, a big event was taken away from – I wouldn’t even say taken away. It’s been pushed back a year,” said swimmer Katie Drabot ’20, stopping to correct herself mid-sentence. 

For Drabot, the Tokyo Olympic trials will be her third. As a teenager, she qualified to compete at the U.S. trials for both Rio and London. After winning her first world championships medal in last year’s third-place finish at the 2019 FINA World Championships, Drabot had begun what would have been an Olympic year with more experience and focus. 

“I was going into [the trials] with an open mind — whatever happens, happens. But I was just gonna make sure that I was doing whatever I could to put myself in the best position,” Drabot said. 

To dedicate herself to training, Drabot had planned to take spring quarter off to prepare for the 2020 Summer Olympics, but since the postponement, she is back to taking courses. With her collegiate career coming to a close, she is continuing to explore opportunities to swim professionally, which is something that she had in mind before the pandemic. 

For her teammate Brooke Forde ’21, who had also originally planned to take spring quarter off to focus on training for the games, this year would have marked her second Olympic trials after her attempt to qualify for Rio in 2016.  

After her sophomore season, where she collected her first individual NCAA title by winning the 500 yard freestyle, Forde also competed at the 2019 FINA World Aquatics Championships.

“I was definitely heading into the summer in a way different place than I was certainly four years ago,” she said. “My goal was to try and make the team, and it is still [the goal]. Just putting that off for a year.”

But pursuing Olympic dreams given the postponement is trickier for others. 

Grant Breckenridge ’20, a Nissen-Emery Award finalist, ended his decorated four years as a Stanford gymnast in the 2019 season and completed his degree in the winter of 2020. These few months leading up to the original start date for the Olympic Games would have marked a finale to his gymnastics career, before he retired athletically and “moved on to the real world.” 

“I didn’t have a job lined up yet, because I wasn’t planning on starting anything until September. The job market right now is not doing so hot,” he said, shrugging a laugh. 

Breckenridge earned a spot on the U.S. Senior National Team after competing at the Winter Cup in Las Vegas this past February. Stanford teammates Brody Malone ’22 and Akash Modi ’17 are also on Team USA. With the extra year, however, Breckenridge is now confronted with the challenge of where to train.

“Stanford’s the best environment to train in, but it’s a very expensive area. On a national team salary, you can skate by,” Breckenridge said. “But if I were to not make it in August [at the national championships], then I don’t know if I’d be able to do it financially.”

Nonetheless, the recent grad plans to keep training. 

“This is pretty much my only shot because gymnasts’ bodies break down pretty quickly,” Breckenridge said.

Even for current students, for those who have already delayed their academic progress to focus on training, the additional year comes at a cost. 

For water polo players — Tyler Abramson ’21, Ben Hallock ’20, Bennett Williams ’20 and Dylan Woodhead ’20 — who compete both for Stanford and the U.S., the shelter-in-place ordinances in Los Angeles forced them to stop training altogether. The four had taken a leave of absence from Stanford after winning the 2019 NCAA Championships in December to focus on the Olympics.

“Our practices went from three times a day to none and resulted in all of us being sent home to do our civic duty and shelter-in-place,” Woodhead wrote in an email.

For Hallock, who competed at the 2016 Olympics, the postponement prompted him to reconsider his academic path. Like the Fischer sisters, Hallock intended on returning to Stanford in the fall to finish his Economics degree and minor Management Science and Engineering.

“The problem is now that next winter and spring there is also going to be full-time training so I am currently sorting through different options where I can graduate after the fall quarter,” he said.

How are Stanford athletes training in a pandemic? 

The postponement’s impact on athletes’ education and career plans is a challenge in and of itself, but training during a pandemic is yet another unprecedented obstacle. 

For water sports, training is hardly an option for many. Since returning home to Wisconsin, Drabot has mostly stuck to cardio exercises on land. A few in her area have reached out to the three-time national champion to lend their backyard pools. But many of these neighborhood-friendly pools are shorter than the 50 meter stretch used in competitions. Some of them are too short for the 5-foot-7 athlete to swim back and forth; in these cases, Drabot hooks herself to a resistance band and swims in place for an hour or so. 

“Right now, it’s not necessarily about the quality of work but just wanting to get my feel for the water,” Drabot said. 

Diver Carolina Sculti ’22 had triumphed as the Pac-12 Champion in the 3-meter dive and was preparing to compete at the NCAA Championships in late March until the national event was cancelled, abruptly ending her sophomore campaign. Since returning home to New York, Sculti has had to get creative with training. 

With all facilities closed, Sculti has not been diving. Given these unprecedented restraints, Sculti is working on alternative ways to stay in shape like doing bodyweight circuits that her weight coach shares with the team. As much as she can, she’s trying to do “diving related things” without equipment. For example, she does flip sets on a trampoline in her backyard. 

“By the time we are able to get back in the water, we already are going to have to do so much catching up,” she said. “Staying in shape is really just one of the things that we can control in the situation. So we’re all doing our best to work out as much as we can while we have the time. The main comforting thing for me is that just everyone is in the same boat. I see all of my biggest competitors on Instagram, posting bodyweight circuits, ab sets, flip sets — no one’s able to train.” 

Even on land, sports that require specific facilities for training pose taxing limitations. Malone, who finished his season as the national leader on parallel bars and ranked second in the all-around, hoped for an Olympic postponement by the time facilities started to shut down. 

“[My] gym back home doesn’t have the greatest equipment to train on, and that’s a big factor when you’re training [for] Olympic routines,” Malone said. 

When Malone returned to his family in Georgia, he went to his club gym, where he trained prior to attending Stanford. From this club gym, he picked up a floor pommel horse, parallettes, bungees and small weights to attempt to train at his house in Georgia. But even so, Malone expects a “readjustment” period once he is able to get back into regular training. 

“I’m sure it’s gonna be a long comeback after this break is over,” Malone said. 

The bottom line

While Stanford athletes’ plans, prospects and training are impacted to varying degrees, the interviewees unanimously voiced that the postponement was the right choice.

“It’s absolutely the right call to not have an Olympic Games this summer,” former Stanford runner Grant Fisher ‘19 said. 

Training alongside some of the fastest names in the sport, Fisher has been preparing for the Olympics with the Nike Bowerman Track Club since graduating from the Farm. But the journey towards the Olympic Games has stretched far beyond his time with Nike; afterall, the Olympics often is a life-long dream.

“The Olympics is the biggest event for track and field,” Fisher said. “Our sponsors and our contracts and everything else revolves around the Olympics and performance at the Olympics because it’s the biggest stage for our sport. People really shape their careers, their plans, their training, their goals all around the Olympics.”

But for everything that the Olympics represents and all the training that has gone into preparing for the Games, Fisher is in firm agreement that the event should be postponed. After all, coupled with the concerns for public health, most athletes aren’t able to train with many facilities closed worldwide.

“I would not have been in my best position had the Olympic trials been this summer,” Forde said. [It’s] definitely the best decision for the general public and for health concerns.”

While the postponement impacts athletes on varying levels, the road to the games, although delayed, still continues for most. 

“You take a deep breath,” Drabot said. “You do what you can do, and you move on.”

Contact Inyoung Choi  at ichoi ‘at’ stanford.edu and Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Part 1: Cardinal Olympic hopefuls react to Tokyo postponement https://stanforddaily.com/2020/05/29/part-1-cardinal-olympic-hopefuls-react-to-tokyo-postponement/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/05/29/part-1-cardinal-olympic-hopefuls-react-to-tokyo-postponement/#respond Fri, 29 May 2020 17:03:55 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1168615 For marathoner Jake Riley ‘12, his Olympic berth came on the streets of Atlanta on a sunny afternoon. Despite trailing the leaders by over 40 seconds with six miles remaining, Riley made pivotal moves over the final stretch of the race to position himself in second as he crossed the finishing line.

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It’s a moment many dream of, but far fewer achieve. 

For marathoner Jake Riley ’12, his Olympic berth came on the streets of Atlanta on a sunny afternoon. Despite trailing the leaders by over 40 seconds with six miles remaining, Riley made pivotal moves over the final stretch of the race to position himself in second as he crossed the finishing line. 

The former eight-time All-American runner at Stanford clocked the fastest marathon of his career to punch his ticket to Tokyo. 

“I was riding that high for a week and a half after,” he said, recalling the joyous career milestone. 

For Riley, the Feb. 29 trials were a promising sign that the Olympics themselves would happen in the summer. Up until that day, the U.S. had yet to announce its first case of COVID-19, and it wouldn’t be for another week and a half until the World Health Organization (WHO) would declare the coronavirus a pandemic.

As the number of reported COVID-19 cases increased domestically, the sports world came to a jolting halt. The series of sports cancelations and postponements that cascaded throughout March left many Stanford athletes, current and former, with challenging decisions to make about the future of their training. For some, the postponement of the Olympics has presented itself as merely a delay in the road to Tokyo. For others, the additional year-long wait may prove to be a premature close to their athletic careers.

Many current and former Stanford athletes, like Riley, were preparing for the Tokyo Olympics when the virus was reported on U.S. soil at the end of February. At the time, the case was the first known instance of COVID-19 in the U.S., but months later, the country learned that the virus was present as early as January. 

While Riley was fortunate to qualify for the Olympics before major sporting events began shutting down, many other athletes faced shelter in place orders and social distancing guidelines while preparing for their own Trials.

Harrison Williams ’19, the 2019 NCAA indoor heptathlon champion, followed the development of the virus closely, anticipating that health precautions would inevitably affect his training. Since graduating from Stanford, he has been training at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill under the direction of Michael Eskind, an associate head coach for UNC track and field and Williams’ former multi-events coach at Stanford.

After both the NBA and the NCAA suspended their seasons on March 11 and 12, respectively, it became clear to Williams that his path to the Olympic trials would take a drastic turn. Track and field athletes like Williams rely on college and professional meets to prepare for the U.S. Olympics Trials, which were originally set to begin on June 19. 

“Right after they cancelled the spring sports, all of the college meets that basically were going to be my entire season leading up to the trials were canceled,” he said. “I was kind of freaking out.”

The NCAA’s swift action happened on the same day that the Olympic torch was lit, signaling that the Games would continue as expected. In a statement following the ceremony, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) stated, “Many measures being taken now by authorities all around the world give us confidence and keep us fully committed to delivering Olympic Games that can bring the world together in peace.”

For three-time NCAA Champion Katie Drabot ’20, a senior on the women’s swimming and diving team, the postponements and cancellations in mid-March were “overwhelming.” 

“You know, you’re living hour-by-hour. You don’t really know what’s coming next, especially with how fast the news of cancellations and postponements of many events was coming out,” she said.

Drabot and teammate Brooke Forde ’21, also a three-time national champion, were going to take a leave of absence during spring quarter to focus on Olympic training. The two had plans to spend several weeks training at the Olympic Training Center (OTC) in Colorado Springs under Greg Meehan, their coach at Stanford and the head coach of the 2020 U.S. Olympic Women’s Swimming team.

But after Colorado’s public health order, which mandated the temporary suspension of gyms, went into effect on the morning of March 17, the OTC announced it would close its doors the following day. 

After much deliberation on where to go, the two teammates flew to Kentucky, Forde’s home state. They were only able to get in a few training sessions before those facilities also shut down, Drabot recalled. 

Similarly, as the UNC lifting facilities and tracks closed, Williams and his training partners shifted to utilizing local parks, and on one occasion even hopped a fence at a local high school just to get onto the track to work out.

“At that point, as far as we knew, the Olympics were still on, so we had to keep training,” Williams said.

Williams said the U.S. Olympic Committee held a call with all athletes who were “potentially going to make it” to the Games. He recalled being frustrated with the news that the IOC was going to take four weeks to make a decision on the Olympics, which would have pushed the announcement to mid-April.

“That kind of pissed all of us off because we couldn’t really wait four weeks,” he said.

Canadian swimmer Taylor Ruck ’22, a two-time Olympic bronze medalist, was in Florida tapering for the Canadian Olympic Trials when her home country announced on March 22 that it would pull its athletes out of the Olympics. 

After winning a national title with Stanford her freshman year, Ruck redshirted her sophomore season to take the entire year off from school to focus on training for the 2020 Games. At the time of Canada’s announcement, she had only been in Florida training for a week.

According to Ruck, sending the athletes home was the indicator that Canada didn’t want them to train anymore. After Canada pulled out of the Olympics, she said she knew the Olympics weren’t going to proceed as expected.

When the IOC officially confirmed on March 24 that the Olympics would be postponed nearly a full year, the announcement was met with relief and gratitude by many.

“I was very glad they made that announcement earlier, rather than four weeks later, because I didn’t want to have to keep training full-time while there’s like a pandemic going on,” Williams recalled.

The postponement does carry a silver lining for some. Many athletes are trying their best to stay positive in the thick of pandemic. For Stanford’s four professional runners at the Nike Bowerman Track Club — Elise Cranny ’19, Grant Fisher ’19, Vanessa Fraser ’17 M.S. ’18 and Sean McGorty ’18 — the extra year affords them more time to train and develop as younger athletes in their sport. 

“It’s a blessing in disguise,” Cranny, a 12-time All-American, said.

The four anticipated using the upcoming outdoor track and field season to prepare for the Olympics, including competing at the annual Payton Jordan Invitational at Stanford, but after colleges closed their outdoor track season, they had to adjust their plans. Nevertheless, the additional year helps these younger athletes.

“Another year under my coach’s system and another year of more consistent and higher mileage behind trusted training only has the potential to help me,” McGorty said.

Albane Valenzuela ’20, a golfer at Stanford who turned professional in November, anticipates using the extra year to improve her world ranking and be in a better position to qualify for the Olympics and represent her home country, Switzerland. Before arriving at Stanford as a freshman, she had already competed in the 2016 Rio Games.

“Having that experience from 2016, I really wanted to qualify for 2020,” she said. “Now, you have to reassess your goals and I think that’s what’s happening to a lot of athletes.”

Fortunately for Riley, his Olympic qualification in the marathon will be honored in 2021. He’ll look to use the additional year to continue training and potentially enter in a marathon, should one happen. 

For many others, their respective sports have yet to name an Olympic roster. For instance, the U.S. Olympic Trials for both swimming and track and field have been rescheduled for June of 2021. With social distancing guidelines varying by region and varying degrees of accessibility to training equipment, training amid a pandemic will be a challenge in and of itself. 

Continue to Part 2 to read more on training amid a pandemic.

Contact Inyoung Choi at ichoi ‘at’ stanford.edu and Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Stanford track athletes engage in ‘non-sanctioned’ training amid pandemic https://stanforddaily.com/2020/04/04/stanford-track-athletes-engage-in-non-sanctioned-training-amid-pandemic/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/04/04/stanford-track-athletes-engage-in-non-sanctioned-training-amid-pandemic/#respond Sun, 05 Apr 2020 04:43:15 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1165998 Several Stanford track and field athletes engaged in a “non-sanctioned, off-site training activity” amid COVID-19-related restrictions, Stanford Athletics spokesperson Brian Risso confirmed in an email to The Daily on Friday.

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A group of Stanford track and field athletes engaged in a “non-sanctioned, off-site training activity” amid COVID-19-related restrictions, Stanford Athletics spokesperson Brian Risso confirmed in an email to The Daily on Friday. 

According to a source familiar with the matter, one of the athletes was driving from New Jersey to Flagstaff, Arizona, a popular destination for altitude training, and was in Missouri with a teammate as of Monday. A family member of the athlete said a coach had given the athlete permission to travel to train, according to the source.

Risso declined to confirm or deny the source’s account. He declined to clarify what he meant by “non-sanctioned” and declined to say whether anyone in Stanford Athletics had known of the travel plans in advance. He also declined The Daily’s request to interview the team’s head coach and the athlete named by the source.

“We are continuing to gather additional details and the matter will be addressed internally,” Risso wrote.

Stanford Athletics announced on March 12 that all competitions and practices are “suspended until further notice.” 

The athletes’ travel not only violates Stanford Athletics’ restrictions, but also comes at a time when the majority of states, including New Jersey and Arizona, have urged residents to stay at home. New Jersey’s stay-at-home order went into effect on March 21, and Arizona’s on Tuesday. Stanford has also asked its students to avoid nonessential travel. 

Since canceling its remaining athletic seasons, Stanford has moved classes online for the spring and summer quarters in an effort to combat the spread of the virus. Most undergraduates, including many athletes, were told to return home.

In a video posted to Stanford Athletics’ Instagram page on Friday, several athletes shared their home training regimens. 

“Even though I can’t be out on the tennis court right now, I’ve enjoyed staying active by running around my neighborhood, doing body weight circuits with my teammates over zoom and setting up my own personal gym right here in my backyard,” said Tim Sah, a junior on the men’s tennis team.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B-iW5GsJkHr/

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Track and field shatters records at MPSF championships https://stanforddaily.com/2020/03/01/track-and-field-shatters-records-at-mpsf-championships/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/03/01/track-and-field-shatters-records-at-mpsf-championships/#respond Mon, 02 Mar 2020 07:41:13 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1164817 In a weekend of unparalleled success this season, Stanford track and field produced several record-shattering results at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Championships in Seattle, Wash., on Friday and Saturday.

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In a weekend of unparalleled success this season, Stanford track and field produced several record-shattering results at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Championships in Seattle, Washington, on Friday and Saturday. 

Competing at the University of Washington’s Dempsey Indoor 307-meter flat track, the men’s team placed ninth, while the Cardinal women tied for fifth with 54 points, extending their streak of top-five finishes to 17 years. 

“This was our best overall team performance,” said head coach J.J. Clark after the meet.

