Cowgirl senior Holly Page had a record-breaking performance at the Stanford Invite Saturday in Palo Alto, California topping off Wyoming track and field’s weekend, where another part of the team competed at the Tom Benich Invite in Greeley, Colorado.
Representing Wyoming in California were Cowgirls Page and sophomore Audra DeStefano in day two of the Stanford Invitational. Page running the 10,000 meters placed fifth in her event and breaking a over thirty year old record of former Cowgirl Brenda Graham-Gray, recording a time of 33:49.66. Page fell seconds behind Julie Accurso of Team Run Eug., Katrina Spratford of NE Distance in third, Maggie Schmaedick of Oregon and Jessica Mildes of Gonzaga in first place.
“During the indoor season I said a lot that Holly was proving she was one of the best Cowgirl distance runners ever, but I think this proves she is the best,” UW head coach Bryan Berryhill told gowyo.com. “What a race for her in her senior season to run a PR by a minute for another school record. She proved she is the best female distance runner in the history of Wyoming.”
DeStefano ran the steeplechase recording a time of 10:41, after being stepped on in the opening stretch, she placed 11th.
In Greeley, three Cowgirls all reached new personal best, moving them up in both Mountain West records and Wyoming school history. Sophomore Kerry White took first in the women’s 800-meter dash with a time of 2:08.54. Junior Catherine Cloetta took the front-runner position in the 3000-meter steeplechase (11:21.85). In second place was junior Sabina Sandberg in the high jump (5-8 ¾).
Also placing first and second was senior Devon England (17:55) and sophomore Megan Brunette (18:04) in the 5,000 meter.
Senior Erin Kirby placed second in the women’s 400-meter hurdles behind Northern Colorado’s Susan Meinders. Freshman Rebecca Harris placed second in the javelin throw.
In third, senior Audrey West came in behind Colorado State and Colorado in the women’s long jump. Senior Shreese Daniels also placed third place behind Colorado State in the women’s hammer throw.
“I think you if you look at the performances, we got better this week again,” Coach Berryhill said. “Our kids are taking advantage of the nice weather and that is what we are asking them to do. Even though this was a smaller meet, they went out there and had that competitive spirit. I like what I’m seeing right now.”
On the men’s side, Wyoming placed first, second and third in the 800-meter run in the 3000-meter steeplechase. In first at the 800 with a time of 1:50, was graduate student Thomas Atkinson, followed by freshman Ricky Faure in second with a time of 1:51 and then graduate student Harry Fisher. In the steeplechase junior Amos Bowen placed first (9:07) followed by senior Garrett Zans (9:21) and redshirt sophomore Alex Pawlak in third.
In the 5000-meter Wyoming also took the top two positions by redshirted freshmen Michael Kesy and Michael Rotellini.
In the 1500-meter freshman Jesse Gray placed first with a time of 4:10, as did sophomore Jordan Charles in the 110-meter hurdles recording a time of 14.46.
On Friday track and field will resume their season in Albuquerque, New Mexico at the New Mexico Quadrangular.
Holly Page and Audra DeStefano go head to head in a meet from a previous season. UW Track and Field competed in two different locations over the weekend in Pao Alto California and Greeley Colorado.
