The following report comes from my grandfather, the biggest track and field and Stanford sports fan I know, who flew across the country to attend Saturday's Big Meet.
As the runners rounded the last curve in the 3,000 meters, the penultimate track event on the women’s side of the Big Meet, the announcer told the sadly sparse but enthusiastic and knowledgeable crowd that Stephanie Marcy would be able to tell her grandchildren that she had once won the Big Meet.
And so it was. The results of 17 of the 19 events were in, Stanford, leading 75 to 74, needed seven points to clinch its 21st victory in 32 women’s Big Meets. A first and third in the 3,000 would yield only six, leaving the outcome up to the uncertain concluding 4 x 400 meter relay. But Marcy outdistanced Cal’s Alison Greggor for second behind teammate Kate Niehaus, and her three points, added to Niehaus’s five, assured the Stanford victory.
As it turned out, Stanford won the relay. But who can know how it would have resulted had the meet hinged on the outcome. The men’s meet was not as close. The Cardinal continued its 21st Century dominance of thie meet, winning 98 to 65. (The women’s final score, by the way, was Stanford 88, Cal 75).
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