For the second time this season, junior Ashlan Best broke the school record in the women’s 400 meters. Two weeks after setting the school record record of 53.02 on a 200-meter banked track, Best shattered her own record with a 52.64 to finish third on Saturday. With that performance, she is in contention for a bid to the NCAA championships in two weeks. 

In the women’s mile, Ella Donaghu led a Cardinal sweep of the top three spots. The senior crossed in 4:34.85 to win the race, followed by junior Jess Lawson in second at 4:36.06 and junior Jordan Oakes third at 4:37.69. Senior Christina Aragon finished sixth with a time of 4:41.43 to round out Stanford’s scorers in the event. Half of the 54 points for the women’s team came from this singular race. 

Donaghu became the second Stanford athlete in the last three years to win the women’s mile at the conference championships, and 11th in program history. Twelve-time All-American Elise Cranny ’18 accomplished the same feat in 2018 when she edged Oregon’s Jessica Hull for the win, recording the current school record of 4:31.29.

Oakes, who set a personal best in the mile in Saturday’s race, leapt to No. 10 on Stanford’s all-time indoor list. Donaghu and Lawson remained at No. 3 and No. 5, respectively. 

On the men’s side, four freshmen — Max McKhann, Dorien Simon, Matt Rizo and Sam Liokumovich — had notable performances over the weekend.

McKhann threw the 35-pound weight 20.07 meters on his fifth throw to finish third on Friday. For the third time in the last four meets, he set a new personal best, improving his previous high of 19.59 meters. McKhann strengthened his hold of the No. 5 distance in program history.

Simon broke his own freshman record in the 60-meters prelims on Friday by 0.01. He ran a personal-best 6.80 and tied the late Tyrone McGraw for second in program history. 

In the men’s mile, Rizo clocked a personal-best 4:02.09, recording the fastest mile by a Stanford true freshman in 22 years. Rizo moved to No. 2 on Stanford’s freshman all-time performers’ list, behind Gabe Jennings’ 3:59.32 set in 1998.

Liokumovich threw the shot put 16.80 meters to move to No. 10 in program history on Saturday.

Senior Julian Body placed third in the 400 meters with a personal-best 47.18. The time maintains his spot at No. 8 all-time in Stanford indoor history. In the 60-meter hurdles, he ran 8.04 to place fifth.

“Good marks came from so many different areas,” Clark said. 

The top 16 individuals and top 12 relays will advance to the national championships at the University of New Mexico on March 13-14. The list of qualifiers will be announced on Tuesday. 

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Men’s gymnastics stumbles at International Collegiate Open https://stanforddaily.com/2020/03/01/mens-gymnastics-stumbles-at-international-collegiate-open/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/03/01/mens-gymnastics-stumbles-at-international-collegiate-open/#respond Mon, 02 Mar 2020 07:40:35 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1164799 Missed routines and goofy dismounts tainted Stanford men’s gymnastics performance at Saturday’s International Collegiate Open. In front of a home crowd of 1,248 people at Burnham Pavilion, the Cardinal placed second to reigning Olympic Champion Japan in the highly anticipated annual competition.

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Missed routines and goofy dismounts tainted Stanford men’s gymnastics performance at Saturday’s International Collegiate Open. In front of a home crowd of 1,248 people at Burnham Pavilion, the Cardinal placed second to reigning Olympic champion Japan in the highly anticipated annual competition.

Japan claimed five team event titles and totaled 417.200 points to steal the show on Saturday afternoon. Stanford, ranked first in the NCAA, won one team event title and accumulated 411.200 points to finish runner-up, while Cal placed third at 389.450 and Team Norway fourth at 381.150. 

In an uncharacteristically poor showing, Stanford missed six of its 30 routines. With just over a month left in the regular season, head coach Thom Glielmi expected his team to be hitting 28-29 of its routines. 

“We were out of rhythm,” Glielmi said after the meet. “Normally we get into a rhythm with competitions. I saw it from the first event that some guys were on point and some guys were not … We didn’t take advantage of the energized arena.”

For Stanford, the home meet was an opportunity to square up against some of the best talent in the world, and the unique nature of the meet afforded any routine-ready athlete the opportunity to demonstrate “how their training has been going,” Glielmi said. “I think they missed an opportunity there.” 

Senior Joey Ringer, a veteran on the pommel horse, had not scored lower than 13.600 in the pommel horse event since the season-opening meet. But on Saturday, the senior fell during his dismount and turned in a season-low 12.700 for 16th place. 

Collectively, however, the Cardinal produced the second-highest team score of the season in the event at 67.000, led by sophomore Ian Gunther’s third-place performance. He contributed a 13.850 to finish as the top collegian in the pommel horse event.

“Gunther did a great job,” Glielmi said. “He upgraded his pommel horse and had some success. I’m really pleased with how he did.”

In the parallel bars, junior Blake Sun suffered a scary fall midway through his routine. After a second effort, he registered a season-low 11.100 in his signature event. He was later seen with bandages around his chin but, nevertheless, cheering on his Cardinal teammates.

The missteps and unexpected falls seemed to plague nearly every event, as well as the team’s top athletes. Sophomore Brody Malone, the reigning NCAA All-Around Champion and a recent addition to the U.S. Senior National Team, fell during his high bar routine, producing a 13.350 to tie for 10th place. 

“We have some work to do,” Glielmi said. 

Despite the mishaps, Stanford produced a quality showing on the rings event, winning the event title with a team score of 68.600. Junior Andrew Bitner, redshirt sophomore Trevor DiGerolamo and Gunther all notched 13.800 to share the top-score in the event. 

“I think our ring run did a really good job,” Glielmi said. “They have been a very dependable lineup.”

Individually, several athletes also recorded season highs. Senior Bailey Perez set a new season-best of 14.550 in the floor event to finish fourth behind three athletes from Team Japan. 

In the vault, freshman Riley Loos edged Japan’s Shigeto Suzuki for third place with a season-high 14.700. While Japan claimed first and second, Loos’ score marks a new career best for him.

Malone, who was named the MPSF Gymnast of the Week on Feb. 25, won the parallel bars event title with a 14.550. Glielmi limited his all-arounders, including Malone, Loos and freshmen Brandon Briones, to afford them some “needed” rest, he said.

Stanford will return to competition on Saturday, March 7, when it visits Air Force in Colorado. The Cardinal will then conclude its regular season with a home dual against Cal in Maples Pavilion on Saturday, Mar. 14 at 4 p.m. PT.

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Men’s gymnastics to square off against Olympic talent https://stanforddaily.com/2020/02/27/mens-gymnastics-to-square-off-against-olympic-talent/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/02/27/mens-gymnastics-to-square-off-against-olympic-talent/#respond Fri, 28 Feb 2020 05:59:40 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1164708 In a one-of-a-kind competition, Stanford men’s gymnastics will host Olympians and premiere world talents in Burnham Pavilion on Saturday for the International Collegiate Open. In their second of three home meets this season, the Cardinal will welcome reigning Olympic Champion Japan, Team Norway, world all-stars and the University of California.

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In a one-of-a-kind competition, Stanford men’s gymnastics will host Olympians and premiere world talents in Burnham Pavilion on Saturday for the International Collegiate Open. In their second of three home meets this season, the Cardinal will welcome reigning Olympic Champion Japan, Team Norway, world all-stars and the University of California.

“This weekend is a great opportunity for the guys to see how they stack off against the international level,” said Stanford head coach Thom Glielmi. “Japan is the reigning Olympic champions, and they brought a great team, as always.”

With the 2020 Summer Olympics just a few months away, Saturday’s meet will feature athletes in the midst of qualifying for the Olympics, including Stanford’s own sophomore Brody Malone, Akash Modi ’17 and Grant Breckenridge ’19. The trio of all-arounders qualified for the U.S. Senior National Team last weekend after competing at the Winter Cup in Las Vegas. They will head to Stuttgart, Germany in March to represent the United States in one of four All-Around World Cups.

Stanford also sent sophomore Ian Gunther and freshmen Brandon Briones and Riley Loos to Las Vegas. Given the short one-week turnaround and some illnesses and minor injuries, Glielmi said Briones, Loos and Malone, who make up three of the top seven all-arounders in the country, will “probably be on a couple events, but I’m not sure if they’ll go on all six.”

Unlike traditional NCAA meets, the International Collegiate Open will use a 5-up-5-count format — each team will have five gymnasts competing in an event, with all five scores counting. The traditional format allows for a sixth gymnast to compete and drops the lowest score in calculating the final team score. 

Additionally, those who do not make the 15-man roster will be allowed to compete in the exhibition circuit. Thus, all routine-ready gymnasts on Stanford’s roster will be able to compete in front of a judge on Saturday.

“The most challenging thing is figuring out what the best lineups are going to be, because they are deep,” Glielmi said. “It’s a good problem to have, and I’m excited for the team because I think that they see that. If you’re not fired in that week, you probably need to rest anyways, and you won’t be in the lineup.”

“When the seventh guy is pushing the sixth guy who is pushing the fifth guy and all the way down to the top guy, it makes for a much better, competitive team,” Glielmi added.

Scheduled to take only 90 minutes, the fast-paced meet will begin Saturday at 4 p.m. PT in Burnham Pavilion. Live results and a livestream will be available online.  

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Track and field seeks NCAA bids at conference championship https://stanforddaily.com/2020/02/27/track-and-field-seeks-ncaa-bids-at-conference-championship/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/02/27/track-and-field-seeks-ncaa-bids-at-conference-championship/#respond Fri, 28 Feb 2020 04:48:26 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1164694 Stanford will be seeking its first MPSF title since the women won in 2011 and the men in 2010. While the women’s team has finished among the top-three in each of the past three years, including runner up at last year’s championships, the men’s team will be seeking its first top-five finish since 2013.

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Stanford track and field begins its indoor postseason with the MPSF Championships on Friday and Saturday. Hosted by the University of Washington, the two-day meet doubles as the final opportunity to qualify for the NCAA Championships, which will take place on March 13-14.

Stanford will be seeking its first MPSF title since the women won in 2011 and the men in 2010. While the women’s team has finished among the top-three in each of the past three years, including runner up at last year’s championships, the men’s team will be seeking its first top-five finish since 2013.

Stanford will also be searching for bids to the NCAA Championships. Only the top 16 individuals and top 12 relay teams in the country will advance to the national championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico. 

As of Thursday, Stanford has four individuals — three women and one man — and one relay team in secure positions to qualify. The three women are juniors Julia Heymach and Jess Lawson and senior Ella Donaghu, all of whom are seeking their first appearance at the indoor national championships.

Heymach looks to be in position to qualify for two individual events. She is ninth in the 800 and fifth in the mile after running the second-fastest mile in program history at the Husky Classic on Feb. 14.

Donaghu also has a strong chance of qualifying in the mile. She holds the No. 6 time in the country and will have another opportunity to compete in that event this weekend. Additionally, the senior is No. 4 in the 3,000 meters, with a time of 8:54.72.

Lawson will likely join her teammate in the 3,000, as she holds the eighth-best time in the country. In the mile, Lawson has the No. 14 spot. She’ll compete in mile this weekend, looking to improve her time of 4:35.56.

The trio of women all combined efforts, along with junior Ashlan Best, to run the second-best distance medley relay (DMR) time in the country. Their 10:55.89 at the Razorback Invitational on Jan. 31 will earn them a berth to the national dance.

On the men’s side, Stanford has one athlete, senior Alex Ostberg, in a secure position to qualify for the championships. He ran 7:49.01 in the 3,000 meters on Feb. 14 and holds the No. 9 time. 

Just under the cutoff for relays, the men’s DMR team has the No. 11 time in the country after clocking 9:32.42 at the Alex Wilson Invitational last Saturday. 

The MPSF Championships will begin Friday at noon and continue through Saturday in Seattle. Live results can be found online. The final list of NCAA qualifiers will be officially determined following the various conference championships across the country.  

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Stanford trio qualifies for US Senior National Team https://stanforddaily.com/2020/02/24/stanford-trio-qualifies-for-us-senior-national-team/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/02/24/stanford-trio-qualifies-for-us-senior-national-team/#respond Tue, 25 Feb 2020 06:32:25 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1164517 For sophomore Brody Malone and alums Grant Breckenridge ’19 and Akash Modi ’17, their 2020 Olympic dreams progressed one step closer to reality this past weekend. All three gymnasts earned spots on the US Senior National Team after competing at the Winter Cup in Las Vegas.

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For sophomore Brody Malone and alums Grant Breckenridge ’19 and Akash Modi ’17, their 2020 Olympic dreams progressed one step closer to reality this past weekend. All three gymnasts earned spots on the U.S. Senior National Team after competing at the Winter Cup in Las Vegas. 

The three-day meet began on Thursday with a full day of all-around competition. Malone and Breckenridge placed third and fourth, respectively, joining four others in earning spots on the Senior National Team after just the first day of competition.

“It means a great deal to have earned a spot on the team,” Malone said. “It was the first step in the Olympic process going into this year and it felt good to get the job done on day one.”

Malone’s all-around score of 83.950 was only topped by Sam Mikulak’s event-winning score of 86.800 and runner-up Shane Wiskus’ 84.550. Breckenridge finished fourth at 83.900. Oklahoma’s Yul Moldauer and Allan Bower tied for fifth at 82.350 to round out the top six all-around gymnasts on Thursday.

“My biggest takeaway was that it is going to be possible for me to make the Olympics,” Malone said. “I struggled to believe this a little bit last year, but this weekend was a confidence booster.”

Malone, who won three events at the 2019 NCAA Championships to lead Stanford men’s gymnastics to its sixth championship in program history, turned in strong performances in the vault and parallel bars on Thursday. The acclaimed collegian posted the second-highest day-one score on vault at 14.400 and matched Breckenridge on the parallel bars at 14.600 to finish tied for the second-best routine in Thursday’s prelims.  

“I felt like I had strong parallel bars and pommel horse routines so those were definitely my strengths,” Malone said. “I struggled a little bit on high bar and floor, not getting the scores that I had hoped for, so those two were the weaknesses of the meet.”

Following the opening day of competition, the Men’s Program Committee selected six more athletes to the Senior National Team based off the final results from the Winter Cup Challenge. Modi was one of those athletes, becoming Stanford’s third and final representative selected for the team. He finished fourth in the combined all-around at 163.250, a mark which included an 82.100 on Saturday night.  

The road to the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo continues June 4-7 with the U.S. Gymnastics Championships, which will determine which athletes advance to the U.S. Olympic Team Trials on June 25-28.

In the meantime, Malone and the rest of the Stanford men’s gymnastics team will return to team competition on Saturday at the International Collegiate Open. California, China, Norway and reigning Olympic champion Japan will all be visiting the Farm for the annual meet, scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. PT in Burnham Pavilion.

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Aline Krauter powers women’s golf to top-5 finish in Mexico https://stanforddaily.com/2020/02/19/aline-krauter-powers-womens-golf-to-top-5-finish-in-mexico/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/02/19/aline-krauter-powers-womens-golf-to-top-5-finish-in-mexico/#respond Thu, 20 Feb 2020 04:28:03 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1164289 Sophomore Aline Krauter led Stanford women’s golf to a 5th place finish at the IJGA Collegiate Invitational in Guadalajara, Mexico, earlier this week. Krauter jumped 40 spots over the last two rounds of the tournament to finish tied for eighth at the Guadalajara Country Club.

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Sophomore Aline Krauter led Stanford women’s golf to a fifth-place finish at the IJGA Collegiate Invitational in Guadalajara, Mexico earlier this week. Krauter jumped 40 spots over the last two rounds of the tournament to finish tied for eighth at the Guadalajara Country Club. 

“Aline played another fantastic event and notched another top-10 finish,” said head coach Anne Walker. “She has been quite impressive early this year, and I think there is more to come.”

Krauter, who struggled with putting in the opening round on Sunday, sat in 48th place after shooting 4-over 76 on the first round. Heading into the second round on Monday, Krauter said her goal was to get herself “back to par” — and that’s exactly what she did. The sophomore posted a team-best 4-under 68, including five birdies over the final 10 holes to move up to 13th place heading into the final round. 

“I think being in that 13th spot and having the momentum of shooting under par helped me the last round, and I was able to take that confidence and use it to my advantage,” said Krauter, who closed the tournament with a 3-under 69 on Tuesday morning to finish as Stanford’s top performer.

As a team, the Cardinal finished tied for fifth in the field of 14 teams, despite sitting one stroke behind the leader after the first round. Sophomore Calista Reyes’ career-best 3-under 69 on Sunday had Stanford in second through the first 18 holes, just one swing behind Baylor. After an on-par 288 showing in the second round, Stanford was within three strokes of the leaders with one round remaining. 

However, the Cardinal conceded a 9-over performance on the final round to finish tied for fifth with Florida State at 7-over 871. Virginia, led by four golfers in the top 15, claimed the tournament victory with an 8-under 856 team performance. 

“Through two rounds we had a chance to win this event, but unfortunately, we didn’t have our best stuff over the last 18 holes and came up short of what we would have liked,” Walker said. “Overall though, the general team culture, attitude and character have been beyond terrific. This group has great camaraderie, and we will see that fuel us as we move forward.”

Stanford women’s golf returns to competition with the ASU Invitational in Phoenix from March 27-29. The team will then head to Napa, California for the Silverado Showdown April 5-7 before hosting the Pac-12 Championships April 24-26.

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Women’s gymnastics’ Kyla Bryant highlights ‘electric’ floor performance https://stanforddaily.com/2020/02/18/womens-gymnastics-kyla-bryant-highlights-electric-floor-performance/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/02/18/womens-gymnastics-kyla-bryant-highlights-electric-floor-performance/#respond Wed, 19 Feb 2020 05:50:00 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1164230 No. 25 Stanford women’s gymnastics capped off Sunday’s dual against No. 10 Cal with what head coach Tabitha Yim described as an “electric” performance in the floor exercise. A stunning career-high 9.950 from junior Kyla Bryant highlighted the final event of the day for the Cardinal women, who came up short 197.125-196.175 to their Bay Area rivals.

