Four School Records Fall – Stanford University Athletics

SEATTLE – In one of the most fascinating days in Stanford indoor track and field history, the Cardinal smashed four school records and appears to have secured additional spots at the NCAA Indoor Championships. 

On its final meet day of the NCAA qualifying window, Stanford won three men’s events and those winners moved into the nation’s top 16. The top 16 individuals and top 12 relays advance to NCAA’s March 10-11 at the Albuquerque (N.M.) Convention Center. The NCAA qualifying period ends Monday and the final list of qualifiers will be released on Tuesday by 7 p.m. PT.

All three – Udodi Onwuzurike in the 60 meters (6.59), John Lester in the 800 (1:46.93), and Ky Robinson in the 3,000 (7:42.30) – were school-record marks. Stanford’s fourth new standard came in the women’s 4×400 relay when the team of Alexa Rossum, Juliette Whittaker, Maya Valmon, and Roisin Willis ran 3:31.71 to break their own two-week-old record while finishing third.

With the exception of Onwuzurike’s, these were run on an oversized track of 307 meters – compared to the standard indoor track length of 200. Therefore, the new marks will carry asterisks and be shared with the records they exceeded.   

Though it won’t be official until Tuesday, here are the Stanford athletes who appear to be in qualifying position through Sunday:

For the men, Onwuzurike (16th, 60; 16th, 200), Lester (10th, 800), Robinson (seventh, 3,000; second, 5,000), Cole Sprout (15th, 3,000), Charles Hicks (11th, 5,000), Max McKhann (ninth, weight throw). 

For the women, Willis (first, 800), Whittaker (third, 800), Zofia Dudek (16th, 5,000), Alyssa Jones (14th, long jump), and the distance medley relay team of Melissa Tanaka, Valmon, Willis, and Whittaker (sixth).

These individuals could slide in if others vacate their spots because of injury or to focus on different events: Robinson in the men’s mile (17th), Whittaker in the women’s mile (18th), Devin Hart in the men’s 5,000 (18th), Lucy Jenks in the women’s 5,000 (19th), and Garrett Brown in the men’s pole vault (18th). 

No Cardinal fell out of qualifying position this weekend. 

Lester made the biggest jump. The sophomore entered the weekend ranked 44th. But he ran a stunning personal best that broke the oldest Stanford men’s indoor running record on the books – Olympian Michael Stember’s 1:47.78 from 2000. The time places Lester at No. 5 on Stanford’s absolute 800 list, which includes indoors and outdoors. 

“Strike first. Strike hard. No mercy,” wrote Lester on…