Eagles, Redhawks, Cougars, and Huskies are in a conference championship state of mind this weekend...

It’s conference championship weekend for four of Washington’s five Division I schools Friday and Saturday, as they chase individual titles, and look for marks to get them into the NCAA indoor championships in two weeks in Birmingham, Alabama (Gonzaga is not affiliated with a conference).

Eastern Washington is in Bozeman, Montana for the Big Sky Championships which started Thursday with the multi-events.

The Eagles got their first points, as Dominique Butler (above/photo courtesy EWU Athletics) finished sixth with a school and personal record 3597 points.

The Eagles return two Big Sky champs in 2018 women’s pole vault champ Liz Prouty and 2017 long jump champ Keshun McGee.

"The Indoor Big Sky Championships are one of my favorite meets of the year," said EWU women’s head coach Marcia Mecklenburg. "They are non-stop excitement and Montana State is one of my favorite venues for the meet because it is the smallest in the Big Sky. Everyone is jam packed into their field house and it gets loud."

In the 2018 championship meet, the Eagles were fourth in the women’s team competition and seventh in the men’s race.

The Big Sky is offering free streaming of the meet via PlutoTV.

Eastern Washington’s release is available here. EWU's release also has links to live results and streaming information.

In Nampa, Idaho, the Seattle University Redhawks will compete in the Western Athletic Conference championship meet Thursday through Saturday, led by new school record holders Jacques Hebert and Nathan Pixler.

Hebert scored a school record in the mile when he ran 4:09.62, while Pixler, a product of Eastlake HS in Sammamish, ran 1:53.24 to break the school record  in the 800m.

“Both the teams and staff are looking forward to this weekend’s championships,” said Head Coach Kelly Sullivan. “We are coming off some very good performances over the past month, and this is a great opportunity to compete against the rest of a very strong track and field conference. We have a young squad on both sides – for over half of our competitors, this will be their first time competing at an indoor conference meet”.

Seattle University’s release is available here. Seattle U's release also has links to live results and streaming information.

Finally, Washington State and Washington will compete in one of the largest conference championship meets in the country as the Huskies host the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title meet at the Dempsey Indoor.

The two-day meet begins Friday at 12 noon and runs until approximately 8:10 p.m. The first several hours on Friday will feature finals in the women's weight throw and women's pole vault, and the multi-events. Track races start at 4:30 p.m. on Friday with prelims of the 60m hurdles. Other field event finals held on Friday will include the men's pole vault and weight throw, and men's and women's long jumps. On the track, the men's and women's 5,000-meters, 200-meters, and distance medley relays will be contested, plus prelims for the 60-meter dashes.

Saturday picks back up at 10 a.m. Field events on Saturday include both men's and women's shot puts, high jumps, and triple jumps. Finals on the track will begin at 11 a.m. with the 60m hurdles finals, followed by the women's and men's mile runs, the 400-meters, 60-meter dash finals, 800-meters, 3,000-meters, and the 4x400m relays to finish the championships by approximately 3:30 p.m.

Media partner Flotrack ($) will offer a live stream of the meet.

For the Cougars, all eyes will be on Rainier Beach HS grad Emmanuel Wells, who holds the number 3 mark in the NCAA and is tied for third in the world in the 60 meters at 6.53, as Oregon’s Cravon Gillespie will try to avenge a loss he suffered two weeks ago at the Don Kirby Elite meet in Albuquerque when Wells ran 6.53.

Entering the conference championships, the following Washington affiliated athletes are ranked in the top five: Wells and Washington’s Khalil Winfrey in the mens 60; Wells in the mens’ 200; Washington State’s Jake Ulrich in the men’s 400; Washington’s Connor Morello and Mick Stanovsek in the men’s 800; Stanovsek in the men’s mile; Washington’s Katie Rainsberger in the women’s mile and 3000; Washington’s Izzi Batt-Doyle in the women’s 5000; WSU’s Sam Brixey in the men’s 60 hurdles; and, both Washington distance medley relay teams.

In the field events, Peyton Fredrickson of WSU is in the top five in the high jump; Charisma Taylor of WSU is ranked second in the women’s triple jump, while Jonah Wilson of Washington is fifth in the men’s shot put. Onyie Chibuogwu of the Huskies is fifth in the women’s weight throw, and teammate Hannah Rusnak is ranked fifth in the pentathlon.

The MPSF release is available here. Washington State’s release is available here, while Washington’s release is here.  

Washington’s release includes links to the heat sheets, as well as live results.

NOTE: The sports information offices of Eastern Washington, Seattle University, Washington State University and the University of Washington contributed to this report. TFRRS and the IAAF contributed statistical information.

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