Stanford Track: Outdoor Season Off to a Strong Start

Yes, indoor nationals were last weekend. Yes, the indoor season just ended. And yes, we already had our first meet of the outdoor season.

As one door closed, another one opened—literally, like it opened right away. Traveling a bit north to the state capital, the Cardinal opened its outdoor season quite impressively at the Hornet Invitational at Sacramento State this past Saturday.

The day was all about the throws. Making his collegiate debut, junior Trevor Danielson threw one of the greatest javelin throws in school history. His javelin flew 214’ 6”, positioning him directly at No. 6 on Stanford’s all-time records.

Senior and two-time Pac-12 discus champion Valarie Allman is redshirting this season in order to extend her eligibility to 2018, but she did compete unattached and showed Stanford exactly what they will be missing this spring. She hurled a 202’ 3”, which broke her last year’s personal best by 9 inches—the toss that earned her 3^rd in the NCAA at Nationals. Allman has now thrown the furthest by an American this year and 8^th in the world.

Continuing with the field events, Lena Giger took the women’s shot put with a 52’ ½”, Mackenzie Little won the women’s javelin in 179’ 4”, and Michael Painter captured the hammer throw title with a 214’ 5”, good enough for No. 8 Stanford all-time. Right behind Painter was Tristen Newman’s personal best of 197’ 2”.

Up next for the Cardinal will be hosting the Stanford Invitational on March 31^st.