In the days running up to the highly anticipated Pacific-10 Conference Championships, the Cardinal team had an action-packed weekend with two track meets — one across the Bay in Berkeley and one on its home turf at Cobb Track and Angell Field.

EnlargeEnlarge
Junior Arianna Lambie was at the front of the pack, as usual, on Sunday, taking third in the 5,000-meter run with a time that ranked fifth in Stanford’s record books for the event. #gallery http://daily.stanford.org/image/full/7400
Bernard Bluhm

Junior Arianna Lambie was at the front of the pack, as usual, on Sunday, taking third in the 5,000-meter run with a time that ranked fifth in Stanford’s record books for the event.

Sunday proved the most exciting with the Stanford-hosted Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational. In a hyped-up competition featuring world-class athletes from Kenya, Australia and Mexico, the Cardinal held its own to post seven first-place finishes.

Among the men’s field events, junior Graeme Hoste recorded the top mark in the pole vault (5.20 meters). Redshirt junior Kyle Davis-Hammerquist improved his Friday hammer-throw mark by 0.13 meters to 56.29 meters, good enough for second. Redshirt junior Michael Macellari was able to take first in the shot put with a mark of 17.14 meters. Senior Michael Robertson finished with a mark of 59.10 meters in the discus throw, which was good enough to garner him first place even though it was 0.81 meters shorter than his mark at the California Collegiate Challenge on Friday.

On the track, freshman Daniel Belchclockedin at10.93 secondsfor first in the 100-meter dash,while his freshman teammateRyan Fisicaro was right behind him in second (11.10 seconds).In the 1500-meter run, redshirt junior Russell Brown completed a sensational run with his 3:41.51 time, which puts him in 10th in Stanford’s record books. Redshirt sophomore Hari Mix placed third in the 5,000 meter run with a time of 14:03.20, his personal best for this season.

In the 10,000-meter run, Oregon’s Galen Rupp gave the crowd a show to remember with his incredible time of 27:33.48, the third-fastest collegiate time in history and the fastest ever for an American collegiate runner.

For the Cardinal women, the javelin was an easy victory even with only its three Stanford athletes competing. Redshirt freshman Jaynie Goodbody took first among them with a mark 41.65 meters. Junior Melissa Yunghans won first in the shotput with a throw of 14.18 meters. Sophomore Tessa Flippin took the top spot in the high jump and star junior Arianna Lambie took fifth place in the University record books with her third-place time of 15:31.34 in the 5,000-meter run.

“Arianna Lambie was absolutely phenomenal,” direcot of track and field Edrick Floreal said. “The distance athletes did really well in this competition.”

Against Lambie, world-class athlete Jen Rhines ran the fastest 10,000-meter run recorded this year, completing the event in 31:17.31. She has already qualified for the 2008 Olympic Games.

Two days before the Cardinal Invitational, Stanford traveled to Berkeley for the California Collegiate Challenge. There, 12 Cardinal athletes scored NCAA Regional-qualifying marks.

“All the [competitors] who hit a regional mark did a really good job,” Floreal said. “A lot of people moved up in their regional marks.”

In the women’s field events, junior Danielle Maier heaved the javelin 47.21 meters to win first place, while sophomore Michaela Wallerstedt finished third in the shot put (14.58 meters); Goodbody also placed second in the hammer throw (51.76 meters). Among the women runners, senior Ashley Freeman ran a speedy time of 2:07.14 in the 800 meters, good enough for a NCAA Regional-qualifying time.

For the men’s team, Macellari won third in the shot put with his season-best and NCAA Regional-qualifying mark of 17.39 meters — more remarkable, however, was the fact that the mark put him ninth in Stanford’s record books. Senior captain Feranmi Okanlami led the team with a second-place finish in the triple jump — “a personal record,” according to Floreal.

Davis-Hammerquist, who went to high school in Berkeley, placed fourth in the hammer throw with his NCAA Regional-qualifying mark of 56.16 meters. Robertson finished with an exceptional mark of 59.91 meters, which gave him second place in the discus throw, and junior Daniel Schaerer finished only two spots behind him with a distance of 57.51 meters.

“Overall it was a very productive weekend,” Floreal said. “The combination of the two meets was tiring, but the athletes found a way to do well. We had some awesome performances.”

Stanford track and field continues to prepare this week for the Pac-10 Championships, set for May 12-13, but will have no competitions this weekend.