LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Victories by Sophia Kennedy and Roisin Willis at the Atlantic Coast Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships boosted the Stanford women to second as a team Monday, their highest conference placing since 2012.
Willis captured the 800 meters and Kennedy won the 3,000 to give Stanford five women’s titles in their first ACC championship meet, at Norton Healthcare Sports & Learning Center. Stanford scored 65 points, finishing just ahead of Louisville’s 62 and behind Clemson’s 89. It was the Cardinal’s best conference women’s finish since taking second at the 2012 Pac-12 (outdoors) and Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (indoors) meets.
Stanford junior Alyssa Jones, who won the high jump and long jump on Sunday, was named ACC Women’s Field Most Valuable Performer. Zofia Dudek, the 5,000 winner Saturday, was Stanford’s first ACC champion.
The Stanford men, 12th with 28 points, got their first all-conference first-team performances of the meet on Monday, with Cole Sprout placing third in the 3,000 and Sam Liokumovich taking third in the shot put.
Sprout ran 7:42.41 to break an iconic Stanford record for 3,000 on a regulation (200-meter) indoor track. The mark was held by current world 3,000 indoor record-holder and two-time Olympic medalist Grant Fisher, who ran 7:42.62 to win the 2019 Millrose Games.
The three-day meet was Stanford’s final qualifying opportunity for the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 14-15 in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Only the top 16 individuals and top 12 relay teams in NCAA Division I advance.
Here are the Stanford athletes in qualifying position on Monday, before scratches and adjustments:
For the women, Amy Bunnage (3,000, No. 6; 5,000, No. 5), Jones (high jump, No. 7; long jump, No. 9), Kennedy (3,000, No. 5; 5,000, No. 15), Juliette Whittaker (800, No. 1), Willis (800, No. 12), and the distance medley relay team (No. 2).
No Cardinal men are in the top 16, but Thomas Boyden is in contention, at No. 19 in the 5,000. Boyden was fourth in the 3,000 at the ACC Championships.
Kennedy, a sophomore, won her first conference championship, and in meet record time. Kennedy broke the meet record of 8:51.92 held by North Carolina State's Katelyn Tuohy since 2023. Kennedy followed two North Carolina State runners, Hannah Gapes and pacer Grace Hartman for most of the race. When Hartman stepped off the track at 2,200 meters, Kennedy assumed the lead and maintained it for the final four laps, pulling away from Gapes in the final 200.
Kennedy’s closing 200 was 31.37 – by far the fastest in the field. And her final 400 was 1:06.26, which, she joked in a postrace interview, was probably her personal best.
Behind her, Dudek ran her first indoor 3,000 in two years and blasted her personal best by five seconds. Dudek was seventh in 9:03.08, with teammates Audrey Suarez (9:09.51) and Riley Stewart (9:14.31) running personal bests in the first section.
Willis, the 2023 NCAA indoor 800 champion and 2024 Pac-12 outdoor champion, ran confidently even as she trailed Clemson’s Gladys Chepngetich for most of the race. But Willis powered past Chepngetich as they came off the final turn, taking the lead with 15 meters to go.
Willis clocked a season-best 2:01.31.
Willis and Whittaker, the top finishers at the 2023 NCAA indoor and 2024 NCAA outdoor 800 finals, teamed up in the 4x400 relay. The Cardinal won the third section and was seventh overall, but what was especially notable were their splits. Willis followed leadoff Sage Hinton and ran 52.96.
Whittaker, who ran the distance medley relay and 4x400 relay in the meet, followed in 52.45, before handing off to anchor Rachel Nelson. The team ran a season-best 3:36.58.
Liokumovich, in his second meet of the season, put the shot a season-best 59-4 (18.08 meters). The throw, his fourth, allowed Liokumovich to overtake North Carolina’s Ethan Richter for third.
Earning All-ACC second-team honors were Tess Stapleton, who was fifth in the women’s 60 hurdles (8.33), and Garrett Brown, who was sixth in the men’s pole vault (17-4 1/2, 5.29).
