This weekend, the Stanford track and field team traveled to Berkeley for the Pac-10 Championships, facing some of the top athletes in the country, as well as the formidable running powerhouse, the University of Oregon.

Day one of the meet was comprised of mostly trials, although there were finals in a few events. The Cardinal exhibited its depth on Saturday, putting people on the podium in the few events that were in the final round of competition.

The most impressive finish for Stanford was the men’s distance sweeping the 10k, the last event of the day. Coming in third was junior Jake Riley, with a time of 29:10.93. Junior Elliott Heath was slightly in front of him, finishing with a time of 29:10.86. Winning the race, with his first Pac-10 event title, was sophomore Chris Derrick, who won the 10k with a time of 29:10.80. Clearly a close race, the three men ran together throughout, and very barely finished at different times. It was a great victory for the Cardinal to be able to score so many points in one event.

“It was awesome to sweep the 10k on Saturday night with Jake and Chris,” Heath said. “That was something that we had talked about a lot as a group leading up to the race. Seeing as most of the events were prelims on Saturday, we really wanted to get a big chunk of points in the 10k to gain some momentum for the team leading into Sunday.”

Another point-scoring distance event for the men was the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Junior JT Sullivan ran a fast race to make it to the podium, placing third with a time of 8:43.69. Also scoring points was sophomore Ben Johnson, who finished in seventh with a time of 8:59.33. At the Pac-10 Championships, the first eight positions score points for their respective teams.

On the women’s side, Stanford was led by the long jumpers. Junior Arantxa King paved the way, finishing as Pac-10 runner-up in the event with a mark of 20-9.75. Right behind her in third place was senior Griffin Matthew, who leaped a distance of 20-5.75. Finally, in fourth place was junior Whitney Liehr, who had a mark of 20-2.25.

The female 10k runners also scored points for the team, with junior Stephanie Marcy finishing in third with a time of 33:41.57, and senior Kate Niehaus finishing in sixth with a time of 33:55.33.

Another distance runner scoring points was senior Madeleine O’Meara, who placed fifth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 10:24.06.

Day two of the meet brought Stanford more event victories, with Derrick capturing his second Pac-10 Championship title. Derrick came back on the second day to run another impressive run, winning the 5k with a time of 13:43.69.

Also with an impressive finish in the 10k was Heath, who once again placed second, a few seconds behind Derrick, with a time of 13:45.22. Riley also placed in the 5k, finishing in fifth with a time of 13:48.68.

Sophomore Dylan Ferris also fared well in the distances, placing fourth in the 1,500 with a time of 3:42.73.

The result of the 10k, 5k and 1,500 meters proved that the Stanford men are a dominating factor in the long distance arena, and will most likely have a great chance to succeed at the NCAA Outdoor Championships coming up in a few weeks.

Sophomore Amaechi Morton had the other big performance of the day, smashing his own school record in the 400-meter hurdles, placing second in the event with a time of 48.94. Morton became the first Stanford hurdler to go under 50 seconds — he not only did that, but he broke 49 seconds as well. Winning the event was Washington’s Jeshua Anderson, who is the two-time defending national champion in the event. Anderson ran a time of 48.63.

“This weekend was amazing for me,” Morton said. “I was definitely nervous about the race, but I pulled myself together and competed well, and I definitely am looking forward to the rest of the season.”

Also finishing well in the same event was senior Durrell Coleman, who placed fourth with a personal-best time of 51.19. In the previous day’s prelims, Coleman was almost disqualified after tripping on the last hurdle and entering his opponent’s lane. Despite that difficult and close race, Coleman came back on day two to redeem himself on the track, finishing with a great time and earning points for the team.

Morton had two more opportunities to earn points for the team. He placed fourth in the 110 hurdles with a time of 14:38, and was also a part of the 4×400-meter relay team that placed third with a time of 3:09.50. Other members of the team were Coleman, freshman Spencer Chase and senior Zach Chandy.

On the women’s side, some field event athletes led the way. Senior Jaynie Goodbody won the hammer throw with a personal best mark of 200-5, and sophomore Katerina Stefanidi won the pole vault with a mark of 14-0. This was the first Pac-10 title for both of these women.

In the sprints, Matthew had a great day two, finishing as Pac-10 runner-up in the 100 with a time of 11.67 seconds.

Overall, the men’s team finished in third place, while the women finished in fifth. Oregon won both the men’s and women’s side of the competition. However, the individual successes for the Cardinal were impressive, and promise exciting finishes in the upcoming championship meets.