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No. 25 Stanford women’s gymnastics capped off Sunday’s dual meet against No. 10 Cal with what head coach Tabitha Yim described as an “electric” performance in the floor exercise. A stunning career-high 9.950 from junior Kyla Bryant highlighted the final event of the day for the Cardinal women, who came up short 197.125-196.175 to their Bay Area rivals.

Senior Kaylee Cole led off Stanford’s lineup on the floor on Sunday, registering a 9.875. Junior Taylor Lawson and freshman Chloe Widner followed with season highs of 9.875 and 9.900, respectively. 

Fifth in the lineup, Bryant produced an emphatic performance, notching the highest score of her career to win the event title. Collectively, the Cardinal totaled a season-high 49.375 to take the event. Cal, however, outscored the home team in all other events, including the all-around, to defeat the Cardinal in the fourth meeting between the two programs this season. 

Stanford also had notable performances from Lawson and junior Grace Garcia. Lawson hit a career-high 9.875 on beam to finish as Stanford’s highest scorer in the event, while Garcia’s career-best 9.900 on the uneven bars paced the Cardinal.

“Grace really stepped up on bars,” said Yim. 

Sunday marked the second meet in seven days and the fourth in a span of two weeks.

“It’s been a really tough three-week stretch and we have faced a lot of adversity,” Yim said. “I thought closing out that three-week cycle with this meet was a huge confidence booster for our team. We’re looking forward to the upcoming road stretch and continuing to build our confidence.”

The Cardinal gymnasts will be back in action on Friday with a match at No. 1 Oklahoma in the Perfect 10 Challenge. The women will then head to Arizona on Sunday for a date with No. 22 Arizona, before returning to the Farm to face Arizona State on March 2 in the final home meet of the year. 

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Ashlan Best breaks school record, track and field produces ‘best team effort’ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/02/18/ashlan-best-breaks-school-record-track-and-field-produces-best-team-effort/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/02/18/ashlan-best-breaks-school-record-track-and-field-produces-best-team-effort/#respond Tue, 18 Feb 2020 09:00:49 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1164168 In the final weekend of regular season competition, Stanford track and field set one school record and one freshman record to go along with 11 additions to the top 10 all-time indoor performers’ list.

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In the final weekend of regular season competition, Stanford track and field set one school record and one freshman record to go along with 11 additions to the top 10 all-time indoor performers’ list. The Cardinal split their team between two meets over the long Presidents’ Day weekend, sending athletes to both the Don Kirby Invitational in New Mexico and the Husky Classic in Seattle. 

“Strong performances all across the board,” said first-year head coach J.J. Clark. “By far, my best team effort as director of track and field here.”

Despite competing at an altitude of 5,300 feet at the Don Kirby invite, junior Ashlan Best set a new school record in the 400 meters on Friday. She crossed in a scorching time of 53.02 on the 200-meter banked track to place second behind UCLA’s Shae Anderson, who won the event in 52.07. 

Best broke the previous school record of 53.35 shared by Kristyn Williams ’16 and Olivia Baker ’18. Williams ran her time on an oversized track at the 2015 Husky Classic before Baker tied it in 2018 at the Don Kirby invite. 

Best, who was on the cusp of breaking the record after running a then-career-best 53.69 at the UW Preview last month, now holds the No. 16 time in the country and is in position to qualify for the indoor NCAA championships next month. 

The top 16 individuals and top 12 relay teams are granted admission to the national championships, which will be held March 13-14 at the Albuquerque Convention Center, the same site as the Don Kirby invite.

Friday also saw freshman Dorien Simon break his own freshman record in the 60 meters. The Lakewood, Washington, product ran 6.81, improving his previous best of 6.85 set at the UW Preview.

Competing over 1,000 miles away at the Husky Classic in Seattle, the Stanford women’s distance program had another record-shattering weekend. Two weeks after senior Ella Donaghu made headlines for setting the school indoor mile record on a 200-meter track, junior Julia Heymach registered a faster mile time on the oversized 307-meter track at the University of Washington’s Dempsey Indoor Center.

Heymach ran a blistering time of 4:33.37 on Saturday to move up to No. 5 in the nation and No. 2 on Stanford’s all-time performers’ list. She’s surpassed only by Elise Cranny ’18, who set the program record with a 4:31.29 mile on the same track at the 2018 MPSF Championships. 

Senior Christina Aragon, who has battled injuries over the last two years, ran a season-best 4:37.30 in the mile, recording a nine-second improvement from just two weeks ago. Her time sits about a second away from the No. 16 time in the nation. Junior Jordan Oakes ran 4:38.99 in the mile, obliterating her previous personal best of 4:47.96 from 2016.

Donaghu continued to build on her stellar senior season with a third-place finish in the fastest section of the 3,000 meters. Her time of 8:54.72 is the fastest time since PattiSue Plumer ’85 J.D. ’89 ran 8:53.1 in 1983. Junior Jess Lawson, who is also in the midst of a breakout season, crossed in 8:59.38 to finish seventh, becoming the sixth woman in program history to break nine minutes.

On the men’s side, junior Alex Ostberg ran a career-best 7:49.01 in the 3,000 meters to place eighth in a competitive field at the Husky Classic and fifth on Stanford’s all-time indoor performers’ list. He now holds the No. 9 time in the nation, with one weekend of competition left before the national championships.

For the first time in his career, junior Michael Vernau broke 14 minutes in the 5,000 meters, becoming the sixth Cardinal on the current roster to accomplish the feat. He ran 13:59.89 on Friday in the same heat as freshman Devin Hart, who crossed in 14:00.39. Senior Alek Parsons finished as the fastest Cardinal of the day, running a season-best 13:59.16.

On Thursday, football All-American cornerback senior Paulson Adebo made his career debut for Stanford track and field, clocking 51.44 in the 400 meters.

With the regular season complete, the MPSF Championships on Feb. 28-29 remains as the final opportunity to qualify for the NCAA Championships on March 13-14 in Albuquerque. 

“I’m excited about the next two meets,” Clark said.

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Stanford golf teams return from competitive tournaments https://stanforddaily.com/2020/02/11/stanford-golf-teams-return-from-competitive-tournaments/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/02/11/stanford-golf-teams-return-from-competitive-tournaments/#respond Wed, 12 Feb 2020 07:47:00 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1163906 Both Stanford golf programs competed away from the Farm this weekend. The men’s team placed 15th at the annual Amer Ari Intercollegiate in Kona, Hawaii, on Saturday, while the women’s team remained in-state, finishing seventh against a competitive field at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge on Tuesday.

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Both Stanford golf programs competed away from the Farm this weekend. The men’s team placed 15th at the annual Amer Ari Intercollegiate in Kona, Hawaii, on Saturday, while the women’s team remained in-state, finishing seventh against a competitive field at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge on Tuesday.

On the men’s side, Stanford’s best scorer was Daulet Tuleubayev. The sophomore, who was a pivotal element of last year’s NCAA title-winning season, competed as Stanford’s only individual in the three-day tournament. His 4-under 212 performance tied him for 32nd overall. 

As a team, the Cardinal finished 4-over 868, led by sophomore Ethan Ng’s even score of 216. After tallying 2-over 76 on Thursday, Ng closed with back-to-back 1-under 71s over the final two days to finish as Stanford’s highest team scorer. Seniors Henry Shimp and David Snyder also produced 71s on Saturday.

The following day, the women’s team opened its spring season at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge in Palos Verdes, California. Competing for the first time since November, the team looked much different than it did in the fall, with seniors Andrea Lee and Albane Valenzuela electing to turn professional and forgo the remainders of their NCAA eligibility. 

Despite these lineup changes, Stanford women’s golf seemed to pick up right where it left off in the fall. Facing several of the best teams in the country, the No. 7 Cardinal defeated a number of top-20 teams, including No. 3 Wake Forest, No. 5 Arizona and No. 9 Florida, to finish seventh overall.

“To finish seventh in the toughest field of the year is a huge boost of confidence for the players on this team,” said women’s golf head coach Anne Walker on Tuesday. 

Stanford’s highest finisher was senior Ziyi Wang, who registered a 2-under 69 performance on Tuesday to place a career-high seventh overall, her fifth career top-10 finish. Wang, the only senior on the team, concluded the tournament with a 2-under 211.

“The last two days were especially strong and showed that we have the players to continue to compete on the national stage,” Walker said. “We will keep working hard and I am sure we will see some more great finishes ahead.”

Stanford women’s golf will head to Mexico for its next tournament, the Guadalajara International Invitational, beginning on Sunday. Meanwhile, the men’s team is back in action on Monday for The Prestige at PGA West in Indian Wells, California.

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Men’s gymnastics sets nation-leading marks at Southwestern Cup https://stanforddaily.com/2020/02/10/mens-gymnastics-sets-nation-leading-marks-at-southwestern-cup/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/02/10/mens-gymnastics-sets-nation-leading-marks-at-southwestern-cup/#respond Tue, 11 Feb 2020 06:41:34 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1163795 Stanford men’s gymnastics displayed its talented and capable roster on Saturday, posting the new national-best score of 420.400 to win the Southwestern Cup hosted by Arizona State (ASU). The No. 2 Cardinal toppled No. 5 Ohio State, No. 11 Cal and a pair of ASU teams to remain undefeated this season.

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Stanford men’s gymnastics displayed its talented and capable roster on Saturday, posting the new, national-best score of 420.400 to win the Southwestern Cup hosted by Arizona State (ASU). The No. 2 Cardinal toppled No. 5 Ohio State, No. 11 Cal and a pair of ASU teams to remain undefeated this season. 

The Buckeyes finished runner-up with a score of 408.150. Cal placed third at 396.400, followed by Arizona State Gold at 388.950 and Arizona State Maroon at 363.800. 

Stanford jumped the 420-point barrier for the second time this season, improving its previous season high of 420.050 set at the Stanford Open on Jan. 25. Similar to their showing at the home opener, the Cardinal relied on their top performers to build a healthy lead over their counterparts on Saturday. 

“It was a good competition overall,” said head coach Thom Glielmi. “While some of our potentially higher-scoring routines didn’t materialize, the team had each other’s back. We put together almost all hit routines that counted for the team score.”

Competing just a few miles from his hometown of Gilbert, Arizona, freshman Brandon Briones produced the highest score in the national in the all-around, 85.300, to claim the event title. Briones is in the midst of a spectacular rookie season, having twice been named the MPSF Gymnast of the Week and once the College Gymnastics Association Gymnast of the Week. 

In addition to his nation-leading performance in the all-around, Briones produced the top score in the nation in the rings on Saturday as Stanford became the first team to break the 70-point barrier in the event. Briones’ career-best of 14.900 won him the event title and helped Stanford to a nation-leading 71.500 in the event. 

Stanford also combined for the best score in the nation in the parallel bars. The team’s 72.650 was led by a career-best 14.800 from sophomore Brody Malone, who finished runner-up in the all-around. Malone’s all-around score of 84.200 stands as the second-highest mark in the nation, only eclipsed by Briones’ performance on Saturday. 

“Briones was solid on all events, but has room to improve,” Glielmi said. “Malone was right on his tail, but Briones separated himself on rings.”

In addition to Malone, four other Cardinal athletes set career bests in the parallel bars, including Biones (14.450), junior Thomas Lee (14.400), sophomore Ian Gunther (14.300) and junior Blake Sun (14.700), who was the runner-up to Malone.

Malone also paced the Cardinal in the pommel horse, posting a team-high 13.750. Collectively, Stanford set a new season high in the event at 68.350. Malone, senior David Jessen, Gunther, Joey Ringer and Briones all placed in the top seven overall in the event.

“What I was most pleased about was the pommel line-up,” said Glielmi. “They did their job. They looked confident from start to finish.”

Stanford closed the meet on the floor exercise, registering a team score of 73.600. Sophomore Curran Phillips claimed the event title with a career best 14.850. 

The Cardinal will step away from team competition for the USA Gymnastics Winter Cup from Feb. 20-22 in Las Vegas. Stanford will be represented by Briones, Gunther, Malone and freshman Riley Loos, along with alumni Akashi Modi ’17 and Grant Breckenridge ’19.

The reigning champions will return to team competition on Feb. 29 when they host Cal, Norway and Olympic Champion Japan at the International Collegiate Open in Burnham Pavilion.

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Men’s gymnastics victorious at Pac-12 Invite https://stanforddaily.com/2020/02/03/mens-gymnastics-victorious-at-pac-12-invite/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/02/03/mens-gymnastics-victorious-at-pac-12-invite/#respond Tue, 04 Feb 2020 05:44:51 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1163409 No. 2 Stanford men’s gymnastics claimed its fourth-straight victory this season after defeating No. 11 Cal, No. 12 Arizona State and No. 17 Washington by sizeable margins at the Pac-12 Invite in Berkeley on Sunday.

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No. 2 Stanford men’s gymnastics claimed its fourth-straight victory this season after defeating No. 11 Cal, No. 12 Arizona State and No. 17 Washington by sizable margins at the Pac-12 Invite in Berkeley on Sunday.

Despite resting several key contributors, the undefeated reigning champs scored their third-highest total of the season with 406.600 points, including a season-high team performance on the still rings. 

Unmatched in nearly every event, Stanford swept the team scores to win the meet by a nine-point margin. Cal finished runner-up with 397.650 points, while Arizona State placed third with 389.200 and Washington fourth with 366.400. 

For Stanford, the closest event came on the pommel horse. Senior Joey Ringer registered a season-high 13.800 to win the event title as Stanford totaled 64.100, edging out Cal’s team score of 64.050. 

Ringer was just one of six Cardinal to win event titles on Sunday. Junior Andrew Bitner produced a career-best 81.200 in the all-around to win the event. His performance included season-highs of 13.900 on floor and 13.400 on pommel horse.  

Sophomores Christopher Osgood and Curran Phillips each recorded career highs to claim their respective events. Phillips won the parallel bars with a 14.800, while Osgood won his first collegiate event title on the still rings with a 14.400. Osgood’s mark helped Stanford to a season-high 69.250 in the event. 

Sophomore Blake Wilson, who also set a career high on the floor with 13.900, claimed the high bar event title with a 13.200. Senior Bailey Perez added an event title in the vault with a career-best 14.850.

The only event the Cardinal dropped on Sunday was the floor exercise; however, senior Connor Lewis finished second with a 14.100. 

“For the most part the guys that had an opportunity to show what they can do — they did a good job,” said head coach Thom Glielmi after the competition. “However, I don’t think we showed our true depth tonight.”

Stanford rested its top four all-around gymnasts — freshmen Brandon Briones and Riley Loos, senior Ian Gunther and sophomore Brody Malone — with the USA Gymnastics Winter Cup, a qualifying meet for the 2020 U.S. Gymnastics Championships, coming up Feb. 20-22 in Las Vegas. 

Briones and Gunther both qualified for the Winter Cup after posting 84.450 and 83.750, respectively, at the Stanford Open last Saturday. Briones’ mark stands as the second-highest all-around score in the nation. 

Before heading to Las Vegas, the Cardinal will travel to Tempe, Ariz., for a date with Arizona State (ASU), Cal and Ohio State at the ASU Invite on Saturday. The meet kicks off at 1 p.m. PT from the Sun Devil Fitness Center.

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Ella Donaghu, Jess Lawson rewrite Stanford history in women’s mile https://stanforddaily.com/2020/02/03/ella-donaghu-jess-lawson-rewrite-stanford-history-in-womens-mile/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/02/03/ella-donaghu-jess-lawson-rewrite-stanford-history-in-womens-mile/#respond Tue, 04 Feb 2020 05:43:27 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1163412 After her historic opening to the indoor track and field season two weeks ago, senior Ella Donaghu continued her momentum on Saturday, breaking the Stanford record for the mile on a regulation indoor track.

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After her historic opening to the indoor track and field season two weeks ago, senior Ella Donaghu continued her momentum on Saturday, breaking the official Stanford record for the mile on a regulation indoor track. 

With a scorching time of 4:33.71, Donaghu won the mile at the Razorback Invitational in Arkansas, edging the previous record of 4:34.48 set by Elise Cranny ’18 in 2018. Junior Jess Lawson crushed her personal best by over two seconds, clocking 4:35.56 for second in Saturday’s race. 

Together Donaghu and Lawson now hold the No. 2 and No. 3 fastest mile times, respectively, on Stanford’s unofficial all-time indoor list. The top spot goes to Cranny, who ran 4:31.29 at the University of Washington’s oversized 307-meter banked track. While Cranny’s feat marks the fastest unofficial mile in Stanford’s all-time record book, official school records must be run on 200-meter tracks, the regulation standard in the indoor sport. 

“Ella and Jess ran great,” said head coach J.J. Clark. “They both are on their way to great seasons.”

On the men’s side, sophomore Max McKhann had an impressive showing on Friday. McKhann, who was one of Stanford’s two meet winners two weeks ago, placed second in the weight throw with his second-straight personal best. He threw the 35-pound weight 19.59 meters on his fifth attempt, improving his best mark by over two feet.

After not competing in the indoor season last year, Mckhann has recorded personal bests in both indoor meets this season. Friday’s performance moves him up from No. 9 to No. 5 on Stanford’s all-time performers’ list.

Less than 24 hours before running record-breaking times in the mile, Donaghu and Lawson teamed up with juniors Ashlan Best and Julia Heymach to produce the fastest distance medley relay (DMR) time in the nation. The Stanford women crossed in 10:55.89, besting Arkansas’ 10:57.08 on Friday night. 

