In its final meet before the conference championships, Stanford track and field reigned supreme on the men’s side of the 126th Big Meet with a final score of 85-75, but fell to Cal on the women’s side 88-74.
The Cardinal men trailed the Bears for most of the day, but took the lead after the pole vault and 200-meter dash. Sophomore J.T. Herrscher, fresh off being named Pac-12 Field Athlete of the Week, landed a 5.21-meter pole vault, while junior Gabriel Navarro won the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.08 seconds. Navarro also took home a win in the 100-meter dash in 10.49 seconds.
At longer distances, Stanford’s men also dominated. In the 3000-meter race, sophomore Charles Hicks led a first-through-seventh Cardinal finish with a time of 8:02.41. Hicks also logged a 3:43.59 to win the men’s 1500 meters, and freshman Ky Robinson beat out Shane Bissell in the 3000-meter steeplechase.
Senior Jerry Zheng and freshman Kevin Yang finished first and second, respectively, in the men’s triple jump to land eight points for the Cardinal men. Five more points came for the Cardinal in the men’s 400-meter relay as they beat out the Bears by one one-thousandth of a second with a time of 40.483.
Senior Virginia Miller, the women’s Pac-12 Field Athlete of the Week, led a first-through-third finish for the Cardinal women with a 165-5 mark in the javelin. Sophomore Brielle Smith and junior Jordan Fong finished second and third in the event, respectively, for a total of nine points.
Junior Allie Jones won the women’s long jump with a 19-7½ jump, and came up four inches short of the title in the women’s high jump with a 5-5¾ mark.
On the track, freshman Samatha Thomas won the women’s 400-meter hurdles with a 1:01.20 and sophomore Alexa Rossum won the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.29.
Stanford’s women also swept the podium in the 800, 1500 and 3000-meter races. Senior Jessica Lawson won the 3000 meters with a time of 10:00.14, finishing ahead of freshman Lucy Jenks. Jenks beat out Lawson in the 1500-meter race and sophomore Grace Connolly finished third in both races. Freshman Ellie Deligianni won the 800-meter race with a 2:06.77, finishing ahead of fifth-year Christina Aragon and senior Kaitlin Ryan.
The athletes now start preparations for the Pac-12 Championships, which commence in Los Angeles on May 14. The three-day competition will be Stanford athletes’ final opportunity to qualify for NCAA West Prelims, to be held in Texas at the end of the month.