THE WEEKEND AHEAD: Indoor action in the Palouse, plus USATF Cross Country Champs part of busy calendar...
The Palouse is where most of Washington’s Division I and II schools will have its eyes on this Friday and Saturday, as both Idaho and Washington State hosts meets that may impact who gets into the various conference championship meets later on in February.
Friday, Eastern Washington and Gonzaga make the short drive south to Moscow for the Division I Team Challenge, hosted by the University of Idaho at the Kibbie Dome.
The meet, which features Portland State, and Montana, along with the Eagles, Bulldogs, and the host Vandals, features several Big Sky Conference leaders, including pole vaulter Liz Prouty of Eastern Washington, the defending indoor champion.
She leads the conference with a best of 13-3.5 (4.05m), set at the season-opening Candy Cane meet in Cheney.
Early season conference long jump leader Keshun McGee (left/photo courtesy EWU Athletics) of the Eagles was bumped off the leaderboard last weekend to second in the Big Sky. McGee looks to regain the conference lead on the road to defending his conference crown in three weeks.
The women’s long jump features four of the Big Sky’s top ten jumpers, while the men’s 60 hurdles could be one of the day’s best races, with Idaho’s Ben Doucette, who won at last weekend’s UW Invitational, going against Eastern’s Parker Bowden, who was fifth in Seattle last weekend. Doucette is the defending Big Sky champion.
A small group of athletes from Washington State are entered in the meet, led by sprinter Emmanuel Wells.
Wells, the product of Seattle’s Rainier Beach HS, is entered in the 200, where he’ll face teammates Jake Ulrich and Corey Allen, along with the Eagles’ Jeremy VanAssche.
Gonzaga’s strength will be in the distance races, though they will not run their top-line runners who competed in Seattle last week.
The meet begins at 10:00 am, and will be streamed free via the University of Idaho’s web site and the PlutoTV app.
Eastern Washington’s release is available here.
Across the border from the University of Idaho, Washington State hosts the Cougar Indoor Friday and Saturday, with the multi-events plus a few field events taking place Friday, and the core of the meet taking place Saturday starting at 10 am at the Cougar Indoor Facility.
With the University of Washington eliminating the UW Open in favor of a last chance meet on February 15th, the Cougar Indoor takes on added importance to those schools from the west side of the state to get in an additional meet.
Seattle University, Seattle Pacific, Western Washington, and Central Washington will send groups of athletes to Pullman for this weekend’s meet, particularly those who won’t get into next week’s Husky Classic.
For SPU, WWU & CWU, the fact that there’s only two weeks remaining before the GNAC championships in Nampa, Idaho, makes the Cougar Indoor even more important, as those schools try to select the athletes that will travel to the championship meet.
Washington State’s release is available here.
Saturday, the road to Aarhus, Denmark and the IAAF World Cross Country Championships begin in Tallahassee, Florida, where the USATF Cross Country Championships will be contested at Apalachee Regional Park.
The most significant change is in the women’s distance, which is now 10k, as opposed to 8k, while the men’s race is dropped from 12k to 10k.
Allie Buchalski of the Brooks Beasts, along with Pasco native Marisa Howard, and Kirkland’s Tansey Listed are entered in the open women’s race, while Bellingham native and Puyallup high school standout David Elliott, along with Garrett Heath and Dillon Maggard of the Brooks Beasts are entered in the men’s 10k.
The top six finishers in each race, plus the under-20 men’s 8k and women’s 6k will represent the USA at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships on March 30th in Aarhus, Denmark.
The competition gets underway at 8am Pacific with the U20 women’s 6k, followed by the U20 men’s 8k at 8:40 am.
The senior women’s 10k race starts at 9:20 am, followed by the men’s 10k at 10:10 am.
USATF.tv ($) will live stream the meet.
The start lists for the USA Cross Country Championships are available here.
NOTE: The University of Idaho, Eastern Washington University, Washington State University, and USA Track & Field contributed to this report.
Friday, Eastern Washington and Gonzaga make the short drive south to Moscow for the Division I Team Challenge, hosted by the University of Idaho at the Kibbie Dome.
The meet, which features Portland State, and Montana, along with the Eagles, Bulldogs, and the host Vandals, features several Big Sky Conference leaders, including pole vaulter Liz Prouty of Eastern Washington, the defending indoor champion.
She leads the conference with a best of 13-3.5 (4.05m), set at the season-opening Candy Cane meet in Cheney.
The women’s long jump features four of the Big Sky’s top ten jumpers, while the men’s 60 hurdles could be one of the day’s best races, with Idaho’s Ben Doucette, who won at last weekend’s UW Invitational, going against Eastern’s Parker Bowden, who was fifth in Seattle last weekend. Doucette is the defending Big Sky champion.
A small group of athletes from Washington State are entered in the meet, led by sprinter Emmanuel Wells.
Wells, the product of Seattle’s Rainier Beach HS, is entered in the 200, where he’ll face teammates Jake Ulrich and Corey Allen, along with the Eagles’ Jeremy VanAssche.
Gonzaga’s strength will be in the distance races, though they will not run their top-line runners who competed in Seattle last week.
The meet begins at 10:00 am, and will be streamed free via the University of Idaho’s web site and the PlutoTV app.
Eastern Washington’s release is available here.
Across the border from the University of Idaho, Washington State hosts the Cougar Indoor Friday and Saturday, with the multi-events plus a few field events taking place Friday, and the core of the meet taking place Saturday starting at 10 am at the Cougar Indoor Facility.
With the University of Washington eliminating the UW Open in favor of a last chance meet on February 15th, the Cougar Indoor takes on added importance to those schools from the west side of the state to get in an additional meet.
Seattle University, Seattle Pacific, Western Washington, and Central Washington will send groups of athletes to Pullman for this weekend’s meet, particularly those who won’t get into next week’s Husky Classic.
For SPU, WWU & CWU, the fact that there’s only two weeks remaining before the GNAC championships in Nampa, Idaho, makes the Cougar Indoor even more important, as those schools try to select the athletes that will travel to the championship meet.
Washington State’s release is available here.
Saturday, the road to Aarhus, Denmark and the IAAF World Cross Country Championships begin in Tallahassee, Florida, where the USATF Cross Country Championships will be contested at Apalachee Regional Park.
The most significant change is in the women’s distance, which is now 10k, as opposed to 8k, while the men’s race is dropped from 12k to 10k.
Allie Buchalski of the Brooks Beasts, along with Pasco native Marisa Howard, and Kirkland’s Tansey Listed are entered in the open women’s race, while Bellingham native and Puyallup high school standout David Elliott, along with Garrett Heath and Dillon Maggard of the Brooks Beasts are entered in the men’s 10k.
The top six finishers in each race, plus the under-20 men’s 8k and women’s 6k will represent the USA at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships on March 30th in Aarhus, Denmark.
The competition gets underway at 8am Pacific with the U20 women’s 6k, followed by the U20 men’s 8k at 8:40 am.
The senior women’s 10k race starts at 9:20 am, followed by the men’s 10k at 10:10 am.
USATF.tv ($) will live stream the meet.
The start lists for the USA Cross Country Championships are available here.
NOTE: The University of Idaho, Eastern Washington University, Washington State University, and USA Track & Field contributed to this report.
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