Donaghu led off the Cardinal with a 3:20.48 split in the 1,200. Best followed with a 53.16 for the 400, before Heymach ran 2:05.57 in the 800. Lawson anchored the relay team with a 4:36.69 in the 1,600.

While the Friday night spectacle marks the fifth-fastest time in program history, the team’s performance proves to be a dramatic shift from a blemish last year, when the women’s DMR team failed to reach the national championships and broke a five-year streak of top-three NCAA finishes in the event from 2014-18.

To qualify for the NCAA Championships on March 13-14 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the Cardinal must have one of the top 12 times in the country. With Friday’s performance, Stanford has made a strong bid for the championships and may see its first appearance at the meet since 2018. 

Under Clark, the distance women have been particularly dominant this academic year. In the fall, Stanford claimed the Pac-12 and West Regional titles before finishing third at the NCAA Championships, the team’s best showing on the national stage since 2012.

On an individual basis, Donaghu has excelled this year. After concluding her junior outdoor track season with her first appearance at the NCAA Championships, she continued to build off her momentum this fall. At the NCAA cross country regionals, she became the first Stanford woman to win the race in 12 years, before crossing as Stanford’s top-finisher and eighth overall at the national championships a week later.

She opened her indoor season with a historic showing in Seattle on Jan. 18. In the 3,000, she ran the fastest time by a Stanford runner in 37 years. Her nation-leading time of 8:58.31 stands alone in the country as the only performance under nine minutes this year.

The track and field season continues in two weeks, with the Don Kirby Invitational and Husky Classic scheduled for Feb. 13-15.  

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Track and field set to face competitive field at Razorback Invite https://stanforddaily.com/2020/01/30/track-and-field-set-to-face-competitive-field-at-razorback-invite/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/01/30/track-and-field-set-to-face-competitive-field-at-razorback-invite/#respond Fri, 31 Jan 2020 06:50:55 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1163184 The Cardinal will be represented by 49 athletes as the team heads to its second meet of the indoor season.

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For the first time since 2015, Stanford track and field will compete at the two-day Razorback Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Friday and Saturday. The Cardinal will be represented by 49 athletes as the team heads to its second meet of the indoor season. 

After a nearly two-week break from competition since the season-opening UW Preview at the University of Washington on Jan. 18, the Cardinal head to Arkansas with their focus on setting personal bests, according to first-year head coach J.J. Clark.

“Everyone can be on board with getting a personal best,” said Clark, who doesn’t rely on national rankings as a metric of success.  

“I focus more on execution,” said Clark. “Obviously we want to qualify for nationals, but the way you do it is by executing your plan.”

For Aria Small, her execution at the opener led to a meet-winning leap of 12.19 meters in the women’s triple jump, becoming one of two Stanford athletes to win their event. The junior is slated to compete in her same two signature events this weekend, the triple jump and long jump.

Junior Ashlan Best clocked the fourth-fastest 400-meter dash in program history in her season debut. Her time of 53.69 was the fourth-fastest in the nation at the time she ran it, but since then it has moved down to 13th. The sprinter is scheduled to compete in the invitational heat of the 400 meters against several of the competitors ranked ahead of her.  

Seniors Ella Donaghu and Christina Aragon, along with junior Jess Lawson, will represent the Stanford women in the invitational mile. Donaghu and Lawson had particularly strong season debuts, running the No. 1 times in the country in the 3,000 meters and mile. Since the opener, Lawson’s mile time of 4:37.64 has moved to No. 4 in the country, while Donaghu’s time of 8:58.305 in the 3,000 meters still stands as the only collegiate time under nine minutes.

On the men’s side, sophomore Max McKhann, who won the men’s weight throw at the UW Preview with the ninth-longest hurl in program history, is slated to compete in the same event this weekend. His meet-winning toss of 18.19 meters ranks 64th in the nation heading into the weekend.

In his collegiate debut, freshman Devin Hart clocked a stunning 3,000-meter time of 8:02.47, the seventh fastest in the country. The New Jersey native will compete in his first collegiate mile this weekend. His personal best at 1,600 meters is 4:09.49. 

Meanwhile, in the invitational mile, junior D.J. Principe and senior Alex Ostberg will face a competitive field capable of running under four minutes. While Principe’s best mile time is 4:00.73, Ostberg dipped under the famed barrier for the first time in his career with a 3:59.31 at the UW Invitational last year.

Junior Brandon McGorty is listed to compete in the 800 meters. Brandon, brother to 5,000-meter NCAA champion Sean McGorty ’17 M.S. ’18, opened his indoor season with a 2:26.24 in the 1,000 meters at the UW Preview. While his 800-meter personal best of 1:48.58 in the event stretches back to his high school career, Brandon will be representing Stanford in the 800 for the first time in two years.

The Razorback Invitational kicks off Friday morning at 9:30 a.m. PST, and Saturday’s events begin at 8:40 a.m PST.

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Men’s golf produces pair of top-10 finishers at Southwestern Invite https://stanforddaily.com/2020/01/28/mens-golf-produces-pair-of-top-10-finishers-at-southwestern-invite/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/01/28/mens-golf-produces-pair-of-top-10-finishers-at-southwestern-invite/#respond Wed, 29 Jan 2020 05:25:18 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1163052 Led by top-10 finishes from sophomores Ethan Ng and Freddie Lee, the Cardinal placed fifth overall with a 12-over 876 to open the spring season.

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After a hiatus from the fall season, Stanford men’s golf was back in action this week with the Southwestern Invitational on Monday and Tuesday. Led by top-10 finishes from sophomores Ethan Ng and Freddie Lee, the Cardinal placed fifth overall with a 12-over 876 to open the spring season. 

Host Pepperdine claimed the tournament win with a 14-under 850 on the team’s home course of North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village, CA.

Heading into the third and final round on Tuesday, the Cardinal sat in sixth with its leading two golfers — Ng and Lee — tied for 14th place. But a resounding 3-under 285 team performance moved the Cardinal ahead one spot into fifth place by the end of the final round.

“I thought our guys played a lot of solid golf throughout the week,” said head coach Conrad Ray. “We hurt ourselves with too many careless bogeys from easy positions and some three putts on the greens, but overall it was a good way to open up the New Year. Pepperdine on their home course is a tough equation, but it was good to see what they have and what we can expect from a bunch of good teams in the field.” 

Ng had a particularly strong tournament finish. After shooting 5-over 77 in the opening round, the sophomore followed up with back-to-back 3-under 69s to tie his career low for a round. His performance was highlighted by four birdies and an eagle on the final round. He also played par 5s at 7-under over the two-day event. Behind a total of 215 strokes, Ng placed a team-high sixth.

Lee followed one stroke behind Ng, tying for ninth place with 216 strokes. The Australian native sandwiched a second-round 4-over 76 performance with two 2-under 70s, which included four birdies. He finished in the top-10 of a tournament for the first time in his career.

The team was also represented by senior Henry Shimp, freshman Barclay Brown and sophomore Daulet Tuleubayev. Junior Ashwin Arasu competed individually.

Men’s golf will continue its spring season with a trip to Kona, Hawaii for the Amer Ari intercollegiate from Feb. 6-8.

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Stanford Open features title rematch with No. 1 Oklahoma https://stanforddaily.com/2020/01/24/stanford-open-features-title-rematch-with-no-1-oklahoma/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/01/24/stanford-open-features-title-rematch-with-no-1-oklahoma/#respond Fri, 24 Jan 2020 08:29:25 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1162853 The last time the two programs met was in April of 2019, and Stanford was celebrating the program's first NCAA title since 2011 after halting the Sooner's four-year title-winning streak.

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The No. 2 Stanford men’s gymnastics will face its toughest opponent this season when No. 1 Oklahoma visits for the NCAA portion of the three-day Stanford Open at Burnham Pavilion on Saturday. The last time the two programs met was in April of 2019 when Stanford was celebrating the program’s first NCAA title since 2011 after halting the Sooner’s four-year title-winning streak. No. 12 Cal is also slated to compete.

The Cardinal was scheduled to have its first taste at formidable competition at the Windy City Invitational in Chicago last weekend, but bad weather in Chicago and no flights into the area on Friday forced Stanford to withdraw from the meet. The Cardinal instead competed in Berkeley for the second week in a row, routing Cal and No. 17 Air Force by sizable margins. 

The team “was disappointed we didn’t have the opportunity to go up against some of the Big-10 teams, so it was a little lackluster going back to Cal,” said head coach Thom Glielmi. “So I think the team is really excited to take on Oklahoma.”

The Sooners own the highest average points scored in the country, with 411.050 points. Stanford follows in second, with an average of 404.575 through two competitions. The disparity, though, is merely a difference on paper. For Glielmi, he anticipates his team will push to score 420 points.

“We feel like we’re capable of that,” Glielmi said. “But it’s not the score that I’m going to use to determine if we’ve been successful — it’s how the guys approach the competition.”

After just two full weeks of competition, the reigning champs have already begun collecting weekly honors and accolades. Sophomore Brody Malone was named MPSF Gymnast of the Week and freshman Brandon Briones was named College Gymnastics Association Rookie of the Week for the second straight week after both athletes had particularly strong all-around performances in Berkeley last weekend. Malone captured the title with a score of 81.900, and Briones followed in second with 80.600.

Malone and Briones “are capable of contributing on every event,” said Glielmi. “It’s not just their ability to have some of the difficult routines or some great executions, but they are also consistent and dependable.”

Against a talented Oklahoma squad, Glielmi expects to have both of them compete in the all-around. 

“We are always looking for who, on our roster, competes,” said Glielmi. “Some guys love to train, and they don’t show up that well. Some guys only show up in the competition, but they don’t make it to the competition because they didn’t show enough in training.” 

“And then you have that guy who trains properly and is able to use the adrenaline to be that much better,” added Glielmi, who believes Malone and Briones both have that “intangible,” where they are able to use their adrenaline in competition to be “sharper, cleaner and stronger.”  

Last year, Malone became the third freshman to win the NCAA All-Around title, helping Stanford erase a 4.40-point deficit and knock the four-time defending champions Oklahoma off the throne. The 2019 NCAA title marked the sixth national title in program history and third under Glielmi, who is in his 18th season at the helm of the program.

The Stanford Open is the first home meet of the year for the Cardinal, and the three-day meet is also an official qualifier for the Winter Cup Championships, which is a qualifying event to the 2020 U.S. Gymnastics Championships. At the U.S. Championships, athletes will have a chance to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Team Trials.

Since the meet is a qualifier for the Winter Cup, there will be a number of non-collegiate athletes seeking quality. They include Stanford alums Grant Breckenridge ’19 and Akash Modi ’17, who both have experience on the U.S. National team.

The NCAA portion of the Stanford Open between the Cardinal, Oklahoma and Cal begins Saturday at 7 p.m. in Burnham Pavilion. 

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Track and field produces nationally-ranked performances at indoor season opener https://stanforddaily.com/2020/01/21/track-and-field-produces-nationally-ranked-performances-at-indoor-season-opener/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/01/21/track-and-field-produces-nationally-ranked-performances-at-indoor-season-opener/#respond Wed, 22 Jan 2020 06:35:08 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1162684 Stanford opened the indoor track and field season with nationally-ranked performances at the UW Preview on Saturday. The meet marked the debut of first-year head coach J.J. Clark and his staff.

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Stanford opened the indoor track and field season with nationally-ranked performances at the UW Preview on Saturday. The meet marked the debut of first-year head coach J.J. Clark and his staff.

“We had good performances on both sides,” Clark said. “The team’s energy was high and they had good focus. It’s still early but a good start.”

Stanford produced two overall winners against the competitive field. Junior Aria Small claimed the women’s triple jump with a leap of 12.19 meters, while sophomore Max McKhann threw for 18.94 meters to win the men’s weight throw in his indoor debut. His mark is the ninth-longest in program history.

Freshman Max Manson, a Colorado state champion and 2019 New Balance Nationals Champion, made his debut in a Cardinal uniform, clearing 5.21 meters for an impressive third-place finish in the pole vault.

In the men’s mile, senior Thomas Ratcliffe and fifth-year Alex Ostberg nearly eclipsed the four-minute barrier. Ratcliffe crossed in 4:00.04 for fifth, while Ostberg, who broke four minutes for the first time last year, placed seventh in 4:00.59.

“Max winning his weight and Max jumping 17-1 in his first meet were highlights for the men’s,” said Clark. “Ratcliffe and Ostberg were right on the edge of breaking the majestical 4:00 mile barrier. All were nationally ranked marks.”

Competing in his Stanford debut, freshman Devin Hart placed third in the 3,000 meters with a time of 8:02.47, good for the No. 3 time in the country, while sophomore Clay Mendez finished ninth overall in 8:06.90.

The women’s distance program, composed of many of the same runners who led Stanford to a third-place finish at the NCAA Championships last November, had a particularly impressive day at Washington’s Dempsey Indoor.

In the women’s 1,000 meters, junior Julia Heymach crossed in 2:54.36 for second place, as Oregon’s Susan Ejore edged her out for the win in 2:54.34. Junior Kaitlyn Ryan finished eighth with a time of 2:54.67.

In the mile, junior Jessica Lawson finished as the top U.S. collegian and fourth-overall with a time of 4:37.64. With that performance, Lawson now holds the No. 1 time in the country.

Senior Ella Donaghu, Stanford’s top finisher from the cross country national championships, opened her indoor season with an electrifying finish in the 3,000 meters. She finished as the top-collegian and second overall by just six hundredths of a second with a time of 8:58.31. She also holds the top time in the country.

“Jessica and Ella ran top national marks that should advance them to the NCAA Championships,” Clark said. 

Junior Ashlan Best clocked 53.69 for second in the 400 meters, marking the fourth-fastest time in program history and sixth-best in the country. Junior Carolyn Wilson followed in third with a time of 55.15. 

In the women’s pole vault, graduate student Kaitlyn Merritt and senior Erika Malaspina placed second and third, respectively. Merritt is the reigning MPSF champion in the event, with Malaspina taking second last year after a personal-best performance. 

“Ashlan opened up with a quality 400 and 200, showing her national class abilities,” Clark said. “Our vaulters and jumpers are in position to make a big impact as well.”  

Stanford has two weeks before its next competition at the Razorback Invitational from Jan. 31 to Feb. 1 in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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‘The energy is here’: track and field opens indoor season at UW Preview https://stanforddaily.com/2020/01/16/the-energy-is-here-track-and-field-opens-indoor-season-at-uw-preview/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/01/16/the-energy-is-here-track-and-field-opens-indoor-season-at-uw-preview/#respond Fri, 17 Jan 2020 06:53:52 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1162546 Fired up and ready to go, Stanford opens the indoor track and field season with the annual UW Preview on Saturday. Under the leadership of first-year head coach J.J. Clark, the team will face a variety of west-coast opponents in its season debut at Washington’s Dempsey Indoor.

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Fired up and ready to go, Stanford opens the indoor track and field season with the annual UW Preview on Saturday. Under the leadership of first-year head coach J.J. Clark, the team will face a variety of west-coast opponents in its season debut at Washington’s Dempsey Indoor. 

Saturday’s meet will be more of a “measuring stick” for the Cardinal, according to Clark, who recognizes most athletes haven’t formally competed since the outdoor track and field season last spring. 

“We’re, of course, taking it seriously, but to a degree, because it’s the first opportunity to perform,” he said of the upcoming meet.

Stanford’s strongest opponent is perhaps Oregon, a school with both men’s and women’s programs ranked in the top 10 of the preseason national ratings. The No. 9 Oregon women’s team placed third at the 2019 Indoor NCAA Championships, and the No. 10 men’s team returns a strong roster, including veteran sprinter Cravon Gillespie and distance specialist Cooper Teare, both top finishers at the national level. 

Despite being unranked in the preseason ratings, the Cardinal men had an impressive season last year. Accompanying a pair of fourth-place finishes at both the indoor and outdoor NCAA championships, last year’s indoor championships marked the highest finish for the Stanford men’s team in over a decade.

The Cardinal, however, will be tasked with relying on a younger generation of talent, with the loss of NCAA champions Harrison Williams ’19, the school recorder holder in the decathlon and heptathlon, and Grant Fisher ’19, a 12-time All-American who broke the indoor 3,000-meter collegiate record last year.

“If every Stanford member performs at their best, we’re going to dominate the meet,” said Clark, whose primary focus in this early part of the season has been on making sure every athlete is “prepared” to be successful.

“The energy is here,” said Clark after Tuesday’s practice, which marked the first day the entire track team gathered together.

On the women’s side, Stanford is ranked 19th in the preseason ratings, following a 10th-place finish at the outdoor championships and 12th-place finish in the indoor season last year. The Cardinal distance women are coming off a fall cross country season that saw them place third at the NCAA championships in November and win the Pac-12 crown for the first time since 2010 — both are remarkable accomplishments for Clark, who was tapped only in late July to serve at the helm of the cross country and track and field programs.

Since his appointment, Clark has hired several assistant coaches. Along with Ricardo Santos, who assisted with the men’s cross country team and now focuses on the distance crew, the new track and field coaches include sprints and hurdles coach Jarius Cooper; jumps, pole vault and multi-events coach Arthur Ignaczak; and throws coach Jennifer Svoboda.

For Clark, the transition to Stanford has not come without sacrifices. The former Tennessee head coach moved to Stanford in August ahead of the fall cross country season, preventing him from seeing his family until November. He would wake up at 4 a.m. PST every day to say “good morning” to his son, he said. 

Over the most recent break, though, his family moved to the Bay Area to accompany him. While unpacking 200 boxes was not an easy feat, Clark said he’s “excited” to be surrounded by both his nuclear family and track family.

