Hey all, my name is Cameron Miller and I’m a freshman distance runner on our cross country and track and field teams here at Stanford. I’ll be writing daily practice updates this week, previewing the upcoming NCAA West Regional and hopefully showing you guys a behind-the-scenes look at our program.
May is when NCAA track and field action really starts to heat up. Conference championships are usually held in the beginning of the month, followed a few weeks later by the two regionals. After last week’s Pac-12 meet, our team has 35 athletes (22 female, 13 male) heading to Austin, Tex. later this week to compete in the West Regional. Headlining the male contingent are milers junior Mike Atchoo and senior Tyler Stutzman, who will compete in the 1500m prelims on Thursday with the hopes of advancing to Saturday’s final. Mike and Stutz (never call him Tyler) form the top middle-distance duo in the nation and coach Milt is confident they’ll be on the podium in Eugene, Ore. at NCAAs.
While Stutz has been feeling a little under the weather, it was just Mike who joined the rest of the team for our usual Saturday long run, starting at the infamous Alpine Inn. For the guys going to regionals this week, their long runs were cut back to around 60 or 70 minutes. The freshmen still training for US Junior Championships this summer went a bit longer, running 80 to 90 minutes. I ran with classmates Thomas Graham and Garrett Sweatt, discovering an awesome trail system behind Corte Madera School in Portola Valley. That afforded us some great views of the south bay.
When we got back from Alpine, Saturday morning practice was in full swing. I could see world-class hurdler junior Kori Carter doing some drills on a speed-ladder and high jumpers Jules Sharpe and Dartis Willis doing some starts and approaches. The distance runners have Sunday off, but the throwers had an afternoon session that included team captain senior Geoff Tabor. Geoff’s “GET IN” mantra has been the theme of our team’s weight room workouts this year.
Tomorrow I’ll talk more about our women’s team, including 800-meter stars senior Justine Fédronic and freshman Amy Weissenbach and javelin thrower sophomore Brianna Bain. I’ll also try to get into coach Milt’s first year on the Farm, his long-term approach and how he’s enacted his own cultural revolution on Stanford’s track and field and cross country teams.
Contact Cameron Miller at [email protected].