One week before the rest of the Stanford track and field team would walk onto Cobb Track and Angell Field for the Pacific-10 Conference Championships, three members of the Cardinal took on the multi-event competition this past weekend.

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Competing in her first-ever Pac-10 Multi-Event Championship, freshman Kara Bennett took 12th in the heptathlon thanks to a third-place finish in the high jump. #gallery http://daily.stanford.edu/image/full/7458
Bernard Bluhm

Competing in her first-ever Pac-10 Multi-Event Championship, freshman Kara Bennett took 12th in the heptathlon thanks to a third-place finish in the high jump.

JuniorJosh Hustedt came into the decathlon as the lone Cardinal competitor, but with the second-best season score of anyone in the Pac-10. A shot put foul, though, doomed Hustedt to sixth out of 11, with 6849 points. Arizona’s Jake Arnold finished on top with 7755 points.

On the first day of the multi-event championships, Hustedt scored his best in the jump events. A 7.43-meter long jump won him the top spot with 918 points; he also went on to earn a second-place finish in the high jump (2.04 meters) for 840 points.

Fourth-place finishes in both the 100-meter (11.16 seconds for 825 points) and 400-meter (50.00 seconds for 815 points) races complemented the highs, but a foul in the shot put proved to be Hustedt’s downfall. Lacking the 400-plus points each of his competitors earned in the event, Hustedt was in eighth after the first day and in need of a comeback.

A first-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles (14.4 seconds for 918 points) was a worthy start on Sunday, and the junior also went on to take second in the pole vault (4.75 meters for 834 points). But seventh-place earnings in the discus throw, and 1500 meters for a ninth-place finish in the javelin throw, weren’t enough. Hustedt managed to climb only two spots in the rankings.

Meanwhile, Cardinal freshman Kara Bennett was able to finish 12th (4416 points) in her first Pac-10 Championship heptathlon. Sophomore Lauren Stewart, ranked eighth in the Pac-10 going into the event, withdrew after Sunday’s long jump.

Saturday’s start proved difficult for Bennett when she came in last for two events (the 100-meter hurdles and 200-meter dash), and she placed 13th out of 15 competitors in the shot put. The high jump proved a breakthrough for Bennett, who scored third on a 1.72-meter mark for 879 points.

Stewart was in the middle of the field for many of Saturday’s events (eighth in the 200 meters, seventh in the 100-meter hurdles and ninth in the shot put), but she failed to record a mark in the high jump. Sunday’s long jump was more successful with a fifth-place finish (5.77 meters for 780 points), but Stewart soon withdrew.

After her teammate’s departure, Bennett was able to pick up fourth in the javelin (39.19 meters for 652 points). Still, last-place finishes in the long jump and 800-meter run couldn’t advance her more than two spots.

The Pac-10 Championships, hosted by Stanford, continue this Saturday and Sunday on Cobb Track and Angell Field.