This Friday, Stanford will host the Payton Jordan Invitational, an event known both for excellence in distance running and for a myriad track and field events, for the 22nd time. The meet, held at the Cobb Track and Angell Field, will commence at 11:30 a.m. with the discus throw and will continue on throughout the day.
With Olympic Trials looming last year, 17 school records were broken at the Invitational, as well as three national records, three world-leading, eight U.S.-leading and seven collegiate-leading marks. Gold medal Olympian in the 1,500 Matthew Centrowitz (Oregon) will be racing in the Men’s 5,000 at 9:35 p.m. against Stanford alum Jim Rosa.
The Stanford team has been busy and is coming off of the Penn Relays, the Longhorn Invitational and the Brutus Hamilton Invitational. The Stanford women’s 4 x 800 relay team of fifth-year senior Rebecca Mehra, freshman Christina Aragon, senior Malika Waschmann and junior Olivia Baker finished third at the Penn Relays. Baker was the runner up in the 2016 NCAA women’s outdoor 800 and will be running that race at the Invitational, looking to improve upon last year’s personal best of 2:01:02.
At the Longhorn Invitational, junior decathlete Harrison Williams cleared 17-0 ¾ to win section B in the pole vault and junior Daryth Gayles reached 20-6 ¼ in the women’s long jump to place third. Junior Lena Giger was Stanford’s top finisher, placing second in the shot put at 54-3 ¾. Junior Daniel Brady captured third in the 400-meter hurdles with a season-best 52.78 He will attempt to continue improving on his records in the men’s 110-meter hurdles this Friday.
Senior Danielle Katz ran a personal best of 4:22:38 in the women’s 1,500 to place third in the Marilyn Davis invitational race during the Brutus Hamilton Invitational. Junior Tai Dinger and senior Scott Buttinger placed fourth and sixth in the men’s 800 respectively, a race won by what is now the No. 2 time in collegiate history. Buttinger seeks to improve upon his time of 1:52:88 when he runs the 800 again this weekend.
Friday will supply stiff competition with many of the nation’s top runners competing. Last year 52 men broke 14 minutes in the 5,000-meter race and 41 women broke 16 minutes. With the possibility of new records, two of the top collegiate runners in the U.S., Justyn Knight of Syracuse and Edward Cheserek of Oregon, will be forces to be reckoned with on Friday.
Competition like this has the potential to fuel and encourage the Stanford team, as will the crowd, given that this is the last home meet of the season. Events start at 11:30 a.m. with discus, and then continue at 5:00 p.m. with the women’s 1,500 meters. Contestants will be happy with the cooler weather forecast as the final event, the women’s 10,000 meters, begins at 11:35 p.m.
Live updates can be found at flotrack.org.
Contact Ariana Rollins at arianar ‘at’ stanford.edu.