March 25, 2004

Stanford, Ca - One of the top track & field meets in the Western United States will take place at Cobb Track & Angell Field on Friday-Saturday (March 26-27) when more than 4,200 athletes compete in the Stanford Invitational.

College, high school and post-collegiate runners, jumpers and throwers will compete during this two-day meet which last year produced more than 180 NCAA Regional qualifying performances. This year will be no exception as full teams from such schools as Stanford, California, UCLA (men), USC, Washington, Washington State, Brigham Young (men) and Missouri will compete. The list of post-collegiate runners during this Olympic year includes Matt Lane, who finished fourth in the 5,000 meters at the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials, Chris Graff, one of the top young distance runners from St. John's, former Stanford All-American Brad Hauser, Shawn Jefferson, the 2004 NCAA indoor mile champion from Indiana, Nicole Teter, a prime candidate to gain a berth on the U.S. Olympic team in the 800 meters, Inger Miller and Brianna Glenn in the sprints, Erica Wheeler in the javelin, Nick Petrucci in the discus, Larry White in the hurdles, Kenta Bell in the triple jump, and former Stanford discus thrower Omer Inan, who hopes to compete for Turkey at the Olympics in Greece this summer. Stanford will field a complete team which will include the Cardinal's top male and female distance runners, and Jill Camarena, the six-time All-American in the shot put. More than 2,200 collegiate and post-collegiate runners will compete, while more than 2,000 top high school athletes from the Western United States will also compete.

The distance running carnival is slated for Friday evening starting at 6:40 p.m.

"Entries are up this year, and this points to a great meet," said Cardinal head men's coach Robert Weir.

Friday's activities start at 9:50 a.m. with the women's 5,000 meters and will conclude at 10:50 p.m. with the men's 5,000 meters. Saturday's events start at 9:00 a.m. with the high school girls 400 meter hurdles and will conclude with the high school boys 1,600 meter relay at 5:15 p.m. Collegiate events start at 11:45 a.m. with the men's 3,000 meter steeplechase, and end at 5:00 p.m. with the men's 1,600 meter relay.

Cardinal Catalogue
Stanford's men's and women's teams are off to strong starts this year ... Already this year Jason Goff has qualified for the NCAA Regionals with a career-best throw of 209-10 in the javelin ... That mark is third-best in school history ... Pac-10 qualifiers on the men's team includes Sean Knapp in the 3,000 meter steeplechase (9:10.61) and Feranmi Okanlami in the triple jump (47-11 1/4, 14.62m) ... On the women's side, Lindsey Johnson has a league qualifying time in the 100 meter hurdles (14.06) along with Lindsey Gannaway in the high jump (5-8, 1.73m), Erin Merriman in the javelin (143-6, 43.74m), Kitty Currier in the discus (160-9, 50.72m) and Jeane Goff in the 1,500 meters (4:38.71) ... Three Stanford women have qualified for NCAA Regionals ... The list includes Sarah Hopping in the hammer (186-0, 56.70m), Donielle Colich in the hammer (185-8, 56.60m), and Samantha Shepard in the pole vault (12-7 1/4, 3.84m).

Indoor Incidentals
Stanford just finished the 2004 indoor season, and the Cardinal enjoyed another successful season ... The Cardinal women won the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title and finished seventh at the NCAA Indoor Nationals at Arkansas ... Sara Bei finished second in the mile, Jill Camarena finished second in the shot put and Alicia Craig finished second in the 5,000 meters to gain All-America honors ... The distance medley relay team of Kathleen Trotter, Chinny Offor, Katie Hotchkiss and Sara Bei finished second to gain All-American accolades ... The Stanford men finished third at the MPSF meet and 19th at the NCAA Indoors ... Ian Dobson picked up two All-American honors with second and fifth place finishes in the 5,000 and 3,000 meters, respectively ... Donald Sage finished eleventh and Chris Emme finished 13th in the 3,000 meters to earn All-American honors.

Cross Country Catalogue
Freshmen Amanda Trotter and her twin sister, Katy Trotter, competed for the United States at the recent World Junior Cross Country Championships in Belgium ... The U.S. women finished fourth, the highest U.S. finish since 1995 ... Amanda finished as the team's third runner and 31st overall, while Katy was the team's fifth runner and 36th overall ... Freshman Forrest Tahdooahnippah competed for the U.S. Junior men's team, and was the team's second runner, only two seconds behind the top American finisher ... Tahdooahnippah finished 37th.