After last weekend’s strong showing at the MPSF Championships, Stanford track and field will kick off its outdoor season at the California Outdoor Opener at UC Berkeley this Saturday. While the team will still compete at the NCAA Indoor Championships next weekend, this event marks the transition to outdoor competition.
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Throwers, in particular, will use this event to boost their seasons, since the indoor season does not allow them as much opportunity to compete.
Sophomore Tristen Newman will represent the men in the shot put and hammer. Last season, he placed himself in the top-five all-time Stanford freshmen in both events, and he came in 11th in shot put in the 2015 Pac-12 Championships.
Lena Giger will represent the women in the same events. The sophomore also made her way into the Stanford record books last season, where she now ranks fifth in hammer and seventh in shot put. She will be joined by teammate Valarie Allman in the hammer. Allman, a junior, set a freshman record in the discus (187-7) when she made her college debut at the 2014 California Outdoor Opener.
Another event to keep an eye on is the pole vault, which will feature three Stanford freshmen: Jackie McNulty, Kaitlyn Merritt and Nicole Summersett. Additionally, freshman Daniel Book, freshman Brian Smith and sophomore Christian White will compete in the men’s 800 meter.
Cardinal competition in the California Outdoor Opener will take place throughout the day on Saturday. Live stats will be available on GoStanford.com.
Contact Olivia Hummer at ohummer ‘at’ stanford.edu.