Stanford track and field secured top finishes at the Stanford Invitational this weekend — the season’s first track meet at home. The competition was scheduled to last for 24 hours, but, due to a storm, Saturday’s meet was canceled.
Friday’s contest saw Stanford dominate in the women’s sprint events, despite the rain and heavy headwinds. Junior Cydney Wright raced into first place in the women’s 200-meter final with a 23.54 time. In the 400-meter final, sophomore Roisin Willis came in first with a time of 53.90, and junior Maya Valmon followed closely behind with a second place finish of 54.13.
Senior Samantha Thomas added another first place finish to Stanford’s results with a 58.91 run in the 400 hurdles.Â
On the men’s side, senior Ky Robinson, the reigning NCAA 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter outdoor champion, raced in both distances on Friday. In the rainy conditions, Robinson ran the fastest 5,000 of the day, with a time of 13:35.95. In the 10,000-meter race, he placed 12th, with a time of 28:15.12.
Also, in the 5,000-meter race, freshman Leo Young had a fifth place finish in his section, as well as a personal best, with a time of 13:46.81. Graduate student Liam Anderson also had a personal best, placing first in his section, finishing in 14:52.84.
Other notable Stanford men’s finishes on Friday include junior Olufemi Cole’s fourth place finish and personal best in the 200-meter final, with a time of 21.26, and senior Allan Hunter’s 7.11 meter finish in long jump, which propelled him to fourth place.
On Saturday, the meet continued, despite the brewing storm, streaking lighting across the sky.
Lightning also struck on the track, as Wright took a first place victory in the 100-meter final, running a lifetime best of 11.51, concluding her sweep of the short sprints in the Invitational. She was also part of the victorious 4×400 relay team, along with Valmon, Willis and sophomore Juliette Whittaker, running a 3:32.63. Both Valmon and Wright were also a part of the 4×100 relay, along with sophomore Alyssa Jones and sophomore Alaysia Oakes, who came in second place with a time of 45.08.
Meanwhile, the men’s side saw notable finishes from Young, who ran a personal best of 1:53.97 in the 800-meter race. In the 100-meter final, freshman Dylan Davis placed eighth, with a time of 10.81.
In the field events on Saturday, junior Garrett Brown launched himself into second place in pole vault, posting 5.31 meters. Meanwhile, graduate student Sam Liokumovich had a sixth place finish in shot put, with a 16.94 meter result.
Up next, Stanford will put their training to the test in Azusa, California at the Bryan Clay Invitational from April 11 to April 13.