Dawgs and Cougs head to Los Angeles for this weekend's Pac-12 championships...

LOS ANGELES—While Eastern Washington and Seattle University get things fully underway with their conference championship meet, the University of Washington and Washington State University head south to Los Angeles for the Pacific-12 Conference title meet at Drake Stadium on the campus of UCLA.

The Cougars will be led by high jump champ Charlotte Muschamp, while the Huskies will be led by defending pole vault champs Jax Thoirs (left/photo by Paul Merca) and Diamara Planell Cruz, and steeple champ Aaron Nelson.

WSU announced that 400 hurdles champ CJ Allen is injured and will not defend his title in Los Angeles.

Other athletes with Washington ties returning to defend titles include Seattle native Darian Brooks of Stanford in the triple jump, and Tacoma native Marcus Chambers of Oregon (4 x 100 relay).

While it may be tough sailing for the Cougars in the conference championship meet, the Huskies should finish in the middle of the pack.  Oregon and USC enter the meet as the pre-meet favorites to win the conference crown.

The schedule for Saturday starts at 10 a.m. with the men’s hammer throw. The first running events will be the prelims for the 4x100m relays, at 1 p.m. Finals on Saturday in the field events include the men’s hammer, both long jumps, both shot puts, both javelins, the men’s pole vault, and women’s high jump. All track events on Saturday will be prelims, with the exception of finals in the men’s and women’s steeplechases and 10,000-meters.

Sunday starts with the women’s hammer at 9 a.m. and then the women’s triple jump is the next to start at 11:30 a.m. Both tripe jumps, both discus throws, the women’s pole vault, and the men’s high jump will be held in the field, with all remaining running events crowning champions on Sunday. The first track event will be the women’s 4x100m final at 1 p.m., with the final event being the men’s 4x400m relay at 5 p.m.

Pac-12 Networks will be televising a three-hour overview of the championships on a tape-delayed basis. The first national broadcast will be on Sunday, May 24 at 9 a.m. PT. Paul Sunderland, Tom Feuer and Allyson Felix will be calling all the action, with Jill Savage reporting from the track.

Washington’s release is available here.  Washington State’s release is available here, while the Pac-12’s notes can be accessed here.

paulmerca.blogspot.com will be on site for Sunday’s final day of competition.

NOTE:  The Pac-12, the University of Washington, and Washington State University contributed to this report.