People often tell me I’m too negative and that all I do is complain. So just for you, I’m writing a happy column, and it’s not just because I’m such a warm, cheerful, positive, optimistic person that would never complain about anything.

I’m happy because I go to the best school for a sports lover, and this weekend was just the latest example that illustrated that point to its fullest.

Many columns, including one or two by yours truly, can spout the joys of Stanford’s success at winning Directors’ Cups, but that’s a story for another day. Instead, I’m just happy to go to a school with so many opportunities to watch world-class athletes of all kinds.

This Saturday, I got to watch a few races at the Payton Jordan Invitational, which is a pretty awesome track meet for those of you who haven’t worn your Cardinal red since football season.

Of course, I’m very spoiled to be friends with some great runners, so I had extra incentive to go, but the meet provided a lot more than just a chance to see my friends run.

See, what many of us probably take for granted is just how many major events we can see right here on campus. People talk all day long about Bill Gates or Afroman coming to Stanford, but there are some amazing sporting events and athletes on our campus at least as often.

Take this track meet, for instance. After watching my friend Dylan Ferris fly past his competitors to take the 1500 meters and taking a short break for volleyball (which I’ll get to later), I came back to watch people I’d never seen before that don’t even go to Stanford. Why? Because they’re some of the best athletes in the world, and they chose to come here.

And I was rewarded in a big way. The big event of the day was the men’s 10,000 meters, which included a stacked field filled with professionals. The headliner was Galen Rupp, who had dominated college track as a student at Oregon before graduating to professional running. Rupp was attempting to break the American record in the 10k, and the whole audience knew it. Posters of Rupp were passed around the stands and the cheers were overwhelmingly in his favor, even before the race started.

Being somewhat of a track novice (or n00b for those of you reading the online version), my only real knowledge of the field came from my runner friends: Dylan, Chris Derrick and Benjamin Johnson. I remembered Rupp from his college days, but being a Stanford student, I’d always rooted against him, so it was hard to imagine rooting for him, even though everyone loves to see records broken. A few other competitors were somewhat familiar, but everyone’s attention was squarely on Rupp from the start.

Apart from the pace-setters, Rupp led for just about the entire race. For over 9,000 meters, he looked to be in perfect position to break the record, leading from the get-go and staying under American-record pace (about 27:13). It was somewhat intriguing that he did not have much separation, though, as three other runners, including collegian Samuel Chelanga of Liberty, stayed within striking distance. I knew about Chelanga because he still competes (and does quite well) against Stanford runners and is somehow still in college. Chelanga was attempting to break his own collegiate record in the event as well, so all eyes were on Rupp first and him second.

Then, with just over two laps to go, the runner in fourth, Chris Solinsky, started to make a move into second. A more experienced spectator probably would have sensed something, but I just thought he was aiming for second, plus I honestly knew nothing about Solinsky other than what the announcer was saying. All of a sudden, though, the crowd could not ignore Solinsky, as he not only passed Rupp, but left him in the dust.

Again, I’m no track expert, but watching Solinsky run a 1:56 over the final 800 meters actually gave me goosebumps. And for the 99.9 percent of you who didn’t say “woah, 1:56!” let me put that in perspective. Solinsky had just run over 5.7 miles at an under-4:30 mile pace. He then ran the final half-mile at about a 3:53 mile pace. It was absolutely insane to see someone (who I found out later had never competed in the 10k before) fly past some of the fastest runners in the world.

Not surprisingly, Solinsky set the American record. What was surprising was that he broke it by 14 seconds. He ran the fastest time ever for a non-African, and it was right here on Stanford campus. Oh, and the record he broke? Also set at this same meet, nine years ago. Meanwhile, Chelanga broke his own collegiate record by about 20 seconds, and Rupp finished a measly fourth. And still beat the previous American record.

Needless to say, watching someone obliterate an American record was a unique opportunity, and that’s just the kind of thing we get to see as Stanford students.

That same night, I had the pleasure of watching Stanford men’s volleyball win the MPSF Tournament and secure the No. 1 seed for this weekend’s NCAA Tournament. Last week, I described how fun volleyball matches are, so I will spare you all another in depth play-by-play of Saturday’s volleyball match.

Instead, I’d just like to point out again how lucky we are to have these viewing opportunities. As the top seed in the MPSF, Stanford got to host the MPSF Tournament, and, this year, Maples Pavilion has the privilege of hosting the four-team NCAA Tournament.

I say all this primarily because I enjoy sports, but I also want to get the attention of all sports fans in the area. Stanford boasts an enormous number of premier sporting events, and it would be a shame if they went unnoticed.

Hopefully the Cardinal being two wins away from a national championship is enough reason to head out to Maples this weekend, but if you need more reasons, I’d be all too happy to help out.

Jacob Jaffe has 101 reasons why you should love Stanford sports. To get a full list, e-mail him at [email protected].