Distance races galore highlight Friday and Saturday's UW Invitational...
The multi-events kick things off at the UW Invitational Friday at 1 pm, with action ending at 8:30 pm, then resumes Saturday at 10 am, finishing sometime after 5:30 pm.
As has been the norm, distance races galore will highlight the UW Invitational.
Friday’s docket will be highlighted by a five-team battle royal in the women’s distance medley relay between host Washington, featuring All Americans Katie Rainsberger and Lilli Burdon (above, with coach Maurica Powell (c)/photo by Paul Merca) on the opening and anchor legs, with Imani Apostle (400) and Hannah Derby (800) running the middle legs.
Oklahoma State and Boise State are the favorites on paper, with the Cowgirls featuring NCAA 1500m qualifier Molly Sughroue on the 1200 leg, All-American Kaylee Dodd on the 800, and Sinclaire Johnson, who ran 2:43.37 two weeks ago for 1000m.
Boise State counters with Alexis Fuller and NCAA steeple champ Allie Ostrander. Don’t count out BYU and Stanford.
The men’s DMR features NCAA cross country runner-up Grant Fisher on the anchor, with the Huskies countering with Oregon transfer Mick Stanovsek on the anchor and Pac-12 cross country runner-up Talon Hull on the opening leg with Pac-12 800m scorer Devan Kirk on the 800.
The men’s 5000 features Washington’s cross country All-American Tibebu Proctor against Canadian Luc Bruchet and Eastern Kentucky alum Jamaine Coleman, the NCAA steeple runner-up last year, while in the women’s 5000, Alaska-Anchorage’s Caroline Kurgat could threaten the NCAA all-time indoor best of 16:01.09 set by Neely Spence of Shippensburg set in 2011.
Hope Bender of UC Santa Barbara is the one to watch in the women’s pentathlon, but Central Washington All-American HarLee Ortega, Washington’s Hannah Rusnak, and Eastern Washington’s Dominique Butler could make major breakthroughs.
The men’s heptathlon marks the debut of new Seattle resident Tim Duckworth, the reigning NCAA heptathlon and decathlon champion from Kentucky, who followed Toby Stevenson to Seattle. Duckworth was fifth in the European Championships for Great Britain and was ranked #10 in the world by Track & Field News. Duckworth will be a volunteer assistant for the Huskies while he trains here in town.
Former Oregon standout Mitch Modin, and the Central Washington duo of Kodiak Landis and Braydon Maier look to push Duckworth, in what may be a preview of the GNAC heptathlon contest in three weeks, with athletes from Western Washington and Concordia in the field as well.
Saturday’s docket features the men’s mile at 4:20pm, which could potentially see at least seven runners go under 4 minutes, with Neil Gourley (Nike OTC), Josh Thompson (Bowerman Track Club), Drew Piazza (Nike OTC), and Grant Fisher (Stanford) the ones to watch. Gourley and Piazza were teammates at Virginia Tech, with Gourley just missing out on a berth on Great Britain’s squad at the European Championships.
The women’s mile at 4:05pm features Sinclaire Johnson (Oklahoma State), Allie Ostrander (Boise State), Katie Rainsberger (Washington) from Friday night’s DMR, along with Stanford alum Elise Cranny.
A wide open men’s 3000 at 5pm could potentially see seven men under 7:55, with Amos Bartelsmeyer, who ran 3:55 in the mile two weeks ago here in Seattle perhaps the most dangerous man in the field.
The women’s pole vault will be the headline event on the field featuring Olivia Gruver, the two-time defending NCAA outdoor champion, going against the top three finishers in the Pac-12, along with Eastern Washington’s Liz Prouty; Western Washington’s Anna Paradee and Central Washington’s Halle Irvine, who were NCAA D2 qualifiers.
The men’s pole vault, both shot puts, and the men’s weight throw will also have national caliber fields.
Media partner Flotrack ($) is streaming the meet live if you can’t make it to the Dempsey.
Washington's release along with links to the start lists and the final time schedule for the UW Invitational are available here.
While all nine Washington schools will be represented in Seattle Friday and Saturday, a group of athletes from Washington State will head to Albuquerque, New Mexico for the New Mexico Invitational at the Albuquerque Convention Center.
The Cougars will be led by Emmanuel Wells, who was the star of the WSU Indoor with his 6.69 60 meter time to set a new meet record. Reigning Pac-12 pole vault champ Sander Moldau is among the Cougar headliners heading to New Mexico.
Freshman Charisma Taylor, who broke the school freshman record in the triple jump last week at 41-1.75 (12.54m) leads the Cougar women into Albuquerque, while Pac-12 pole vault scorer Molly Scharmann will vault there.
Washington State’s release is available here.
NOTE: The sports information offices of the University of Washington and Washington State University contributed to this report.
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