State's Division I & II athletes off to College Station, Texas & Pittsburg, Kansas for NCAA D1/D2 indoor champs...

For the state’s collegiate athletes, the indoor track and field season ends Friday and Saturday at the NCAA Division I and II championships in College Station, Texas and Pittsburg, Kansas.

Washington State’s Alissa Brooks-Johnson (above/photo courtesy WSU Athletics) gets the Division I meet started Friday at 12:15 pm local time (10:15 am, pacific time) in the first event of the five-event pentathlon, the 60 hurdles, and ending the day at around 5:30 pm (3:30 pm pacific) with the 800 meters.  

The senior from Doty, Washington is seeded sixth with a personal best score of 4212 points.

Washington’s Chase Smith will go in the men’s pole vault at 5:30 pm (3:30 pm pacific), where his best of 18-1 (5.51m) ranks him ninth.

The only other athlete with Washington ties competing in the Division I meet Friday is Spokane native Tanner Anderson of the University of Oregon, who goes into the meet seeded 11th at 13:43.74.

Saturday, both Colby Gilbert (6:10 pm/4:10 pm pacific) and Amy-Eloise Neale (6:25 pm/4:25 pm pacific) go in the 3000 meter run.  Gilbert, who was fifth at last year’s 3000, enters the meet seeded fourth with a season best 7:49.42, just off of his indoor personal best and UW school record 7:45.71.

Neale, who got her personal best of 9:01.96 back in January at the UW Preview, but struggled through most of the indoor season, goes into the meet seeded 12th.

The home page for the NCAA Division I championships is available here.

ESPN3 will provide live streaming coverage of the meet, while ESPN2 will show the meet on a tape delayed basis on Sunday March 11th at 4 pm pacific.

Meanwhile, the country’e best Division II athletes will convene Friday and Saturday at Pittsburg State University in Kansas for their national championship meet.

Central Washington’s Kodiak Landis starts off the Washington contingent competing in the D2 championship meet, as he goes in the first event of the two-day, seven event heptathlon, the 60 meter dash, at 10 am local time (8 am pacific).

Mariyah Vongsaveng of Central Washington runs in the semis of the women’s 60 hurdles at 2:45 pm local time (12:45 pm pacific), where she’s seeded 11th. Should she advance, the finals will be contested Saturday at 5:10 pm (3:10 pm pacific).

Both Halle Irvine of Central Washington and Scout Cai of Seattle Pacific are entered in the women’s pole vault which starts at 3:30 pm (1:30 pm pacific).

Less than an hour later, Ali Anderson of Central Washington goes in the semis of the women’s 400, with the finals the following day at 6:10 pm.

Seattle Pacific’s team of Kate Lilly, Lani Taylor, Chynna Phan, and Mary Charleson will run in the finals of the women’s distance medley relay at 7 pm (5 pm, pacific) to close out the first day of competition.  The Falcons are seeded fifth at 11:39.11, which they ran two weeks ago at their Last Chance meet.

Saturday, both Cai and Anderson go in the pentathlon at 10 am, local time, while Landis continues with day 2 of the heptathlon, which finishes at 2:45 pm local time (12:45 pm pacific). 

Fifteen minutes later is the final event of the pentathlon, the 800 meters.  Should Anderson advance to the finals of the 400, she will have just over three hours rest after the final pentathlon event.

Western Washington’s lone competitor, Jasmine McMullin, goes in the women’s triple jump at 3:30 pm (1:30 pm pacific).

The NCAA Division II timing company’s home page for the meet is available here.  That link has links to the start lists, and accepted entries.  The time schedule is available here.

NCAA.com will offer live streaming video of the meet.

NOTE:  The NCAA, Washington State University, the University of Washington, and Texas A&M contributed to this report.