The UW Preview kicks off with the women’s 3,000 meters on Saturday at 8:45 a.m. Live results will be available online.

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Influential computer science professor, alum Hector Garcia-Molina dies at 65 https://stanforddaily.com/2019/12/11/influential-computer-science-professor-alum-hector-garcia-molina-dies-at-65/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/12/11/influential-computer-science-professor-alum-hector-garcia-molina-dies-at-65/#respond Wed, 11 Dec 2019 08:40:07 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1161754 He played a key role in the development of database technologies foundational to modern cloud computing and advised 57 Ph.D. students throughout his 40-year academic career.

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Hector Garcia-Molina M.S. ’75 Ph.D. ’79, a prominent Stanford computer science and electrical engineering professor, died on Nov. 25, a day before his 66th birthday. He played a key role in the development of database technologies foundational to modern cloud computing and advised 57 Ph.D. students throughout his 40-year academic career. 

“His door was always open, and he welcomed everyone with a smile,” said Jennifer Widom, the current dean of the School of Engineering and long-time research associate of Garcia-Molina, in an interview with Stanford News. “Hector served as a mentor to me from the time I arrived as an assistant professor, through succeeding him as chair of the computer science department, to when I became dean.”

In collaboration with now emeritus professor Terry Winograd, Garcia-Molina co-launched the Stanford Digital Libraries Project, from which the beginnings of the Google search algorithm emerged. Sergey Brin and Larry Page, co-founders of Google, were student researchers involved in the project.

Garcia-Molina’s influence and reach spans much further than the humble beginnings of Google. Throughout his career, he’s edited, authored or co-authored over 400 journal articles. In particular, he has 37 papers with 500 or more citations.

Born in Monterrey, Mexico, Garcia-Molina received a bachelors of science in electrical engineering from Tecnológico de Monterrey in 1974 before arriving at Stanford a year later to complete a master’s degree in electrical engineering and a Ph.D. in computer science. 

Following his time as a graduate student at Stanford, Garcia-Molina became a faculty member at Princeton, where he worked on developing technology for Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID), a technology that relies on data redundancy to reduce the loss of information in the event of a disk crashing. 

In 1992, Garcia-Molina joined the faculty at Stanford, and in 1995, he was named the Leonard Bosack and Sandy K. Lerner Professor in Engineering, — an endowed professorship bestowed upon “a faculty member working at the forefront of information systems technology in computer science, electrical engineering or a related field,” according to Stanford News. 

Jeffrey Ullman, now a Stanford computer science professor emeritus, was on Princeton’s faculty when Garcia-Molina first joined in 1979, and after becoming the chair of the Computer Science Department at Stanford, he helped recruit Garcia-Molina back to the Farm in 1992.

Ullman told Stanford News, “[Garcia-Molina] believed in finding simple and efficient solutions that got 90%of the way toward the best possible, in preference to more complicated, expensive solutions that might be a little better in rare cases.”

Garcia-Molina served as the chair of the Computer Science Department from 2001-2004.

In 2001, he joined the Board of Directors of Oracle Corporation, a role which he served in until his death. Founder and chairman Larry Ellison told Stanford News, “We will all miss his contributions. I will miss Hector’s pleasant and persuasive way of discussing complex ideas. Hector’s gentle and considerate personal style captured my enduring respect and affection.”

In addition to his academic career, Garcia-Molina was widely known for his professional photography. He was often seen on the sidelines at Stanford football games, capturing photos of the action. His favorite sports to photograph included lacrosse, field hockey, soccer, rugby, swimming and water polo. 

Up until his death, Garcia-Molina taught CS45N, a freshman introductory seminar on computers and photography. Tiffany Ong ’19, a teaching assistant for the class this quarter, told Stanford news that Garcia-Molina would loan students digital cameras and organized trips to the San Francisco Zoo and Half Moon Bay, as well as walks through the Stanford Quad at night.

In an interview with Stanford News, Ong said, “Because of him, hundreds of students over the years have gained the confidence to become photographers and artists on their own, despite never having touched a camera before the class.”

Garcia-Molina is survived by his family. According to Stanford News, his final moments were spent “reminiscing” with old photos with his son. 

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Top-seeded men’s water polo wins first NCAA title since 2002 https://stanforddaily.com/2019/12/09/top-seeded-mens-water-polo-wins-first-ncaa-title-since-2002/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/12/09/top-seeded-mens-water-polo-wins-first-ncaa-title-since-2002/#respond Mon, 09 Dec 2019 10:38:13 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1161713 As time expired, Stanford coaches and players alike jumped into Chris Kjeldsen Pool in Stockton, California on Sunday, celebrating the team's 11th NCAA title and 12th national championship in program history.

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For the first time since 2002, men’s water polo claimed the NCAA championship. As time expired on Sunday, Stanford coaches and players alike jumped into Chris Kjeldsen Pool in Stockton, California, celebrating the 11th NCAA title and 12th national championship in program history.

Behind hat tricks from redshirt junior Ben Hallock and sophomore AJ Rossman, No. 1 Stanford (21-2, 2-1 MPSF) cruised to a 13-8 victory against No. 5 Pacific (17-6, 5-0 GCC). 

The NCAA title marks the 124th in Stanford history, and second for head coach John Vargas, who led Stanford to the crown in his first season at the helm in 2002. 

“Most of the guys on the team were very aware of how how long it had been since we won,” said Hallock, who was named MVP of the championship. “The championship is a huge credit to the guys who came before us.”

Hallock provided the golden goal in Saturday’s semifinal to edge No. 2 USC, 15-14 and advance the Cardinal to the finals for the second consecutive year. Stanford fell in a 9-8 heartbreaker to USC in last year’s finals.

“To regroup the way we did after [Saturday’s triple-overtime win against USC] is really impressive,” Vargas said.

Stanford jumped to an early lead on Sunday. All three of Rossman’s goals came in the opening frame, helping the Cardinal build a comfortable 6-3 lead by the end of the first period.

Pacific was held scoreless in the second, as Stanford increased its lead to 9-3 by halftime. Senior goalkeeper Andrew Chun recorded five saves in the contest, his lowest total since saving five against Long Beach State on Oct. 15. 

“I thought our defense was unbelievable,” he said. “The amount of energy was amazing.”

Hallock opened the second half with his third and final score of the game. The Tigers responded with two of their own late in the period, but the momentum continued in Stanford’s favor. Each side scored three more in the final quarter, but the Tigers’ efforts were not enough as Stanford closed in on its first title in 17 years.

“Personally, it means everything,” Hallock said. “It’s incredible.”

Hallock and junior Tyler Abramson, who contributed two goals and three assists, were both named to the First Team All-Tournament. Rossman, Chun, sophomore Quinn Woodhead and senior Bennett Williams were all named to the second team.

After six different Stanford programs won NCAA titles last year, men’s water polo became the first program of the 2019-20 campaign to claim a national title. Just three hours and 56 minutes later, and 74 miles down the road, Stanford women’s soccer won the College Cup and NCAA title with a heart-throbbing 5-4 penalty shootout victory against UNC at Avaya Stadium in San Jose. 

Stanford now owns 125 NCAA titles, extending its lead over the rest of the Division I to seven — UCLA holds the second-most titles with 118.

And, in more good news for men’s water polo, the 2020 NCAA Tournament will be held at Stanford’s Avery Aquatics Center. 

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Ella Donaghu leads women’s cross country to highest NCAA finish since 2012 https://stanforddaily.com/2019/12/03/ella-donaghu-leads-womens-cross-country-to-highest-ncaa-finish-since-2012/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/12/03/ella-donaghu-leads-womens-cross-country-to-highest-ncaa-finish-since-2012/#respond Wed, 04 Dec 2019 06:37:24 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1161583 Senior Ella Donaghu earned her first All-America honor by placing eighth at the NCAA Championships on Nov. 23. The women's team finished third overall, the program's highest finish since 2012.

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The last time Ella Donaghu competed at the NCAA cross country championships, it was the fall of 2017, and she was making her second appearance at nationals. She finished 21st among sophomores and 69th overall. 

Now a senior academically, the Portland, Oregon, native led Stanford women’s cross country to its highest finish since 2012. Donaghu placed eighth, a career best, as the Cardinal women finished third at the NCAA championships held on Nov. 23 at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course in Terre Haute, Indiana. The men placed sixth overall, earning their sixth consecutive top-six finish.

In that 2017 championship race, then-sophomore Ednah Kurgat from New Mexico opened a five-second gap over the chase pack to win her first NCAA title. She finished well over a minute ahead of Donaghu. This year’s race, however, saw Donaghu finish one place ahead of Kurgat and, in the process, she earned her first cross country All-America honor. Her stellar performance comes just a week after she became the first Stanford woman in 12 years to win the NCAA West Regional title.  

Donaghu’s career day was accompanied by an equally impressive performance from junior Jess Lawson. After finishing 44th at the championships last year and 186th in 2017, she placed 11th overall this year to also earn her first cross country All-America honor. 

“There were 252 finishers in the race, so finishing eighth and 11th shows their talent and skill,” said first-year head coach J.J. Clark of Stanford’s top two finishers. “Massive improvement within a year’s time. Well done for both.”

A product of Addison, New York — a small village with a population of 1,763 people according to the 2010 census — Lawson has established her presence on the national stage over the last year. She, along with Donaghu, made her first appearance at the outdoor track and field championships in June, finishing in the top 10 in the 1,500 meters.

O’Keeffe, who sat out at regionals, was a meet-day decision. She suffered an injury after winning the Pac-12 title on Nov. 1. Despite her limitations, she ran steadily behind Donaghu and Lawson and finished 27th to become a four-time cross country All-American.

“They performed very well, especially considering Fiona was not 100 percent,” Clark said. “They all gave their very best.”

True freshman Abi Archer finished as the fifth-fastest freshman to traverse the six-kilometer course and placed 53rd overall. Junior Julia Heymach followed in 63rd to round out Stanford’s scorers.

The Cardinal women combined for 123 points to become the only program in the NCAA to finish in the top five in each of the last four years. Arkansas claimed the title with 96 points and BYU finished runner-up with 102.

Racing in heavy rain, the Stanford men’s team placed sixth for the sixth-consecutive year. Senior Alex Ostberg had the fastest time of the day for the Cardinal. He traversed the 10-kilometer course in 31:11.6 for 25th overall. Senior Alek Parsons and sixth-year Steven Fahy placed 34th and 35th, respectively, as Stanford scored 248 points. 

“The men had a solid year,” Clark said. “A top-10 performance is very respectable. We had higher goals but we fought hard. The men pulled off a sixth-place finish despite not having a perfect race.”

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Wrestling opens home schedule with upset victory https://stanforddaily.com/2019/11/19/wrestling-opens-home-schedule-with-upset-victory/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/11/19/wrestling-opens-home-schedule-with-upset-victory/#respond Tue, 19 Nov 2019 09:20:25 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1160697 Stanford wrestling (2-1, 0-0 Pac-12) defeated No. 17 University of North Carolina (1-1, 0-0 ACC) in a decisive 21-11 match on Saturday afternoon at Burnham Pavilion. The Cardinal won seven of the 10 bouts, including three ranked victories.

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Stanford wrestling (2-1, 0-0 Pac-12) defeated No. 17 University of North Carolina (1-1, 0-0 ACC) in a decisive 21-11 match on Saturday afternoon at Burnham Pavilion. The Cardinal won seven of the 10 bouts, including three ranked victories.

Stanford entered the competition coming off a 6-29 loss against No. 3 Ohio State on Nov. 11. However, Saturday proved to be a redemptive day for the Cardinal as several athletes showed a promising start to the season in the team’s first appearance at Burnham Pavilion. 

The event began at 125 pounds. True freshman Jackson DiSario pulled off a come-from-behind victory against UNC’s Joey Melendez. DiSario trailed 4-2, but flipped the table as he claimed his first win with an 8-5 decision.

Nick Addison, the only other true freshman to compete, faced Carolina’s Chasen Blair at 184 pounds. Addison racked up points with a takedown in the first period, an escape in the second and a takedown in the third to win the match 6-0. 

In one of the closest matches of the day, No. 13 Real Woods played a highly competitive dual against UNC’s Zach Sherman at 141 pounds. The first two periods ended in a 0-0 tie only to be broken by Woods in the third period. A game of back-and-forth happened as Stanford’s redshirt freshman started in the bottom and escaped for one point. Sherman then claimed the lead after taking Woods down for two points before Woods responded to tie the score. In a bout that seemed destined for overtime, Woods regained the lead with a last-second takedown, claiming the 3-2 decision.

Redshirt freshman Tyler Eischens tallied a victory for Stanford at 157 pounds. The Minnesota native trailed 2-1 after the opening period to Carolina’s No. 16 A.C. Headlee. However, Eischens scored an escape and takedown to come away with the 4-3 upset victory.

At 165 pounds, No. 8 Shane Griffith scored nine unanswered points against No. 17 Kennedy Monday to claim a 9-4 decision. The victory marked his sixth straight on the season. 

All in all, Stanford won seven of the 10 duals to win the home debut. 

The momentum continued the following day, as Stanford returned to action at San Francisco State (1-2) on Sunday. Redshirt junior Nathan Traxler, ranked No. 9 at 197 pounds, registered his first pin of the season only 56 seconds into his bout. Traxler’s victory combined with technical falls by DiSario and Woods led Stanford to a 29-10 victory against the Division II Gators. 

Stanford won seven of the 10 bouts to improve to 2-1 on the season. The Cardinal return to action on Saturday in an outdoor dual against Columbia. The event will take place in Fan Fest at 11 a.m. prior to the home football game against Cal. 

Contact Hussam Algallaf at hussamig ‘at’ stanford.edu and Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Donaghu leads women’s cross country to NCAA Regional title https://stanforddaily.com/2019/11/18/donaghu-leads-womens-cross-country-to-ncaa-regional-title/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/11/18/donaghu-leads-womens-cross-country-to-ncaa-regional-title/#respond Tue, 19 Nov 2019 07:04:40 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1160725 With a bid to the NCAA Championships on the line, senior Ella Donaghu became the first Stanford woman in 12 years to win the NCAA West Regional title on Friday. Junior Jess Lawson finished seconds later to complete a 1-2 Stanford punch and lead the Cardinal women to their 16th regional title and first since 2016.

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With a bid to the NCAA Championships on the line, senior Ella Donaghu became the first Stanford woman in 12 years to win the NCAA West Regional title on Friday. Junior Jess Lawson finished seconds later to complete a 1-2 Stanford punch and lead the Cardinal women to their 16th regional title and first since 2016. 

With three finishers in the top 10, the No. 4 men’s team combined for 78 points to finish second to No. 11 Portland. The top two teams from each Regionals earn automatic bids to the NCAA Championships on Nov. 23 in Terre Haute, Indiana. For the 26th consecutive year, both the men’s and women’s teams advanced to nationals. 

Donaghu paced the women’s team with a time of 19:50.8 on the 6-kilometer course at the Colfax Golf Club in Washington to win her first collegiate cross country race. Lawson, who crossed in 19:54.2 for second, added another impressive finish to what is shaping into a standout junior season. Their combined efforts produced the first 1-2 Stanford finish since 2006, and Donaghu is the first regional champion since Teresa McWalters ’07 won during her redshirt junior season.

As the race developed, the pack of frontrunners slowly dwindled. With 600 meters to go, the race was spearheaded by a group of four that included Donaghu, Lawson, Washington’s Melany Smart and San Francisco’s Aoibhe Richardson. Over the final stages of the race, the Cardinal duo pulled away from the group, with Donaghu outkicking Lawson to the tape.

Junior Jordan Oakes placed fifth, while her classmate Julia Heymach finished 12th and freshman Abi Archer 19th to round out Stanford’s five scorers. With the exception of Heymach, the rest of the top five all placed higher than they ever had in a collegiate cross country race. Heymach placed 11th at the 2018 USF Invitational.

The Cardinal women were without their Pac-12 Champion Fiona O’Keeffe, who was intentionally rested on Friday. In her absence the women still proved dominant, winning their second consecutive race under first-year head coach J.J. Clark. 

On the men’s side, Stanford was neck-and-neck with Portland for the majority of the race. The Cardinal held a one-point advantage over Portland with one kilometer left in the race. But late efforts from the Pilots propelled Portland to a 13-point victory. 

Senior Alex Ostberg was the top finisher for the men’s team, covering the 10-kilometer course in 29:58.6. Junior Thomas Ratcliffe finished a tenth of a second later for eighth, and junior Alek Parsons placed 10th to round out Stanford’s three scorers in the top 10.

Despite finishing second, Stanford ran a considerably conservative race in an attempt to stay fresh for the NCAA Championships. While the regular season is composed of 8-kilometer races, the NCAA Regional, along with the NCAA Championships scheduled eight days later, are 10-kilometers long, making it difficult to stay rested for the latter competition. 

The Cardinal men have not won an NCAA Championship since 2003, and the women haven’t accomplished the feat since 2007. Both teams will get their shot at the national title come Saturday. 

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu. 

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Steven Fahy named Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year https://stanforddaily.com/2019/11/07/steven-fahy-named-pac-12-scholar-athlete-of-the-year/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/11/07/steven-fahy-named-pac-12-scholar-athlete-of-the-year/#respond Fri, 08 Nov 2019 05:16:02 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1160095 Graduate student Steven Fahy was named the Pac-12 Men’s Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year before the Pac-12 Championships last Friday morning. Fahy is the sixth Cardinal to receive the award, which recognizes an outstanding senior student-athlete.

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Graduate student Steven Fahy was named the Pac-12 Men’s Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year before the Pac-12 Championships last Friday morning. Fahy is the sixth Cardinal to receive the award, which recognizes one outstanding senior student-athlete each year. 

