March 20, 2013

STANFORD, Calif. - The Stanford women's track and field team is the No. 9 team in the nation, according to the USTFCCCA national outdoor preseason computer rankings, which were released Tuesday.

The Cardinal was sixth at last season's NCAA Championships and return 13 All-Americans. The Stanford men were not among the USTFCCCA Top 25. Both teams begin their outdoor seasons in earnest on March 29-30 in the Stanford Invitational at Cobb Track & Angell Field.

The women's team returns four of its five NCAA scorers and 14 of its 17 scorers from the Pac-12 Championships, where the Cardinal finished second. Among the returnees are two defending Pac-12 champions: junior 100-meter hurdler Kori Carter and sophomore javelin thrower Brianna Bain.

Bain, the NCAA runner-up in 2012, is among four first-team All-Americans on the Stanford squad. The others are senior horizontal jumper Karynn Dunn, 2012 Pac-12 cross-country champion and Olympic trials 5,000-meter finalist Kathy Kroeger, and junior hurdler-sprinter Katie Nelms.

Other All-Americans on the women's team, including cross country, and indoor and outdoor track are: Carter, sophomore distance runner Aisling Cuffe, senior half-miler and school record-holder Justine Fedronic, freshman distance runner Cayla Hatton, senior sprinter Carissa Levingston, senior middle-distance runner Joy O'Hare, freshman half-miler Claudia Saunders, junior distance runner Jessica Tonn, and freshman half-miler Amy Weissenbach.

The Stanford men finished 16th in the NCAA's last season and return eight Pac-12 scorers and nine All-Americans, including six first team. Five of the first-teammers are middle-distance runners: junior Michael Atchoo, senior Andrew Berberick, senior Dylan Ferris, sophomore Luke Lefebure, senior Tyler Stutzman. The other is sprinter Spencer Chase.

Other All-Americans back are senior discus thrower Geoffrey Tabor, senior high-jumper Jules Sharpe and sophomore high-jumper Dartis Willis II.

Complete men's and women's rankings