Courtesy: David Kiefer
EUGENE, Ore. – Stanford sophomore Harrison Williams crushed his own school record in the decathlon, scoring 8,032 points Thursday in the highest-scoring fifth-place finish in NCAA Track and Field Championships history.
It was the fourth time Williams broke the Stanford record, which lasted for 62 years before he arrived. His most recent mark was 7,842 from the Texas Relays in March. Williams has set personal records in all 14 of his lifetime multi-event competitions, dating back to high school.
Williams achieved the Olympic Trials qualifying standard of 7,900, meaning he'll be back at Hayward Field in July to try to make the U.S. Olympic team.
“That's a huge barrier for any decathlete,” Williams said. “I'm happy to get that out of the way and score 8,100, 8,200 at Trials.”
Williams did not match the fourth place of his freshman year, but was satisfied with fifth considering he competed in the most competitive decathlon in meet history. Texas A&M's Lindon Victor won with 8,379, but the scores from second through 10th were the highest-ever for their positions.
“I was just happy to PR and get fifth,” Williams said.
But he achieved much more than that.
“An 8,000-point score is certainly a big step toward being truly world class,” said Michael Eskind, Stanford's multi-events coach. “That was the best NCAA decathlon from top to bottom, so for him to finish fifth behind four who have the Olympic standard (8,100), was amazing.”
Williams set three personal records on Wednesday's first day, but left the track exhausted. He sat fourth with his best first-day score, of 4,097.
He ate as soon as he could after the meet, to replace the nutrients he lost, then got a massage from team therapist Jenna Boren, and went to bed early.
“Between the two days, you aren't really able to recover,” Williams said. “You just kind of manage the pain. I can tell you when I wake up on the second day, I don't feel like doing the second day of the decathlon. I don't feel like I can lift my leg over a hurdle or pole vault. You just get warmed up and deal with it.”
Williams immediately set a personal decathlon record for the 110 high hurdles with a 14.07, and followed with a lifetime best in the discus 136-8). He pole vaulted 16-4 ¾ -- just grazing the bar with his chest on his third try at 16-8 ¾ -- and threw the javelin 167-1. The 1,500 offered no real shot at catching Arizona's Pau Tonnesen for fourth on the final event, but Williams considered a 4:22 to be an ambitious goal. Though he fell short, he still had a two-second improvement upon his lifetime best, running 4:27.88, and was among the few decathletes not to collapse to the ground upon crossing the finish line.
Overall, he set five personal records of the meet. Afterward, he joined the rest of the decathletes for a very slow victory lap, pausing halfway down to pose for a group selfie taken by Eastern Michigan's Solomon Simmons.
“This is just another step closer to his ultimate goals,” Eskind said. “I can't wait to see what he does in three weeks at the Olympic Trials.”
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Most of the finals will take place the next two days, with the men's on Friday and the women's on Saturday. But two Stanford women competed in field event finals.
Freshman Mackenzie Little was seventh in the javelin at 176-0, and Valarie Allman was 11th in the hammer throw with a lifetime best 200-11 – strengthening her hold at No. 2 on Stanford's all-time performers' list.
In women's running semifinals, Stanford advanced three to Saturday's finals. Claudia Saunders won her heat of the 800 in 2:03.68 and Olivia Baker was the meet's fastest time qualifier, in 2:03.56. In the 1,500, Pac-12 champ Elise Cranny was a comfortable second to advance on place in a season-best 4:15.87.
Non-qualifiers included Stanford's women's 4x400 relay team. The team of Gaby Gayles, Olivia Baker, Michaela Crunkleton Wilson and Kristyn Williams ran 3:35.92, placing seventh in their heat. Also, Molly McNamara did not advance in the 1,500, running 4:20.93, placing 20th overall.
Stanford has one competition Friday, with Sean McGorty and freshman Grant Fisher in the men's 5,000 final.
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Saunders has made a habit of peaking at NCAA Championship time. She has finished second the past two years, to two different runners, and now will appear in her third NCAA outdoor final, something that's never before accomplished for Stanford in the women's 800.
She remained in about fourth for much of the race, until pushing past the field while on the final turn. She was threatened somewhat by Duke's Anima Banks and Oregon's Brooke Feldmeier down the stretch, but won relatively comfortably. Or so it seemed.
Saunders began to feel anxious by being out of the top two on the final lap. Only two qualified automatically for the final, and Saunders was feeling the pressure to get into better position. But unlike at the Pac-12 meet, where she finished fourth because, in her words, “you look around, you freak out, and kind of fall apart,” Saunders remained calm and stayed focused.
Each year it seems, Saunders isn't counted upon to contend. And each year, she does. In the Eugene Register-Guard's event-by-event meet preview, Saunders wasn't even tabbed to reach the final.
Saunders explained her mentality at this meet, and particularly in the semifinals.
“I try to remind myself that at this point in the season, it's not supposed to be easy, it's not supposed to feel good,” Saunders said.
In other words, it's all business. She's mentally prepared to pay the price.
“I run like I have nothing to lose,” she said.
In the final 800 semi, Baker missed the auto qualifying spot by 0.01 to defending NCAA champ Raevyn Rogers of Oregon. Though she knew she was running fast enough to advance on time, “I wanted that auto qualifying spot,” Baker said.
