Lauren Fleshman earned her place in the Stanford record books in May when she crossed the line of the women’s 5,000-meter race with a time of 15:53.91, winning the NCAA championship for the second straight year. Having won the NCAA indoor 3,000-meter crown in March, she became the third Cardinal woman to earn two NCAA track and field titles in the same year, running in step with Jackie Edwards, ’92, and Chryste Gaines, ’92.
It wasn’t easy, however. “I kept getting bumped almost over the rail,” said Fleshman, ’03, after the race. “A couple of times I thought I was going to go off the track, but I kept my focus and hung in there.”
After leading their team to third place in the Pac-10, the 13 women who competed at the NCAAs in steamy Baton Rouge, La., finished in seventh place overall. Shot-putter Jillian Camarena, ’04, captured third place with a personal-best throw of 55 feet, 1 inch, and Kathleen Donoghue, ’03, finished fourth in the pole vault.
In the men’s competition, Donald Sage captured the 1,500-meter national title with a time of 3:42.65. “I didn’t really get as great a position as I wanted during the first half of the race,” said Sage, ’04, after crossing the line. “I felt really good with about 50 meters to go and I could feel the other runners coming on the last 25 meters, so I was just telling myself to hang on.” Sage paced the men’s team to eighth place—its fifth top-eight finish in a row. Michael Ponikvar, ’02, was third in the high-jump competition.
Twelve student-athletes were named All-Americans: Camarena, Donoghue, Fleshman, Ponikvar, Sage, Maurica Carlucci, ’02 (1,500 meters), Seth Hejny, ’03 (5,000 meters), Omer Inan, ’03 (discus), Louis Luchini, ’03 (10,000 meters), Jonathon Riley, ’01 (5,000 meters), Adam Tenforde, ’03 (10,000 meters), and Jesse Thomas, ’02 (3,000 meters). A school-record 24 athletes competed at the meet.