This was Stanford’s first indoor conference championship meet since the 2020 MPSF Championships.
ACC Indoor Championships
At Norton Healthcare Sports & Learning Center
(200-meter banked track)
Men
Final team scores – 1, Virginia Tech 82; 2, Virginia 75; 3, Florida State 64; 4, North Carolina 54; 5, California 53; 6, Miami 41.5; 7 (tie), Clemson, Duke 41; 9, Notre Dame 39; 10, North Carolina State 35.5; 11, Louisville 35; 12, Stanford 28; 13, Pittsburgh 21; 14, Wake Forest 20; 15, Boston College 13; 16, Syracuse 11; 17, Georgia Tech 8.
3,000 – 1, Gary Martin (Virginia) 7:36.69; 3, Cole Sprout (Stanford) 7:42.41 (PB; No. 3 Stanford AT; School record for 200-meter track); 4, Thomas Boyden (Stanford) 7:43.47; 7, Lex Young (Stanford) 7:53.06; 13, James Dargan (Stanford) 7:57.08; 16, Robert DiDonato (Stanford) 7:58.19; 24, Patrick Koon (Stanford) 8:05.50; 32, Nolan Topper (Stanford) 8:11.58; Leo Young (Stanford) DNF; Zane Bergen (Stanford) DNF.
4x400 relay – 1, Miami 3:06.59; 14, Stanford (Zachary Ryan, John Kroeger, Olufemi Cole, Gabriel Ajaegbu) 3:17.12.
Pole vault – 1, Simen Guttormsen (Duke) 18-7 ¼ (5.67); 6, Garrett Brown (Stanford) 17-4 ½ (5.29).
Triple jump – 1, Kyvon Tatham (Florida State) 52-2 ½ (15.91); 8, Kevin Yang (Stanford) 49-7 (15.11).
Shot put – 1, Thomas Kitchell (North Carolina) 64-6 (19.66); 3, Sam Liokumovich (Stanford) 59-4 (18.08).
Women
Final team scores – 1, Clemson 89; 2, Stanford 65; 3, Louisville 62; 4, Virginia 55; 5, Florida State 54; 6, Virginia Tech 53; 7, Notre Dame 47; 8, Pittsburgh 46; 9, North Carolina 37; 10, Duke 35; 11, North Carolina State 34; 12 (tie), California, Miami 31; 14, Wake Forest 14; 15, Georgia Tech 5; 16, SMU 3; 17, Boston College 2; 18, Syracuse 0.
60 – 1, Shanese Walker (Florida State) 7.21; 7, Teagan Zwaanstra (Stanford) 7.37.
800 – 1, Roisin Willis (Stanford) 2:01.31.
3,000 – 1, Sophia Kennedy (Stanford) 8:47.38 (meet record); 7, Zofia Dudek (Stanford) 9:03.08 (PB); 12, Audrey Suarez (Stanford) 9:09.51 (PB); 18, Riley Stewart (Stanford) 9:14.31 (PB).
60 hurdles – 1, Oneka Wilson (Clemson) 8.09; 5, Tess Stapleton (Stanford) 8.33.
4x400 relay – 1, Duke 3:31.88; 7, Stanford (Sage Hinton, Roisin Willis, Juliette Whittaker, Rachel Nelson) 3:36.58.
Triple jump – 1, Shantae Foreman (Clemson) 44-5 ½ (13.55); 10, Alaysia Oakes (Stanford) 40-4 (12.29).
Shot put – 1, Jayden Ulrich (Louisville) 58-8 (17.88); 15, Kaiah Fisher (Stanford) 45-6 ½ (13.88).
PB = personal best
AT = all-time
All-ACC
Men
First team – Sam Liokumovich (shot put), Cole Sprout (3,000).
Second team – Thomas Boyden (3,000), Garrett Brown (pole vault), Lex Young (5,000).
Women
First team – Zofia Dudek (5,000), Alyssa Jones (high jump, long jump), Sophia Kennedy (3,000), Roisin Willis (800).
Second team – Tess Stapleton (60 hurdles), Audrey Suarez (5,000).