Baker is the collegiate outdoor leader, but she feels she has improved greatly in ways that don't show up in simply improved times.
“The difference this season is I'm better at race situations,” Baker said.
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Cranny also has improved from a race-management standpoint. On Thursday, she simply tucked on the rail behind Mississippi State's Marta Freitas and stayed there. Freitas won and Cranny held her spot and finished second.
“I really like the inside,” Cranny said. “I feel I can be super calm there. I can make one move out to get out when I need to.”
At the NCAA's last year, Cranny became the first true freshman to make a 1,500 final in four years, but struggled to 10th once she got there.
“The most important thing I've learned this year is to stay calm,” Cranny said. “Last year, I used way too much energy.
Former teammate “Jess Tonn taught me a lot about that, just watching her when she was here. Indoor, when she ran the 1,200 on our DMR, it was so physical and she was so calm and she did so well. I've taken a lot from that. You have so much more energy on the last lap if you don't waste time fighting against other people.
“Last year, I was so tired after my freshman year when I got here, that I was hanging on for dear life. I felt so much better this time.”
McNamara reached her first NCAA meet as a fifth-year senior, but her race did not go as planned. McNamara lost ground over the final two laps, unable to maintain the fast pace once the leaders pushed it.
“Obviously, I'm disappointed,” McNamara said. “I wasn't satisfied with just being here. The approach I was taking was I get an opportunity to compete today and if I earn it, I get an opportunity to compete Saturday.
“When the race picked up, I remembered what Coach Milt likes to say, to commit to it. I tried to do that, but sometimes you come up short. This in no way defines anything for me. I'm proud of how I approached it, even if I'm not happy with the result.
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Allman, the two-time Pac-12 champion discus thrower, is no longer treating the hammer as a second event. For the first time, she qualified in both.
“When we first started doing the hammer, it was as a training tool for discus – to relieve some of the mental pressure. But now it's something I really look forward to. I'm excited for what the future might hold for it.
“Part of what is making the hammer so rewarding is the unpredictability. Sometimes, my throw feels like the most awkward thing on the face of the planet – like, I don't know what I'm doing. But every once in a while I catch a throw that feels good, and that's the most motivating feeling. That's what makes me want to keep going.
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NCAA Championships
At Hayward Field
First day of four
Results of events with Stanford competitors:
Men
Team scores (after seven events) -- 1, Oregon 19; 2, Texas A&M 18; 3, Arkansas 16; 27, Stanford 4.
Decathlon -- 1, Lindon Victor (Texas A&M) 8,379; 2, Zach Ziemek (Wisconsin) 8,300; 3, Maicel Uibo (Georgia) 8,294; 4, Pau Tonnesen (Arizona) 8,103; 5, Harrison Williams (Stanford) 8,032.
Williams' results (place in event, mark, points):
First day
100 – 5, 10.69 (931); Long jump – 17, 22-6 1/4 (6.86m) (781); Shot put – 10, 44-4 ¼ (13.52m) (699); High jump – 10, 6-3 1/2 (1.92m) (714); 400 – 1, 47.06 (955). First-day total: 4,097.
Second day
110 hurdles – 2, 14.07 (965); Discus – 8, 136-8 (41.66m) (698); Pole vault – 4, 16-4 ¾ (5.00m) (910); Javelin – 18, 167-1 (50.94m) (603); 1,500 – 3, 4:27.88 (759). Second-day total: 3,935.
Total: 8,032 (school record; highest 5th-place total in NCAA Championship history).
Women
Team scores (after six events) -- 1, Arkansas 26; 2, Texas A&M 16; 3, Georgia 13; 30, Stanford 2.
800 semifinals – 5, Olivia Baker (Stanford) 2:03.56q; 6, Claudia Saunders (Stanford) 2:03.68q.
1,500 semifinals – 10, Elise Cranny (Stanford) 4:15.87q; 20, Molly McNamara (Stanford) 4:20.93q.
Javelin final – 1,Maggie Malone (Texas A&M) 204-9 (62.19m) (collegiate record); 2, Hannah Carson (Texas Tech) 200-9 (61.20m); 3, Audrey Malone (Texas A&M) 187-2 (57.06m); 7, Mackenzie Little (Stanford) 176-0 (53.65m).
Hammer final – 1, DeAnna Price (Southern Illinois) 234-8 (71.53m) (meet record); 2, Sara Savatovic (Kansas State) 215-3 (65.61m); 3, Marthaline Cooper (Winthrop) 213-11 (65.21m); 11, Valarie Allman (Stanford) 200-11 (61.25m) (personal record; No. 2 all-time Stanford).
q = qualified for final.
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Stanford's Remaining Schedule:
Friday
7:25 p.m.: Men's 5,000 final -- Grant Fisher, Sean McGorty.
Saturday
3:05 p.m.: Women's discus final -- Valarie Allman.
3:40 p.m.: Women's 1,500 final – Elise Cranny.
4:47 p.m.: Women's 800 final – Olivia Baker, Claudia Saunders.
5:25 p.m.: Women's 5,000 final -- Aisling Cuffe, Vanessa Fraser.
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Broadcast Schedule:
Friday
5:30-8 p.m., ESPN
12:30-8 p.m.: ESPN3
Saturday
3:30-6 p.m.: ESPN
11:30 a.m.-6 p.m., ESPN3