With its squad splitting up for the weekend, the Stanford indoor track team got off to a promising start. The athletes parted ways, with some traveling to the BodyBuilding.com Invitational in Boise, Idaho, and others to the Washington Indoor Invitational in Seattle. While the men’s and women’s vaulters and distance runners competed in Seattle, the sprinters, throwers and jumpers showed off their fine-tuned skills in Boise.

The women had nine first-place finishes in Boise, but because many big teams were not present at the meet, the results may not be indicative of what is to come this season.

“The competition was low key which makes you less excited about the results,” head women’s coach Edrick Floreal said.

The results were still notable, especially those of freshman jumper Erica McClain. McClain set a new school record with her triple jump of 43-10 1/2. Her winning jump qualified her for the NCAA Indoor Nationals in March.

“Even when she was being recruited you could tell she was going to be a very special athlete,” Floreal said.

Other first-place finishers were sophomore Janice Davis in the 60-meter dash, senior Christine Moschella in the 200-meter, sophomore Ashley Freeman in the 400-meter and freshman Laura Mottaz in the 800-meter run.

The 4x400 meter relay team of Davis, Moschella, junior Nashonme Johnson and sophomore Ashley Purnell dominated the competition, winning by more than 15 seconds.

The Cardinal women came away with four first-place finishes in jumps and throws. McClain threatened to break another record, taking the long jump in 19-10 3/4 — second-best in school history. Sophomore Lindsey Gannaway jumped 5-5 to win the high jump.

Rounding out the top honors in Idaho were freshman Melissa Yunghans, who won the shot put, and sophomore Katy Elsbury, who took first place in the weight throw.

The men did not fare quite as well in Boise, although men’s head coach Robert Weir had faith in the potential of his runners.

“It was a good season opener,” Weir said. “We are a very young team, and we’re hoping to boost our performances later on.”

Weir was pleased with the second-place 4x400 meter relay team. Senior sprinters Curtis Goehring and Nick Sebes, running the second and fourth legs at times of 46.8 and 47 seconds, respectively, led the relay team to a respectable time of 3:13.95.

Weir, who is also the throwing coach, was especially confident about redshirt freshman thrower Mike Macellari, who placed third in the shot put and opened the season with a personal best of 53-5 3/4.

Freshman Wopamo Osaisai took third in the 60-meters with a time of 6.90, the third best time in Stanford history.

While Floreal— who doubles as the sprint and jump coach— highly regarded Osaisai, a cornerback on the Stanford football team, Osaisai’s transition from football to track seemed to be of some concern.

“The track is a lot stiffer, tougher and less forgiving than the grass on a football field,” said Floreal. “His first performance was very good, and if he remains focused and recovers from football he will do very well.”

In Washington, expectations to improve as the season goes along were shared. Sophomore Joaquin Chapa came off with a ninth-place finish in the 800-meter run. Chapa was scheduled to run the mile but failed to finish after another runner’s spike clipped him on the curve, causing him to fall.

“His 800 time was good all things considered,” Weir said.

The two freshmen pole vaulters, Graeme Hoste and Benjamin Dickens, competed well in their first collegiate meet this weekend. Hoste vaulted 16-5 1/4 to a fourth-place finish, while Dickens vaulted 15-1 1/2 to finish 11th.

“They did a marvelous job actually,” Weir said. “I’m excited about the prospects for later on.”

Meanwhile, the women showed promise in Washington, earning two provisional NCAA marks. Junior Anita Siraki finished fourth in the 3,000 with a time of 9:17.68, and sophomore Katy Trotter followed close behind with a time of 9:20.56.

Unlike an automatic qualifying time, a provisional time puts the athletes in a pool that is later used to round out the 16-20 athletes that compete in each event at nationals.

“The automatic mark is really tough to get – only 10 to 12 athletes reach this mark each season,” Floreal said.

McClain was the only Stanford runner to automatically qualify this past weekend.

The women pole vaulters faced tough competition. Junior Samantha Shepard and freshman Leila Ben-Youssef vaulted to fourth- and eighth-place, respectively. Both Shepard and Ben-Youssef vaulted 12-4.

“The pole vault is an event that is really tough in the NCAA,” Floreal said. “It’s also harder on the West Coast because of the weather conditions. We can train outside all year, whereas elsewhere they have to train inside for part of the year.”

Floreal was pleased with the results and with the standout performances of McClain and Siraki.

“Erica and Anita really set the tone for us this weekend,” Floreal said.