“It’s an honor to be recognized by the Pac-12 for this award,” Fahy said. “Having my name added to a list of really impressive and highly accomplished student-athletes and human beings, both from Stanford and around the conference, is something I can always take pride in.”

A product of Carlsbad, California, Fahy is the midst of his final season of eligibility. He completed his undergraduate studies in human biology with a 3.76 grade-point average last spring and is now pursuing a master’s in comparative medicine.

“I first want to give credit to my mom and dad for the countless hours put aside to allow me to pursue my interests,” Fahy said. “They’ve always had a vested interest in both my academics and athletics, but most importantly they entrusted me with the freedom to follow my own path and budget my time as I chose. Their support and belief in me set me up really well to deal with a lot of the challenges of being a student-athlete.”

Fahy was forced to miss the entire cross country season last year due to a lingering injury that limited him into the indoor track and field season. However, the four-time All-American returned to the track in the outdoor season and won the NCAA title in his staple event, the 3,000-meter steeplechase. In a dramatic finish that included him falling over the final barrier, Fahy outlasted the field to collect his first national title.

“I think learning how to manage the degree to which my commitments as a student encroached on my commitments as an athlete was key to being able to do well in both in the long-term,” he said.

Fahy is the second consecutive Cardinal to have received the award after Grant Fisher ’19 earned the award last fall. Other past Stanford recipients include Neftalem Araia (2007), Elliot Heath (2010), Chris Derrick (2011) and Tyler Stutzman (2013). 

“I also want to thank my teammates and coaches for providing an environment that cultivates accountability and integrity while also keeping things fun and giving an added purpose to the daily routine,” he added. “The standards they set and uphold have really become ingrained in the way I approach almost everything I do on a daily basis.”

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Fiona O’Keeffe leads women’s cross country to Pac-12 title https://stanforddaily.com/2019/11/02/fiona-okeeffe-leads-womens-cross-country-to-pac-12-title/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/11/02/fiona-okeeffe-leads-womens-cross-country-to-pac-12-title/#respond Sat, 02 Nov 2019 08:49:07 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1159687 Fiona O’Keeffe, Ella Donaghu and Jess Lawson finished 1-2-3 at the Pac-12 Championships on Friday, earning No. 2 Stanford women's cross country its first conference title since 2010.

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Well ahead of the rest of the field, seniors Fiona O’Keeffe and Ella Donaghu along with junior Jess Lawson stormed into the finishing shoot at the Pac-12 Cross Country Championships in Monmouth, Oregon on Friday morning. O’Keeffe finished first, claiming her first individual Pac-12 title, while Donaghu and Lawson followed in second and third, respectively, to complete a 1-2-3 Stanford finish and earn the women’s cross country team its first conference title since 2010.

“It’s special to have a conference championship,” head cross country coach J.J. Clark said. “To go 1-2-3 is historic.”

O’Keeffe ran nearly unchallenged for most of the race. The fifth-place finisher from last year’s conference championships has excelled as front runner for the Cardinal this year, running alone in the lead for most of Friday’s race. She traversed the 6-kilometer course at Ash Creek Preserve in 19:32.7, followed by Donaghu in 19:34.9 and Lawson in 19:38.1.

“I was just so happy when I turned around and saw Ella and Jess right there,” O’Keeffe said in a post-race Pac-12 Network interview. “It was so exciting.”

The Pac-12 is arguably the strongest conference this season with three teams in the nation’s top five. Despite the competition, the No. 2 Stanford women dominated the field with a near-perfect score of 27 points. No. 3 Washington finished second with 55 points, while No. 16 Utah scored 86 points, upsetting a No. 5 Colorado team that finished fourth with 89 points.

Juniors Jordan Oakes and Julia Heymach finished eighth and 13th, respectively, to round out the top five scorers for the Cardinal. Both juniors had significant improvements from last year’s conference championships, when Oakes placed 20th and Heymach in 26th to help the women finish third overall.

While Friday marked the first conference crown in nearly a decade for the Stanford women, it also marked Stanford’s lowest team score and first 1-2-3 performance since the 2006 conference championship when the Cardinal went 1-4 for 22 points. Later that season, Stanford went on to win its second of three consecutive national titles.

Friday was a particularly special day for O’Keeffe because of the jersey she wore. The last time she wore it was in early June at the NCAA Track and Field Championships in Austin, Texas. She was competing for a national title in the 5,000 meters when she fell midway through the race. Despite the setback and consequential abrasions to her legs, she rallied back to a seventh-place finish, contributing crucial points in the team’s 10th overall finish at the championships.

“The last time I wore this jersey, actually, was that NCAA race,” she said. “Putting it back on was a little bit of an ‘Okay, we can do this’ moment.”

The conference title is the first under Clark and his assistant coach Ricardo Santos, who are both in their first year at the helm of the program.

“I compliment the team for being welcoming with open arms,” Clark said. “We were able to start moving in the right direction immediately. Winning is always exciting, but especially in your first year.”

On the men’s side, the Cardinal struggled to find the same success. Seniors Alex Ostberg and Thomas Ratcliffe finished fourth and sixth, respectively, to lead the No. 3 men’s team to a third-place finish. 

The two-time defending conference champions were unable to find their third-straight title, but extended their streak of top-three conference finishes to 25 years. The Cardinal men combined for 69 points, falling to No. 3 Colorado (41 points) and No. 16 Oregon (57 points).

Ratcliffe surged to the lead in the final kilometer of the 8-kilometer race but faded to sixth as Colorado’s Joe Klecker pulled away with the victory. Ostberg crossed in 23:08.0 to secure his third consecutive top-four conference finish. 

“The men are in great shape,” Clark said. “They had poor execution at 4K. They learned from it and will move on. Third is not horrible, but the feeling on the team is that we can do better. And they will.”

Sixth-year senior Steven Fahy was named the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year before the race began. The veteran completed his undergraduate studies in human biology last spring with a 3.76 grade-point average.

Stanford will turn their efforts to the NCAA West Regionals on Nov. 15 in Colfax, Washington. 

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Cross country competes for Pac-12 title https://stanforddaily.com/2019/11/01/cross-country-competes-for-pac-12-title/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/11/01/cross-country-competes-for-pac-12-title/#respond Fri, 01 Nov 2019 07:02:19 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1159618 Stanford cross country will compete at the Pac-12 Cross Country Championships on Friday in Monmouth, Oregon. The men’s team, tied for No. 3 in the nation, will have an opportunity to claim its third-straight Pac-12 title, while the No. 2 women’s team searches for its first conference crown since 2010.

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Stanford cross country will compete at the Pac-12 Cross Country Championships on Friday in Monmouth, Oregon. The men’s team, tied for No. 3 in the nation, will have an opportunity to claim its third-straight Pac-12 title, while the No. 2 women’s team searches for its first conference crown since 2010.

Despite the graduation of All-Americans Grant Fisher ’19 and Elise Cranny ’18 — front runners at the NCAA Championships last year — the two programs are once again at the forefront of the collegiate distance scene. For the first time since 2006, both teams are ranked in the top three in the nation. And, more important for Friday’s conference showdown, the Stanford men and women are both ranked No. 1 in the West Region by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Association. 

Friday’s race will be no easy feat for the Cardinal, however. The Pac-12 is one of the most competitive conferences in the nation this year, owning seven top-10 teams between the men’s and women’s programs. 

In the men’s race, the two-time defending Pac-12 champs will toe the line against several notable competitors, including No. 3 Colorado, No. 7 Washington and No. 10 UCLA. Washington and Colorado placed second and third, respectively, at the Pac-12 Championships last year, and both teams return respectable rosters. A program on the rise, UCLA is the only team in conference to have competed against the Cardinal this year, placing fifth to Stanford’s runner-up performance at the Nuttycombe Invitational.

The Stanford men’s program is led by a trio of veterans: seniors Alex Ostberg and Thomas Ratcliffe and sixth-year Steven Fahy. All three have finished in the top-10 at the conference championships in the past, led by Ostberg who placed third last year and has been a consistent front runner this season. Ratcliffe, the reigning NCAA outdoor 5k bronze medalist, has finished in the top-five in each of his two showings this year.

Friday will offer the men’s team an opportunity to win the program’s 15th conference title and secure the first three-peat since winning six straight from 2000-05. The gun goes off at 11 a.m. PST for the men’s race.

On the women’s side, the second-ranked Cardinal will face No. 3 Washington and No. 5 Colorado, runner up at this competition last year. Stanford is led by senior Fiona O’Keeffe who placed seventh at this race in 2017 and fifth last year. She has been the top-performer for the Cardinal this season and has the looks to be a conference champion come Friday.

While Stanford has yet to compete against Colorado this season, the Cardinal opened the season by edging out Washington for second place at the John McNichols Invitational in September. Although Arkansas claimed the team title with 49 points, the 12-point difference between runner-up Stanford (54) and third-place Washington (66) revealed how tightly matched the rosters are.

O’Keeffe, senior Ella Donaghu and junior Jess Lawson all finished in the top-10 for Stanford, compared to the Huskies’ two top-10 finishers. However, Washington’s strength that day came from their third, fourth, and fifth runners, who all finished ahead of Stanford’s fifth scorer. 

Friday will serve as a rematch between the two programs as Stanford’s front-running abilities will be matched against the Huskies’ tight pack-running strategies. The women’s race is scheduled for a noon start time at the Ash Creek Preserve in Oregon.

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Cross country takes second in Wisconsin https://stanforddaily.com/2019/10/22/cross-country-takes-second-in-wisconsin/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/10/22/cross-country-takes-second-in-wisconsin/#respond Tue, 22 Oct 2019 08:00:52 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1158981 Stanford cross country ran away with a pair of second place finishes in arguably the most the most competitive meet outside of championship racing on Friday. Held in Verona, Wisconsin, the Nuttycombe Invitational played host to 20 of the top 30 programs in the country, including six of the top 10 teams for both men and women.

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Stanford cross country ran away with a pair of second place finishes in arguably the most competitive meet outside of championship racing on Friday. Held in Verona, Wisconsin, the Nuttycombe Invitational hosted 20 of the top 30 programs in the country, including six of the top-10 teams for both men and women. 

Seniors Alex Ostberg and Thomas Ratcliffe finished third and fourth, respectively, to lead the No. 5 Cardinal to a decisive runner-up performance. With 133 points, Stanford only lost to reigning NCAA champions No. 1 Northern Arizona (59). 

On the women’s side, senior Fiona O’Keeffe finished fourth in the race, with classmate Ella Donaghu in sixth and junior Jess Lawson in 12th. The trio helped No. 4 Stanford score just 98 points, second to No. 1 Arkansas (62).

“Both teams are moving in the right direction,” said recently-appointed head coach J.J. Clark. “We’re in a good position as we approach the championship part of our season.” 

In the men’s race, Ostberg and Ratcliffe ran with the lead pack until just before the 6-kilometer mark when Iowa State’s Edwin Kurgat surged to a decisive lead that would win him the race. Heading into the final stretch, Ratcliffe ran in second before Wisconsin’s Oliver Hoare found another gear and passed him. Ostberg followed soon after, catching Ratcliffe at the line, as the duo finished in the top five for the Cardinal. 

Ostberg and Ratcliffe traversed the 8-kilometer (4.97-mile) Thomas Zimmer Championship course in 23:41.4 and 23:41.5, respectively. Sophomore Clayton Mendez (24:09.1) and juniors Callum Bolger (24:14.5) and Alek Parsons (24:15.1) placed 37th, 44th and 45th, respectively, to round out the scorers for the men.

“They had to overcome a little adversity with some minor injuries which required a little time off,” said Clark of his men’s team. “[Men’s coach] Ricardo [Santos] did a great job managing that entire situation. Everyone is up and running now.”

On the women’s side, O’Keeffe’s fourth-place performance marked the highest finish for a Stanford woman at this meet, improving on Kathy Kroeger’s fifth place in 2012. O’Keeffe ran in the lead pack for the first half of the race, before the eventual winner Alicia Monson of Wisconsin and New Mexico’s Weini Kelati broke away. Despite a spersed front pack, O’Keeffe maintained her pace and completed the 6-kilometer (3.73-mile) course in 19:55.4.

O’Keeffe was soon followed by Donaghu, who placed 120th at this race in 2017. Friday was a different story for her as she had one of the best cross country races of her career, covering the course in 20:04.7 for sixth.

“It’s great to see Alex and Ella run up closer to the potential that we know they have,” Clark said. “Their performances, along with Thomas and Fiona, just strengthens our team.”

With two meets in the books, the Cardinal will head to Monmouth, Oregon for the Pac-12 Championships on Nov. 1.

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu

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J.J. Clark: The new face of Stanford XC and track https://stanforddaily.com/2019/10/15/j-j-clark-the-new-face-of-stanford-xc-and-track/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/10/15/j-j-clark-the-new-face-of-stanford-xc-and-track/#respond Wed, 16 Oct 2019 05:22:00 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1158661 Ahead of Friday’s meet, The Daily’s Alejandro Salinas sat down with recently-appointed cross country head coach J.J. Clark to talk about his past coaching experiences, his transition to Stanford and his goals for the season.

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Recently-appointed cross country head coach J.J. Clark has been at the helm of the distance running program at Stanford for just a few months. Since the announcement of his position in July, “coach Clark” has worked hard to learn Stanford’s system and understand the student athletes who comprise it. In the team’s first and only race this season, the then-No. 8 women and No. 7 men upset several top-five teams in the nation, picking up right where they left off last season as NCAA title contenders. Now four weeks since their season debut, the No. 4 Stanford women and No. 5 men will be back in action on Friday at the Nuttycombe Invitational in Madison, Wisconsin, with another opportunity to square up with heavyweights of the sport. Clark, who’s background in coaching extends from the Olympic scene to stints at the University of Tennessee and the University of Connecticut, brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to a program that arguably has one of the most talented rosters in the country. Ahead of Friday’s meet, The Daily’s Alejandro Salinas sat down with coach Clark to talk about his past coaching experiences, his transition to Stanford and his goals for the season. 

Alejandro Salinas (AS):  What were some of the main reasons for coming to coach at Stanford?

J.J. Clark (JC): For many years I was at Tennessee, and before then Florida and Connecticut, and Stanford has always been at the forefront. In fact, I was always chasing or recruiting against them. They have such a package it’s unbelievable. The academics are well-known throughout the world and there is an unbelievable athletic history as well. I came here for a race and then I started understanding why I kept losing the recruiting battles to Stanford. They have the full package. They have excellent weather, excellent academics, and excellent facilities. When I got here, I saw how they treat the student athletes holistically and how they really care about the total experience. I recognized that and I said, this is a great opportunity for me to showcase not only what Stanford’s about but my talent as a coach, as well.

AS: What would you say makes a successful season?

JC: Always getting on the podium is successful. But right now there has been a history of injuries on both teams that have kept them from winning NCAA meets. Right now, I have to figure out why this is happening and keep people healthy. Getting on the podium is always successful, but keeping them healthy is the focal point of what I’m trying to do. The student athletes here are very, very talented, and if you keep them healthy, their talents will take care of themselves and manifest into great performances. So that’s been my charge as I have talked to every student athlete here and heard their story of injury or redshirting. And it’s not a blame on anyone. You can do everything perfectly as a coach and still get injured. That’s the way it works. Sometimes people don’t take care of their bodies right, and they have to sit out a whole season. It’s kind of mysterious what makes you stay healthy sometimes but there are things we can do, such as resting, good nutrition and breaks here and there that will allow to stay healthy.

AS: How would you describe your coaching style?

JC: I’m scientific in nature, but I’m also a coach. I’m able to look at you and see what I’m going to get today. I know when is too much and make decisions instinctively without any reasons some times. I’m a coach that looks at the whole picture. I’ll use science and a lot of other signals that allow me to coach very well. In general, we care about the student athletes as a whole. I like to keep the environment fun because this is a very difficult and tough sport. It requires a lot of time and then you couple that with your academics and it’s very strenuous. Coming to practice and getting a good laugh is fun and healthy, but at the same time, I’m making sure we stay focused. It’s all that put together and good coaches know how to do it. It has to be in your personality. I coach in the style of my personality. 

AS: Having just entered this role, how would you describe your interactions with the team so far?

JC: The men’s and women’s teams have been so welcoming, so helpful and so willing to accept me and my family. It’s been amazing. I had to call so many different people, such as Christina Aragon, Alex [Ostberg], [Steven] Fahy, Valarie [Allman] and others. I’ve had to lean on others to meander my way through the early weeks. I asked a lot of questions. Isaac [Cortes] took me out to Baylands and showed me some loops out there. It was very welcoming at first, but in the one-on-one sit-downs, it was trying to figure each other out. But it was so easy to figure them out because they wanted to be figured out and they wanted me to come in and go to work. Obviously, with the internet, the student athletes do their homework. They knew where I had coached and had been successful in my years. I guess it was easier to welcome me when you have a good situation. It’s been rewarding. We went to Oregon in early September and since then we have become comfortable from the coach-athlete standpoint. I’m starting to learn personalities. It makes it easier for me to do what I like to do when I bring the best out in student athletes.

AS: Who are the team leaders emerging on each team?

JC:  Yes, there are several good leaders, Alex [Ostberg], [Stephen] Fahy, and DJ Principe. Others chime in at different times on the side. On the women’s side, we got [Christina] Aragon, Fiona [O’Keeffe] and Ella [Donaghu]. They all help mold and guide the team. Julia [Heymach] is also starting to shine in that capacity. I think that here [at Stanford] there are some really natural leaders, and I think a lot of us can do that. Stanford has a way of getting people who are leaders and innovators, and are not afraid to step out and lead. The athletes know their strength and weaknesses amongst the group and the person who is strong shines in that moment, and everyone’s okay with it. It helps me and the team members grow.

