March 6, 2012

Men's Entries

Women's Entries

NAMPA, Idaho - The entries for the NCAA Indoor Championships were announced with Stanford having several qualifiers. The men have five athletes competing in six individual events, plus a relay, while the women have four athletes competing in five individual events and a relay. The Stanford men are ranked No. 13 entering the meet, while the women are ranked No. 16.

The NCAA Indoor Championships will will be March 9-10 at the Jackson Track at the Idaho Center. It is a 200-meter track with banked turns at about 2,500 feet of altitude.

ESPN3 will stream the meet live on March 9 from 4:30-8:45 p.m. PT and March 10 from 5-8:15 p.m. PT. A tape delay of the championship will air Sunday, March 18 at 4:30 p.m. PT on ESPNU.

NCAA.com and broncosports.com will stream what ESPN3 is not covering on Friday (9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. PT) and Saturday (9:30 a.m.-5 pm PT).

The Cardinal men will have a distance-heavy lineup in Boise with three qualifiers in the 5,000 meters and two in the 3,000 meters. Chris Derrick leads the Cardinal, having qualified for both the 3,000 and 5,000 meters. The senior will be the fourth seed in the 5,000 with his school-record time of 13:19.58 and the ninth seed in the 3,000. Although he anchored the distance medley relay at the MPSF Championships, he will not run the relay at nationals with two demanding individual events already on his plate.

Elliott Heath has not run since late January, but will look to defend his NCAA title in the 3,000 meters. Last season, Heath blazed to a the title with a final kick that nobody in the field could match. He will look for a similar result this season and enters the meet as the eighth seed, having run 7:50.14 at the Razorback Invitational. He is in the DMR pool, but it remains to be seen if he will actually run the relay in addition to his individual race.

The rest of the DMR pool includes Luke Lefubure who is expected to run the 800-meter leg, Michael Atchoo, Tyler Stutzman, Spencer Chase and Amaechi Morton. Either Chase or Morton will run the 400-meter leg, while Atchoo is expected to run either 1,200 or 1,600 meters and Stutzman will run the other depending on if Heath runs.

Joining Derrick in the 5,000 meters will be Jake Riley and Brendan Gregg. Riley is a seven-time All-American, including one from this same event in 2010. He will be the eighth seed with a career-best indoor time of 13:39.58. Gregg has advanced to his first NCAA track meet, having run 13:48.64 earlier this season. A veteran of the NCAA Cross Country meet, Gregg will be looking for the first All-America honor of his career.

Finally, Morton will round out the men's squad in the 400 meters. The senior is a threat for the NCAA title, having run a school-record time of 46.16 earlier this season. He will be the fifth seed, but all 15 entries in the event are separated by just 32 hundredths of a second.

Like the men, the Cardinal women has a strong contingent in the distances, but also has a pair of field event athletes as well. Kathy Kroeger leads the distance crew as she is entered in both the 3,000 and 5,000 meters. In addition, she could run the distance medley relay, although that is unlikely with her schedule. Kroeger is the No. 4 seed in the 5,000 with a time of 15:46.26 and is the 16th seed in the 3,000.

Also in the distances, Aisling Cuffe will run the 3,000 meters and is also eligible for the DMR. Cuffe ran 9:07.79 in the 3K last weekend and will be looking for her first All-America honor. If she runs the DMR, it would likely be the 1,600-meter leg.

The other runners in the DMR pool are Kori Carter, Kellie Schueler, Justine Fedronic, Joy'Hare and Jessica Tonn. Carter or Schueler will likely run the 400, while Fedronic or O'Hare could run 800 or 1,200 and Tonn could run 1,200 or 1,600.

In the field, Arantxa King will compete in the long jump and Katerina Stefanidi in the pole vault. Both have been NCAA runner-up finishes during their careers and will be looking for their first NCAA title. King is the fifth seed in the long jump having leaped 21-0 ¾ at the Razorback Invitational. Meanwhile, Stefanidi has vaulted 14-3 ¼ also at the Razorback Invitational and will be the sixth seed.

Stanford Schedule (All Times Pacific)

Friday, March 9, 2012 5:00 pm - Men's 400 Meters (prelims) - Amaechi Morton
6:15 pm - Women's Long Jump (prelim and final) - Arantxa King
7:05 pm - Men's 5,000 meters (final) - Chris Derrick, Jake Riley, Brendan Gregg
8:25 pm - Women's 5,000 meters (final) - Kathy Kroeger
8:05 pm - Men's DMR - Stanford
8:25 pm - Women's DMR - Stanford

Saturday, March 10, 2012
4:00 pm - Women's Pole Vault (final) - Katerina Stefanidi
5:55 pm - Men's 400 meters (final) - Amaechi Morton
6:55 pm - Men's 3,000 meters (final) - Elliott Heath, Chris Derrick
7:10 pm - Women's 3,000 meters (final) - Aisling Cuffe, Kathy Kroeger