Track and field smashes records in Washington
Two senior mid-distance runners, Juliette Whittaker and Zane Bergen, shattered program records in the 1000-meters at Washington’s UW Preview on Saturday, leading Stanford track and field to a blistering start to the new year.
On the women’s side, Whittaker took control of her race at the Dempsey Indoor Facility shortly after the pacer stepped off, settling into the lead before Washington’s Chloe Foerster put up a late challenge in the final 50 meters. With Foerster on her tail, Whittaker hammered home to hold the lead and finish in 2:37.54 — just 0.25 seconds ahead of Foerster — for a program record and a No. 2 NCAA all-conditions performance.
The men’s 1000-meters race saw Bergen beat the program record of 2:20.87 he set at the same meet one year ago. He clocked 2:18.98 on Saturday to finish one second behind Washington’s Tyler Bilyard, whose winning time marked the fastest indoor 1000-meter in the world so far this year, according to RunnerSpace.
Other record-breaking performances included senior Alyssa Jones setting a new high jump meet record in a career-best clearance of 1.91m (6’ 3¼”) on her first attempt. Named to The Bowerman Preseason Watch List in early January, Jones is now the No. 2 indoor high jumper in the NCAA this season and sits just 6 cm (2 ¼ in) shy of the indoor high jump program record. Breaking it would add to her five existing program records in the indoor long jump, outdoor long jump, outdoor high jump, pentathlon and 4×100-meter relay.
Five more Cardinal posted marks that landed them on Stanford’s indoor all-time lists. In the women’s 600-meters, junior Madison Shults (1:29.47), freshman Olivia Cieslak (1:30.76) and junior Amelia Everett (1:31.77) moved to third, sixth and 10th on the all-time list, respectively. On the final stretch of the race, Shults kicked from fourth to first place to stun the field and steal the event win from Washington’s Chloe Symon.
Junior Sophia Kennedy ran a career-best mile in 4:32.13 to solidify her position in fifth on the all-time list, while sophomore Xavier Drumgoole posted a top-seven time of 6.85 in the 60-meters.
Stanford track and field will compete again at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Collegiate Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M. on Jan. 23-24.
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