AS: From your perspective, what would you say makes Stanford cross country unique this season?

JC: This season is a challenge because they have a new situation, a new environment, a new coach, and they are still performing as if there has been no transition. That is unique. We came in and we went to the first meet and beat some top-five teams. Normally, there’s a little transitional period for the first couple of meets, and we’ve come right in and done a really great job. I don’t know if this is normal, but the teams have worked really well together. We were in Oregon and the men’s and women’s team are very close and they get along very well. They help each other. It’s a good environment. The transition has not stopped them from achieving their goals, which is to perform as well as you can and perform at the national level.

AS: You have a lot of experience coaching the women’s side. How do you see that experience helping you this season?

JC: First, I’m very comfortable with the guys, but I hired Ricardo Santos to work more directly with the men with my supervision. He is the men’s leader as a coach. He makes up the workouts, but we’re out there every day together. I’m at the practices with the men and he’s at the practices with the women. But I lead more on the women’s side and he’s working with the men. With that said, I’m very comfortable with the men’s team. I ran collegiately at Villanova on the men’s side. And that in itself was a great experience. I coached at Tennessee on the men’s side for a few years. So coaching men has been very natural for me. What was not natural for me in the beginning, about 20 years ago, was coaching the women because of the intricacies involved. It’s become natural coaching women and it’s always been natural coaching men because I came through the male system of track and field from high school through college. But Ricardo coaches the men’s side. It’s like football where you have a running back coach and wide receiver coach, but the head coach is responsible for everything.

AS: What’s one thing you wish people knew about you that they may not know?

JC: In my profession, I don’t look too much on what people are saying about me. More importantly, it’s what the people close to me know that means more. I can address that. I want them to know that I am a good person, I care and that I’m a good coach. And I believe the student athletes are realizing that I do care, and I’m a good person and that I’m going to help support them in whatever ways necessary for them to be successful. 

AS: What has been your favorite coaching memory so far?

JC: I’ve been very fortunate to be extremely successful, and I’ve had some really memorable moments. Collegiately, obviously it was winning the NCAAs in 2009 and that same year, we were the Academic Team of the Year by the NCAA. That’s the pinnacle. You’re the academic team of the year and you’ve won the NCAA. That’s what you strive to do in cultivating student athletes. In that process, I’ve seen youngsters grow and we’ve had several collegiate records that I’ve been able to coach. But that moment I just mentioned was very special. Another special one was when my family went 1-2-3 in the 800 meters at the [2000] Olympic Trials. I coached my two sisters and wife in the same event. One three people make the team, and they swept it. My wife was an American record holder. My sister made four Olympic teams, and my other sister made three. And my wife made five. I coached them through all that so that was very memorable, as well. 

AS: What would you say has been the athletic achievement you are most proud of?

JC: I was unsuccessful in college due to training and injuries. That made me put more time into being successful for student athletes. Being unsuccessful was very traumatic and it was not a good experience. I said that if I could be a better coach and help people be successful in college, then they wouldn’t have to go through what I went through. To give them good coaching would make me very happy. That situation was a great learning experience and something that I’ve used and am proud of. I went thought that, and I used it to do something very positive. I’ve learned my sport and my craft so well that I can get others to perform at their maximum. It helped me help others be really good. I feel in that sense, it was an achievement that helped me get better.

AS: What are you most excited for this season?

JC: I’ve coached NCAA Champions, collegiate record holders and Olympic gold medalists. But the talent level here [at Stanford] is the highest talent level I have ever had at one time. I’m excited to see what can be done here. I’m excited to work with such a talented group of individuals.

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Bouda propels men’s soccer past San Diego State https://stanforddaily.com/2019/10/14/bouda-propels-mens-soccer-past-san-diego-state/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/10/14/bouda-propels-mens-soccer-past-san-diego-state/#respond Mon, 14 Oct 2019 07:04:33 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1158542 A 25-yard bullet from true freshman forward Ousseni Bouda was enough to push No. 7 Stanford (9-2-1, 3-1-1 Pac-12) past a penalized San Diego State (3-7-1, 0-5-0) team on Sunday afternoon. The Aztecs were called for four yellow cards in the match as Stanford earned its second straight 1-0 conference victory.

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A 25-yard bullet from true freshman forward Ousseni Bouda was enough to push No. 7 Stanford (9-2-1, 3-1-1 Pac-12) past a penalized San Diego State (3-7-1, 0-5-0) team on Sunday afternoon. The Aztecs were called for four yellow cards in the match as Stanford earned its second straight 1-0 conference victory.

Bouda’s goal came off a breakaway in the 58th minute. Following a long throw into the box by the Aztecs, Stanford battered the ball out to Bouda in open space. The 2018 Gatorade Player of the Year delivered a beautiful strike from 25 yards out that floated into the upper left corner for his fourth goal of the season, tying him with redshirt sophomore Zach Ryan and freshman forward Gabe Segal for the team lead.

Bouda leads Stanford with 12 points through the first 12 games of the season, solidifying himself as a formidable force in Stanford’s offense.

“That goal came on a very special moment from a guy [Ousseni Bouda] who was the national player of the year last year,” San Diego State head coach Lev Kirshner said after the game. “If that’s how we are going to get beat, a golazo from 30 meters out, so be it.”

The Aztecs’ came into Sunday’s match following a humbling 4-0 loss to Cal on Thursday. Seeking an opportunity to regain momentum, San Diego State struggled with penalties throughout the match, as two Aztec players were whistled for yellow cards in each half. 

For the Cardinal, the first 24 minutes of play saw two shots on goal, testing SDSU keeper Max Watkin. It appeared as though Stanford was first to score in the 20th minute after junior forward Charlie Wehan found the back of the net, but his goal was called back after he was found off-sides.

Five of Stanford’s nine shots landed on goal, forcing Watkin to make four saves. The penalty-riddled Aztecs shot seven times, only one of which was on target. Meanwhile, Cardinal keeper Andrew Thomas recorded his fourth solo shutout of the season. The redshirt freshman lowered his goals against average to 0.63, the third-best in the conference. 

With Thursday night’s 1-0 victory at UCLA, Stanford has won both games at UCLA and San Diego State for the third-consecutive season. Sunday’s victory moves the Cardinal to 13-0-3 all-time against the Aztecs and extends Stanford’s shutout streak to five against San Diego State.

Prior to Thursday’s win, the Cardinal suffered a three-game winless stint, but they appear to have regained their footing with back-to-back victories. 

Stanford will take over a week off from competition before beginning a three-game homestand on Wednesday Oct. 23 against the San Francisco Dons (2-7-1, 0-1-0 WCC). 

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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No. 3 men’s water polo wins SoCal Invite https://stanforddaily.com/2019/10/01/no-3-mens-water-polo-wins-socal-invite/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/10/01/no-3-mens-water-polo-wins-socal-invite/#respond Wed, 02 Oct 2019 04:50:21 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1157967 No. 3 men’s water polo (10-1, 0-0 MPSF) claimed the SoCal Invite after downing No. 2 UCLA (9-1, 0-0 MPSF) to the tune of 13-9 on Sunday afternoon. The victory marked the completion of a 16-team, three-day tournament hosted by the Bruins.

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No. 3 men’s water polo (10-1, 0-0 MPSF) claimed the SoCal Invite after downing No. 2 UCLA (9-1, 0-0 MPSF) to the tune of 13-9 on Sunday afternoon. The victory marked the completion of a 16-team, three-day tournament hosted by the Bruins.

“Winning this tournament was one of our short-term team goals,” said head coach John Vargas. “It gave us a target to aim at, and it provided us a gauge for measuring our progress.”

Stanford opened the championship match with a 3-1 lead with scores from redshirt junior Ben Hallock, junior Tyler Abramson and senior Bennett Williams. The Bruins countered to make it 3-2 at the end of the first period. By halftime, the lead expanded to 7-3 after a late goal by Hallock.

Despite tacking on three more goals, Stanford’s lead narrowed to 10-8 entering the fourth quarter. Senior Dylan Woodhead and Abramson added three more goals in the frame to keep Stanford in front and hand UCLA its first loss of the season.

“Our focus is on getting better every day,” said Vargas. “This tournament showed us our strengths and weaknesses. We will work hard to fix our weaknesses and continue to improve on our strengths.”

The Cardinal never trailed in Sunday’s affair thanks to senior goalkeeper Andrew Chun, who made nine saves. Chun has 81 saves on the season, the third-most in the MPSF.

Hallock scored a total of 14 goals in four games over the weekend. For his efforts, he was named the MPSF Player of the Week on Monday. Averaging a conference-best 3.7 goals per game, Hallock is one of the best scoring machines in the MPSF, with a conference-high 37 goals through 10 games. Abramson is tied for second with 32 goals.

“We knew the physical demands of this tournament,” said Vargas. “The team embraced the training demands necessary to play at a high level over a three-day period.”

The weekend tournament opened with a relentless air raid against unranked Air Force (7-8, 0-0 WWPA) on Friday. With five goals from Hallock, the Cardinal downed the Falcons 18-1 at Loyola Marymount, one of two locations used for the weekend tournament. Abramson added three goals, one assist and four steals as the Cardinal outshot the Falcons 35-22. 

On Saturday, the Cardinal faced steeper competition with a morning clash against No. 8 Long Beach State (10-6, 0-0 GCC). Abramson and sophomore AJ Rossman each netted four goals and added three assists in the 14-13 victory.

That evening, Stanford outlasted No. 4 Pacific (9-1, 0-0 GCC) in a 15-14 semifinals win, behind six goals from Hallock. While these two outings weren’t perfect, it was enough to send the Cardinal into Sunday’s final.

“We won the tournament with everyone playing their role well, not perfect, but well,” said Vargas. “The MVP goes to the team and their approach to every game this weekend.”

Stanford returns to action on Sunday with a rematch at No. 4 Pacific at 1 p.m.

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Women’s soccer opens conference schedule at USC https://stanforddaily.com/2019/09/24/womens-soccer-opens-conference-schedule-at-usc/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/09/24/womens-soccer-opens-conference-schedule-at-usc/#respond Wed, 25 Sep 2019 06:56:10 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1157618 Riding a two-game winning streak, No. 2 Stanford women’s soccer (7-1, 0-0 Pac-12) opens its conference calendar with a visit to No. 3 USC (7-0-1, 0-0 Pac-12) on Saturday. The Trojans are the highest-ranked team the Cardinal has faced thus far, and the matchup has the looks of previewing a postseason thriller.

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Riding a two-game winning streak, No. 2 Stanford women’s soccer (7-1, 0-0 Pac-12) opens its conference calendar with a visit to No. 3 USC (7-0-1, 0-0 Pac-12) on Saturday. The Trojans are the highest-ranked team the Cardinal has faced thus far, and the matchup has the potential to previewing a postseason thriller.

The last time the two sides met was on Sept. 30, 2018. After a scoreless 90 minutes, the match went to extra time. Stanford’s Sophia Smith netted the game-winner in the 97th minute to lift the then-top-ranked Cardinal over then-No. 2 USC. The sophomore forward has tallied three goals this season. 

Both teams enter Saturday’s meeting on a similar trajectory as the two sides are ranked in the top three. Stanford enters the game fresh off a 4-2 victory at Santa Clara. The challenging Broncos knotted the game twice, before junior forward Catarina Macario scored the winning goal in the 77th minute with a perfectly placed 25-yard free kick.

Macario, two-time ESPNW Player of the Year, leads the conference in points (26), and her conference-leading count of 10 goals is tied for the most in the country. She also has six assists on the season, tied for the most in the Pac-12.

The Trojans may prove to be the toughest challenger this season. They are led by forwards Penelope Hocking and Tara McKeown. The duo have produced two-thirds of the goals this year for USC, and are tied for third in the conference in goals scored with seven each.

Despite a talented roster, USC broke its seven-game winning streak at Baylor (3-2-3, 0-0 Big-12) on Friday, after the Bears came back from a 2-0 first-half deficit to end the game tied.

The two programs have met 19 times, with 15 of those falling in Stanford’s favor. Over the last 10 years, Stanford has built an 8-2 record against USC, with the only loss in Trojan territory being a 0-3 defeat on Oct. 6, 2016.

Stanford’s quest for its fifth-straight conference title begins Saturday in Los Angeles. The match kicks off at 1 p.m. PT from McAlister Field.

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Cross country takes down big names in season opener https://stanforddaily.com/2019/09/21/cross-country-takes-down-big-names-in-season-opener/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/09/21/cross-country-takes-down-big-names-in-season-opener/#respond Sun, 22 Sep 2019 06:07:40 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1157460 Stanford cross country opened the 2019 season right where it left off, running competitively against some of the strongest teams in the country. At the season-opening John McNichols Invitational in Indiana on Saturday, both the men’s and women’s teams finished second, taking down top ranked programs.

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Stanford cross country opened the 2019 season right where it left off, running competitively against some of the strongest teams in the country. At the season-opening John McNichols Invitational in Indiana on Saturday, both the men’s and women’s teams finished second, taking down top ranked programs.

“We had a successful first meet,” said recently-appointed head coach J.J. Clark. “Both teams packed well and ran together, and both men and women beat teams that were ranked in the top five.”

In the women’s race, No. 8 Stanford finished second in a tight race that saw senior Fiona O’Keeffe (16:34) finish second overall on the 6k course. Averaging a time of 16:59, the top five Stanford runners finished within the top 20. Senior Ella Donaghu (6th, 16:45) and junior Jess Lawson (9th, 16:51) joined O’Keeffe in the top 10, helping Stanford score just 54 points. 

Juniors Julia Heymach (17th, 17:18) and Jordan Oakes (20th, 17:29) rounded out the top five for the Cardinal. True freshman Kristin Fahy (31st, 17:39) made her collegiate debut, finishing as Stanford’s No. 6 runner, while senior Hannah DeBalsi (47th, 18:13) crossed soon after to cap the team’s performers.

Despite opening the season under a new set of leadership, the women’s team appeared to build on where it left off last season. Having finished fifth at the cross country national championships last year, the eighth-ranked Cardinal women defeated No. 3 Washington (66) and No. 4 Michigan (75), while No. 5 Arkansas (49) snagged the team title in the heated race.

On the men’s side, the No. 7 Cardinal accumulated just 51 points and averaged a time of 24:17 for the 8k course. Senior Thomas Ratcliffe (23:51) crossed first for the Cardinal as the team finished second behind No. 1 Northern Arizona University, the reigning national champions, who scored just 31 points.

Stanford’s depth was on display Saturday as seven Cardinal runners finished within the top 25. Senior Alex Ostberg (24:05), who consistently ran as Stanford’s No. 2 runner last season, finished seventh overall and second for the Cardinal. The team was also represented by Alek Parsons (12th, 24:22), Callum Bolger (14th, 24:31), Clayton Mendez (16th, 24:39), D.J. Principe (22nd, 24:54) and Steven Fahy (23rd, 24:55).

The team’s cumulative 51-point showing was strong enough to hold off No. 5 Iowa State (66) as well as No. 24 Purdue (70) and No. 16 Indiana (174). 

“Congrats to Thomas [Ratcliffe] and Fiona [O’Keeffe] for lead the team to second place finishes,” said Clark. “Now we’ll head home to improve on our fitness.”

The season continues in four weeks with the Nuttycombe Invitational in Wisconsin on Friday, Oct. 18. 

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Stanford cross country opens 2019 season under new leadership https://stanforddaily.com/2019/09/17/stanford-cross-country-opens-2019-season-under-new-leadership/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/09/17/stanford-cross-country-opens-2019-season-under-new-leadership/#respond Tue, 17 Sep 2019 22:04:07 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1157268 The 2019 season begins Saturday with the John McNichols Invitational in Terre Haute, Indiana, marking the first competition under recently-appointed head coach J.J. Clark.

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The Stanford cross country program turns the page to a new era this fall, as former head coach Chris Miltenberg and nearly his entire coaching staff have relocated to the University of North Carolina. The 2019 season begins Saturday with the John McNichols Invitational in Terre Haute, Indiana, marking the first competition under recently-appointed head coach J.J. Clark.

After seven years at the helm of Cardinal cross country, Miltenberg leaves behind a program with unprecedented growth and consistency, tasking a relatively young, yet talented team with maintaining Stanford’s status as a formidable force in the collegiate distance scene. 

In late July, Clark, a former coach at the University of Tennessee and University of Connecticut (UConn), was tapped as Miltenberg’s replacement. Before coming to the Farm, he spent five years as the head coach of the UConn women’s cross country and track and field programs. Before then, he coached at Tennessee from 2001 to 2014, leading the Lady Vols to indoor national team titles in 2005 and 2009.

Clark steps into the position after a particularly memorable and successful year for the Cardinal distance crew. Stanford was deemed the No. 1 men’s cross country and track and field program of the year for the first time in program history. The award is given to the program with the highest cumulative finish at the NCAA Championships in the cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field seasons. 

At last year’s cross country national championships, the Cardinal men and women both finished fifth, making Stanford just one of two schools to place both teams in the top five. Under snow conditions at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course in Madison, Wisconsin, graduating senior Grant Fisher ’19 matched the program’s highest individual finish with a runner-up performance to Wisconsin’s Morgan McDonald. While no Stanford runner has ever won the individual title, Fisher was the closest Cardinal to accomplishing the feat since Chris Derrick ’12 finished runner-up in 2011.

Just days after graduating in June, the 12-time All-American signed with the Nike Bowerman Track Club, capping a senior year that saw him finish runner-up in four national championship appearances and rewrite the American collegiate 3k record at the Millrose Games. Fisher’s absence will certainly be felt this year, but the team will be in the hands of several reliable veterans, including sixth-year Steven Fahy and rising senior Alex Ostberg. 

