THE PAST TWO women’s NCAA indoor 800-meter champions, Stanford junior teammates Roisin Willis and Juliette Whittaker, are entered in the top section of the same event at the John Thomas Terrier Classic on Friday.
Willis, the 2023 champion, and Whittaker, the 2024 winner, will be racing an 800 for the first time this indoor track and field season. For Whittaker, it will mark her first 800 race since the 2024 Olympic final in Paris in which she placed seventh.
Section 1 of the women’s 800 at the Boston University Track and Tennis Center will have eight runners, only three of whom are collegians, including Harvard sophomore Sophia Gorriaran, a 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials semifinalist. Bourgoin Anais, the 2024 European Championships bronze medalist from France, Lithuanian Olympian Gabija Galvydyte, and 2023 U.S. national teamer (Pan Am Games) Brooke Feldmeier also are in the field.
Whittaker and Willis have raced each other five times in college, with Whittaker holding a 3-2 edge. At the 2024 NCAA Outdoor Championships, Whittaker and Willis finished 1-2, in that order.
Stanford splits its squad between the Terrier Classic and the New Mexico Team Open on Friday at Saturday. Distance runners compete in Boston and all other Cardinal athletes compete at the Albuquerque Convention Center.
In the Terrier Classic women’s 3,000, Stanford sophomore Amy Bunnage races for the first time since her incredible effort in the 5,000 on this same track on December 7 at the Colyear-Danville Opener. Bunnage ran 15:00.75, setting Stanford, Atlantic Coast Conference, and Australian indoor records. The time made her the fifth-fastest in collegiate indoor history.
Bunnage’s fastest 3,000 at Stanford is 8:54.88 and the school record is 8:53.1 – the Stanford’s oldest women’s indoor record – by PattiSue Plumer in 1983.
In the men’s mile on Saturday, Zane Bergen and Leo Young are aiming to join the sub-4 club. Bergen ran 4:00.11 at the UW Preview two weeks ago and Young’s best is 4:00.77. Twenty-two men have broken 4 minutes while competing for Stanford, including indoors and outdoors.
At the New Mexico Team Open, 2023 NCAA indoor first-team All-American Garrett Brown competes in the pole vault. And 2023 Pac-12 outdoor champion Kevin Yang competes in the triple jump, headlining Stanford’s competitors in Albuquerque.
The top 16 marks across the country at the end of the conference championship weekend earn admission to the NCAA Indoor Championships. Stanford athletes among the top 16 at this point are:
Bunnage (No. 4, 5,000), Alyssa Jones (No. 4, long jump), Sophia Kennedy (No. 6, mile; No. 9, 5,000), and Whittaker (No. 5 mile) for the women. And Thomas Boyden (No. 7, 3,000) and Cole Sprout (No. 8, 3,000) for the men.
Stanford's Schedule (all times Pacific)
John Thomas Terrier Classic
Friday
8:05 a.m.: Women’s 400 – Invitational, S4: Cate Peters.
9:10 a.m.: Women’s 800 – S1: Juliette Whittaker, Roisin Willis; S4: Amelia Everett; S5: Hillary Studdert.
11:45 a.m.: Women’s 4x400 relay – Stanford.
12:30 p.m.: Women’s mile – S3: Julia Flynn; S4: Amelia Everett, Nicola Hogg; S5: Hillary Studdert, Audrey Suarez.
2:05 p.m.: Women’s 3,000 – S1: Amy Bunnage; S2: Sophia Kennedy, Riley Stewart; S3: Audrey DaDamio.
3:45 p.m.: Women’s 5,000 – S2: Zofia Dudek.
Saturday
12:25 p.m.: Men’s mile – Zane Bergen, Leo Young.
2:20 p.m.: Men’s 3,000 – James Dargan.
4:20 p.m.: Men’s 5,000 – Zane Bergen, Caleb Boutelle, Thomas Boyden, Robert DiDonato, Patrick Koon, Cole Sprout, Nolan Topper, Leo Young, Lex Young.
New Mexico Team Open
Friday
2 p.m.: Men’s 200 unseeded – S2, Ryce Reynolds; S3, Gabriel Ajaegbu; S4, Olufemi Cole; S8, Joseph Bailey; S12, Dylan Davis, Zachary Ryan.
2:50 p.m.: Women’s 200 unseeded – S5, Sage Hinton; S6, Sara Rivas; S8, Sevilla Duran; S11, Trinity Price; S12, Camille Peisner, Madison Romain; S13, Rachel Nelson.
4:45 p.m.: Men’s 400 B – S6, Joseph Bailey, Zachary Ryan; S9, Gabriel Ajaegbu; S11, Ryce Reynolds, Olufemi Cole.
5:20 p.m.: Women’s 400 B – S1, Sage Hinton; S2, Camille Peisner; S5, Rachel Nelson; S6, Madison Romain; S7, Trinity Price; S8, Sevilla Duran, Sara Rivas.
5:30 p.m.: Men’s weight throw – Anthony Argyropoulos, Mason McKhann.
Saturday
9 a.m.: Women’s pole vault section A – Lianne Kistler.
9:30 a.m.: Men’s triple jump – Kevin Yang.
9:50 a.m.: Women’s 60 hurdles prelims – H3, Sara Rivas.
10:10 a.m.: Men’s 60 unseeded – S4, Gabriel Ajaegbu.
10:35 a.m.: Men’s 60 invitational prelims – H3, Dylan Davis.
Noon: Men’s pole vault section A -- Garrett Brown.
Noon: Men’s shot put – F1, Anthony Argyropoulos, Mason McKhann.