FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Stanford set a school record in capturing second in the women’s distance medley relay at the NCAA indoor track and field championships Friday, repeating its finish of last year.
The team of Jessica Tonn, Olivia Baker, Claudia Saunders, and Elise Cranny ran 10:53.66, trailing only repeat champion Arkansas, which ran 10:51.89 on its home track. The DMR -- consisting of legs of 1,200, 400, 800, and 1,600 meters – has been Stanford’s signature event indoors. This is the ninth national top-five finish for the Cardinal.
Cranny ran a 4:31.50 on the 1,600-meter anchor leg in a hard-fought duel with Razorback anchor Dominique Scott, who ran 4:28.90 to overtake the freshman over the final 400 meters. In a race reminiscent of last year, Scott overcame Stanford on the final leg to lead the Razorbacks to victory.
"We're ecstatic," Tonn said. "Of course we wanted to come away with a win, but we're so proud of the way we ran -- tough, composed, and excited. We weren't racing for a time or place, we were just going in ready to compete as tough as we could and knew that if we gave ourselves a shot in each leg and set our teammates up with a great position, we could walk away proud no matter what."
Stanford's time was the fifth-fastest in collegiate and NCAA championship history. It also broke the year-old school record of 10:54.04 set by Amy Weissenbach, Kristyn Williams, Saunders, and Justine Fedronic.
Tonn led off and ran through a lot of traffic that comes with 12 teams vying for position on an undersized track. The plan was to remain calm despite the elbows and push hard. She put Stanford in third after 1,200 at the first exchange, in 3:23.69.
With great momentum, the freshman Baker followed with a 53.62 in the 400, getting the Cardinal room near the front before handing the baton to Saunders in second.
“Jess gave me the baton in good position and out of traffic,” Baker said. “My job was just to close the gap, finish strong and give Claudia the baton outside of all the traffic.”
In her 800 leg, Saunders ran "tough and steady," said Chris Miltenberg, Stanford's Franklin P. Johnson Director of Track and Field. reeled in Arkansas' Therese Haiss and ran a great last 150 to complete a 2:04.87 split and put Stanford into the lead for the final leg.
Cranny took the baton in "the hardest possible spot," Miltenberg said, “with three great runners able to sit on you while you do all the pace work. She stayed so calm and steadily squeezed the pace down every lap.”
But it didn’t take long for the relay to become a two-woman race. Scott made her move with 400 to go, but Cranny still held strong and stayed close.
“She did an incredible job and I know this experience helped her immensely,” Miltenberg said. “Very exciting sign of what is to come.”
"My team put me in a great spot and I wish I could have done better for them," Cranny said. "The plan was to run calm and composed and not worry about what was going on behind us.
"I was disappointed that I wasn't able to respond to the move Dominique Scott made, but we ran great as a team. The 10:53 was a great time for us. It was so much fun running with such amazing girls and the atmosphere was so much fun. My teammates ran incredible legs and I'm so excited to be part of this team."
Only Tonn will not return next season, which should make the Cardinal among the favorites for 2016.
"We can't wait to come back and run it next year," Cranny said.
Baker agreed.
“This was a good experience in my first NCAA meet and I could not have asked for a better group of girls to race this DMR with,” she said.
In the men’s DMR, Stanford’s team of Thomas Coyle, Jackson Shumway, Luke Lefebure, and Sean McGorty, placed 10th in 9:50.50.
Coyle got caught in a physical battle on the lead-off leg and took a hard fall with a lap to go – Stanford was among four teams to suffer a fall during that leg. However, Coyle got back up and finished, “and the rest of our guys did the best they could in a tough spot,” Miltenberg said.
Shumway followed with a 47.47 split in the 400, Lefebure ran a 1:50.22 split over 800, and McGorty finished with a 4:01.95 split for 1,600.
“We were disappointed, but I know they learned a lot from this about how to execute in traffic and take charge of the situation,” Miltenberg said. “I know this will make them all better.”