Fahy, the reigning Pac-12 and NCAA steeplechase champion, returns to the Farm for his final season after petitioning for a sixth year of eligibility after injuries kept him off the cross country course last fall. Despite the adversity, his title-winning successes in the outdoor track and field season show promise of a strong season to come this fall.

Ostberg was a team captain last year and has built a resumé that includes a sub-four minute mile and a 13th-place finish at the cross country championships. He had a breakthrough track season and was a recognizable force last fall, running consistently as Stanford’s No. 2 runner.

Fellow All-American Alek Parsons, a sub-13:50 5k runner, will be another potent weapon in Stanford’s armory. The rising senior stepped up as Stanford’s No. 3 runner, earning his first All-America honor after finishing 30th at nationals. While any team would be fortunate to have just one or two athletes with the qualities of Fahy, Ostberg or Parsons, Stanford can pride itself on its depth and strength, characteristics most teams strive for in championship racing.

Stanford’s arsenal also includes the reigning third-place finisher in the outdoor 5k, Thomas Ratcliffe. He has the looks to be a primary contributor this fall, along with rising junior DJ Principe, the team’s No. 4 finisher at nationals last year. Principe finished 24th at the Pac-12 Championships, helping Stanford earn it’s second-straight conference title. Classmate Connor Lane is another runner to watch out for. 

Despite missing the cross country season last year, Lane crushed his lifetime best in the 5k by 17 seconds at the Payton Jordan Invitational in May. He clocked 13:42, alongside Ostberg, who also broke his personal best by the same margin in that race. Suffice it to say, Stanford has one of the deepest teams in the nation, not to mention the No. 2 recruiting class, according to The Stride Report.

The Cardinal recruited Nike Cross Nationals (NXN) Champion and course record-holder Liam Anderson from Redwood High School (CA). The 8:51 two-miler was named the Gatorade National High School Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year, following in the footsteps of Cardinal greats, Fisher (2014-15) and Derrick (2008) as Stanford-bound winners. If he doesn’t redshirt his first season, Anderson could prove to be a dangerous addition to the lineup for many opponents. 

The recruiting class also includes two other national stars in Devin Hart from Pleasant Borough High School (NJ) and Ryan Oosting from Arlington High School (MA). Hart claimed the New Balance indoor two-mile national title to runner-up Oosting, who won the 2017 New Balance outdoor national title in the 5k. The three national champions will be joined by Millrose Games high school mile winner Matt Rizzo, and Charles Hicks, a ninth-place finisher at NXN.

With a mix of young talent and veteran experience, Stanford men’s cross country will be an exciting team to watch as it seeks its third-straight Pac-12 title and sixth-straight top-five finish at the national championships. 

On the women’s side, fifth-year senior Elise Cranny ’18 led the Cardinal to a fifth-place finish at the national championships last year. She placed 11th individually, marking her highest showing at the championships. With it being her final race in a Cardinal uniform, the Human Biology major from the small town of Niwot, Colorado etched her name into the school record books after earning her 12th All-America honor, the fourth-most in Stanford history. The three Cardinal women ahead of her — Lauren Fleshman (15, 1999-2003), Erica McLain (13, 2005-08) and Arianna Lambie (13, 2003-08) —  are all in the Stanford Athletics Hall of Fame.

A few months after completing the cross country season — and with it her collegiate career — Cranny signed with the Nike Bowerman Track Club, joining former teammate Vanessa Fraser and leaving the Stanford women’s distance program in the hands of rising senior Fiona O’Keeffe. The California native was a persistent front-runner throughout the 2018 season, often pacing with Cranny in the lead pack. In front of a home crowd at the Pac-12 Championships last year, Cranny and O’Keeffe split the duty up front before finishing third and fifth, respectively. The two front runners propelled Stanford to a third-place conference finish.

With Cranny’s absence, the Cardinal women will rely heavily upon O’Keeffe’s veteran experience, as well as that of rising senior Christina Aragon, who was a key contributor as the No. 4 runner her sophomore season before missing last year to injuries. O’Keeffe and a healthy Aragon could prove to be an invaluable 1-2 Cardinal punch for the relatively young women’s team. 

The lineup also consists of the “J” crew — rising juniors Jess Lawson, Julia Heymach and Jordan Oakes. Lawson comes off a sophomore campaign that saw her establish herself as one of the program’s most vital runners. She was a consistent No. 3 runner for the Cardinal in fall, finishing 44th at nationals, just four places away from her first All-America honors. In the outdoor track season, she and rising senior Ella Donaghu made their first appearance at the outdoor championships, finishing 10th and sixth, respectively, in the 1,500-meter final. 

Both earned the much-deserved All-America honor and return as integral members of the team this season. With the exception of Cranny, all of the Stanford women in last year’s championship race return this fall, as the team seeks a top-five NCAA finish for the fourth-consecutive year.

Fortunately for the women, Stanford has the sixth-best recruiting class in the nation, according to The Stride Report. The new additions include Abi Archer, the 10th-place finisher at NXN; Grace Connolly, a two-time Massachusetts Gatorade Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year; and Kristina Fahy, the 25-place finisher at Footlocker XC Championships and sister of sixth-year Steven Fahy. 

While questions or doubts may loom as to the success of the post-Miltenberg era of Stanford cross country, the overwhelming talent and leadership on both teams indicates this year will be nothing less than exciting. Clark and his arsenal of elite caliber talent will be a site to watch this year as the program seeks to find its new identity while maintaining its history of excellence.

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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No. 2 men’s water polo defends Avery with 16-5 victory against San Jose State https://stanforddaily.com/2019/09/16/no-2-mens-water-polo-defends-avery-with-16-5-victory-against-san-jose-state/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/09/16/no-2-mens-water-polo-defends-avery-with-16-5-victory-against-san-jose-state/#respond Tue, 17 Sep 2019 05:38:50 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1157243 Following an undefeated season-opening weekend at the Navy Open, No. 2 men’s water polo (5-0, 0-0 MPSF) toppled San Jose State (0-3, 0-0 GCC) to the tune of 16-5 on Friday night.

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Following an undefeated season-opening weekend at the Navy Open, No. 2 men’s water polo (5-0, 0-0 MPSF) toppled San Jose State (0-3, 0-0 GCC) to the tune of 16-5 on Friday night’s home opener.

Senior Bennett Williams and junior Tyler Abramson spearheaded the Cardinal attack, each with four goals in the game. Stanford struck first with a penalty shot from Abramson with 7:40 left in the first. Williams followed suit with a pair of goals in the final three minutes of the first.

The second quarter saw redshirt junior Ben Hallock, sophomore Quinn Woodhead, sophomore Jackson Seybold and Williams each score once. Abramson netted two to collect a hat trick.

The Cardinal scored nine goals in the opening half, while allowing just three. Sophomore George Hagestad made a total of 14 saves on the night, preventing a frustrated San Jose State team from challenging the Cardinal.

A total of nine players contributed to the 16 goals for the Cardinal, including true freshman Larson Weigle, who added two to the team’s total. 

The action continued through Saturday and Sunday with three exhibition games in the Stanford Invitational. The Cardinal hosted Pro Recco, Italy’s top professional team, in a Saturday morning duel. Abramson and Hallock contributed two goals each as the humbled Cardinal conceded a 24-9 loss to the international giants. 

The Cardinal again played Pro Recco on Sunday morning but fell 17-6.

The weekend contests concluded Sunday afternoon with a 16-13 exhibition loss to the Olympic Club. Williams scored five times, while Hagestad made nine saves as the Cardinal closed the book on its ninth game in eight days. 

The season continues on Friday with a home meeting against a talented No. 4 UCSB (9-0, 0-0 GCC) team. 

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Undefeated men’s soccer produces third straight shutout https://stanforddaily.com/2019/09/16/undefeated-mens-soccer-produces-third-straight-shutout/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/09/16/undefeated-mens-soccer-produces-third-straight-shutout/#respond Mon, 16 Sep 2019 07:55:27 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1157218 No. 3 men’s soccer (5-0, 0-0 Pac-12) put on a shooting clinic with 25 shots, while allowing just one in a 3-0 win against American (0-5-1, 0-0 Patriot League) on Sunday. The Cardinal found the back of the net three times for the team’s third straight shutout and best start in 17 years.

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No. 3 men’s soccer (5-0, 0-0 Pac-12) hosted a shooting clinic on Sunday, taking 25 shots and allowing just one in a 3-0 win against American (0-5-1, 0-0 Patriot League). The Cardinal found the back of the net three times for the team’s third-straight shutout and best start in 17 years.

“Teams always have to concern themselves with how tough it is to break us down, but then they also have to deal with an [offensive] onslaught,” said head coach Jeremy Gunn.

Junior midfielder Logan Panchot led the shooting onslaught for the Cardinal, releasing a game-high six shots, half of which were on goal. The scoring card opened in the 22nd minute, with a brilliant header from freshman Ousseni Bouda. Senior midfielder Derek Waldeck sent the ball into the box and Bouda perfectly headed it past American’s leaping goalie, John Minho. 

The goal was Bouda’s second of his career and first at Cagan Stadium. The true freshman contributed a total of five shots, including two within the frame.

Stanford landed 11 of its 25 shots on goal. By halftime, Stanford had shot eight times, while allowing just one shot. American’s only opportunity came 24 seconds into the game, and it was blocked. Sunday’s game lowered Stanford’s goals-against average to just 0.20 on the season.

“Some teams hang their hat on being really defense-minded, while other teams hang their hat on being attack-minded and sometimes fall short in the secondary category,” Gunn said. “What we’ve always tried to do here is balance what we do in a game. We want to play with a purpose.”

Stanford’s second goal came in the 55th minute off the foot of Waldeck. From the top of the box, senior midfielder Jared Gilbey threaded a pass to Waldeck, who punched his third-career goal at the right post. It was the first and only shot he took in the afternoon affair.

“Jared and Derek are the people who are in the engine room,” Gunn said. “We want all of their great soccer and all of their great passing, but at the end of the day it is about creating and scoring chances. We talked with them about taking all of their wonderful abilities and translating it onto the scoresheet. They were hungry to score and that’s [the] mentality we want to have.”

Freshman forward Gabe Segal headed home the final score of the day in the 82nd minute. Redshirt sophomore Kei Tomozawa provided the cross to the unmarked Segal, who netted his second goal of the season. Tomozawa was credited the assist, earning him his first career point. Both players came off the bench.

Stanford totaled 17 shots on goal in the final 45 minutes and split an even 10 corners between the first and second periods.

It was a quiet game for Cardinal goalkeeper Andrew Thomas, who was not challenged with any shots on goal. Thomas played the opening 86 minutes before handing off the duties to redshirt freshman Matt Frank for the final minutes.

With Sunday’s win, Stanford improves to 5-0 on the season, its best start since winning the first seven games in 2002. The season continues on Friday with the conference opener against unranked Cal (3-1-1, 0-0 Pac-12) at 4:30 p.m in Berkeley.

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Men’s soccer stifles No. 3 Akron with last-minute goal https://stanforddaily.com/2019/09/03/mens-soccer-stifles-no-3-akron-with-last-minute-goal/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/09/03/mens-soccer-stifles-no-3-akron-with-last-minute-goal/#respond Wed, 04 Sep 2019 02:05:59 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1157019 Only 70 seconds remained in regulation when redshirt sophomore forward Zach Ryan’s header found the back of the net to secure No. 4 Stanford (2-0, 0-0 Pac-12) a 2-1 road victory against No. 21 Akron (0-2, 0-0 Mid-American) on Monday night.

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Only 70 seconds remained in regulation when redshirt sophomore forward Zach Ryan’s header found the back of the net to secure No. 4 Stanford (2-0, 0-0 Pac-12) a 2-1 road victory against No. 21 Akron (0-2, 0-0 Mid-American) on Monday night.

With the win, Stanford moved up one spot in the most recent polls, while Akron — a team that eliminated the Cardinal in the NCAA Quarterfinals last season — dropped 18 spots from its No. 3 preseason ranking. Monday’s top-five match was familiar territory for the Cardinal, who entered the game on a five-game unbeaten streak against top-five opponents.

The game-winning opportunity began off a corner from Derek Waldeck. The senior midfielder sent the ball into the box, where it was batted around before being kicked out by the Zips to senior midfielder Jared Gibley. With one touch back into the penalty box, he connected with Ryan, who headed the ball off the post and into the netting for his 11th career goal and fifth game winner.

“As the half wore on we were finding more and more of the brew,” said Stanford head coach Jeremy Gunn. “Coaches can try to come up with great ideas and great set plays, but it all boils down to good deliveries and good finishes and that’s exactly what that was.”

Senior defender Tanner Beason opened the scoring card early for the Cardinal. Following a hand ball from Akron’s Marco Milanese, Beason converted his 12th-career penalty kick, putting the Cardinal up 1-0 (13’).

Akron’s David Egbo scored the equalizer shortly after halftime with a shot that was deflected off Beason and over redshirt sophomore Andrew Thomas (46’). Akron’s offense produced 12 shots, eight of which were on goal, while Thomas gathered six saves on the night.

The most noteworthy save came from freshman defender Keegan Hughes. Akron’s Colin Biros played through to Egbo, who dribbled wide of Thomas to create an opportunity on the open frame. But a heroic save from a sliding 6’ 2” Hughes knocked the ball wide to keep the game tied (71’).

“That was a great attack by Akron,” Gunn added. “They managed to carve through us and Andrew [Thomas] had pushed him wide, but obviously Egbo got the shot off and it was goal bound. It was a tremendous stop by Keegan [Hughes]. You need those moments to go your way.”

The game remained knotted until Ryan’s 89th-minute back-post header, an instant classic for the talented, preseason All-Pac-12 sophomore.

Stanford improved to 30-15-10 all-time against ranked opponents under Gunn, including 23 wins over the last 32 matchups. Against Akron, the Cardinal moved to 2-1-1 since 2015, and 2-3-1 all-time.

“We are always desperate to seek out challenges,” Gunn said. “Two incredible teams played a wonderfully competitive game in an incredible environment. [Monday night] tested our mettle and we demonstrated composure in a tough situation.”

The Cardinal will return to Cagan Stadium for a three-game homestand beginning next Monday against UC Irvine (0-1-1).

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Men’s soccer produces best season opener since 2002 https://stanforddaily.com/2019/08/30/mens-soccer-produces-best-season-opener-since-2002/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/08/30/mens-soccer-produces-best-season-opener-since-2002/#respond Sat, 31 Aug 2019 02:31:20 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1156922 The defending conference champions, No. 5 Stanford men's soccer found its stride against a struggling Penn State (0-1, 0-0 Big Ten) offensive as five different Cardinal athletes contributed to the 5-0 victory at University Park.

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No. 5 men’s soccer (1-0, 0-0 Pac-12) opened the 2019 season with a definitive showcase of talent on Friday. The defending conference champions found their stride against a struggling Penn State (0-1, 0-0 Big Ten) offensive as five different Cardinal athletes contributed to the 5-0 victory at University Park.

Stanford’s five goals were the most in the past 17 season openers. Stanford defeated Sacramento State 5-0 to begin its season on Aug. 31, 2002. 

Play against the Nittany Lions began with back-to-back shot attempts. Stanford’s formidable defense, led by redshirt senior defender Tanner Beason, the reigning Pac-12 Player and Defensive Player of the Year, thwarted a total of four shots on goal, three of which came in the first half.

Sophomore midfielder Will Richmond converted a corner kick from Charlie Wehan to open the scoring card in the 11th minute. Two minutes later, Beason, last season’s conference leader in goals (six) and points (15), doubled the Cardinal lead after converting a penalty kick. 

The 2-0 scoreline remained constant through the first 45 minutes. Stanford had found its rhythm, producing 10 shots, with five on goal, in the opening frame. For the Nittany Lions, the evening dance with the Cardinal proved to be a bigger challenge than its previous meeting.

In 2016, the two teams met for the first time in program history. Stanford was opening its season after having just won its first national title. Unranked Penn State managed to contain the then-No.1 Cardinal to a scoreless double overtime draw, effectively a victory for the Nittany Lions. 

But Friday evening was a different story. With eight fouls and a two-score deficit, conditions went from bad to worse for Penn State. In front of a home crowd, the Nittany Lions conceded three goals in the second half. Junior forward Charlie Wehan, who along with senior midfielder Jared Gilbey received the assist for Richmond’s opening goal, contributed a goal of his own off a corner from senior midfielder Derek Waldeck. It was Wehan’s fourth career goal, extending the Cardinal lead to 3-0 in the 63rd minute.

Five minutes later, Stanford scored again. This time, it was freshman standout Ousseni Bouda who found the back of the net for his first collegiate goal. Off a Waldeck free kick, Bouda headed the ball past Penn State goalie Josh Levine.

The final Cardinal punch came in the 84th minute, when freshman forward Gabe Segal capitalized on a loose ball in the box to earn Stanford its fifth and final goal of the game. It was the most goals scored by the Cardinal since a 5-1 UCLA win on Nov. 2, 2017.

Despite 10 fouls and two yellow cards in the second half, Stanford’s physical — maybe too physical — style of play proved victorious in the end. Penn State faced a total of 18 shots, saving six and responded with 10 shots of its own throughout the match, ultimately proving fruitless.

Stanford returns to the pitch on Monday for an away matchup with No. 3 Akron, the team that sent the Cardinal home in the NCAA quarterfinals last year. There’s no doubt Stanford will be seeking revenge for the abrupt season ending when play continues in Arkon, OH at 4 p.m. PT.

Contact Alejandro Salinas at asalinas ‘at’ stanford.edu and Nandini Naidu at nnaidu ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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