Last Chance College Elite Meet provides opportunity to get NCAA & USA qualifying marks Friday...

The University of Washington hosts the Last Chance College Elite Meet Friday at the Dempsey Indoor, with field events starting at 2pm, and running events at 4pm, as an opportunity for athletes to get qualifying marks for the various conference championships next week, along with the USA Indoor and NCAA Indoor championships.

In comparison to the previous three meets that Washington has hosted so far this season, the fields are smaller, with a condensed time schedule.

One of the feature races of Friday’s schedule is the women’s mile featuring Seattle resident Hannah Fields (left/photo by Paul Merca), who is bouncing back after a disappointing 2018 season.

Fields, who is now coached by former UW associate head coach Jason Drake, goes against Washington alum Eleanor Fulton, former Oklahoma State All American Savannah Colón, and Washington’s Katie Rainsberger and Allie Schadler.

Fields comes back an hour later to run the 800 against a pair of Rio Olympians—Justine Fedronic, who ran for France; and Wang Chunyu of China. Washington’s Hannah Derby is in the field, as well as former BYU All-American Shea Collinsworth, and Virginia Tech alum Hanna Green.

The men’s distance medley relay at 6:30 pm could be one of the best races, as the Seattle based Brooks Beasts will enter a squad featuring three runners from its world record 4 x mile team—Brannon Kidder, Henry Wynne, and UW alum Izaic Yorks, along with 2018 IAAF world indoor championships 800m silver medalist Drew Windle, who will run the 400 leg for the Beasts.

They’ll face teams from Oregon, UCLA, Columbia, and the host Huskies, as they look to better their times from earlier this season and ensure spots in the NCAA championships.

Oregon’s run 9:36.21, while the Huskies have a best of 9:37.15, and UCLA’s best is 9:44.61, which puts them in the numbers 3, 4, and 9 spots on the NCAA Division I descending order list going into Friday.

Washington will flip the first and anchor legs, as Mick Stanovsek will lead off, and Talon Hull, who three weeks ago became the seventh runner in UW school history to break 4 minutes in the mile, will run the anchor.  Devan Kirk will run the 400 leg, while Connor Morello is scheduled to run the 800.

NCAA heptathlon and decathlon champ Tim Duckworth will run the 60, and also long jump and pole vault.  Two time NCAA women’s vault champ Olivia Gruver will go against 2018 Pac-12 scorers Molly Scharmann of Washington State and Annika Dayton of Washington, along with 2017 Pac-12 scorer Elleyse Garrett of UCLA and San Diego State alum Kristen Brown.

The final event of the Last Chance College Elite Meet will be contested Saturday at 3:20 pm as part of the UW High School Invitational meet, as the men’s invitational mile closes the Last Chance meet.

Among those in Saturday’s field are two-time US Olympian Lopez Lomong, his Nike Bowerman TC teammate Josh Thompson; Virginia Tech alum Drew Piazza of the Nike Oregon TC; David Ribich of the Brooks Beasts; Oregon’s Blake Haney, Jackson Mestler, and James West; Arizona’s Carlos Villareal; and the Huskies’ Mick Stanovsek.

Going into this weekend, the number 16 spot in the NCAA descending order list is 3:59.39. With conference championships upcoming next weekend around the country, it will take somewhere around low 3:58 to get one of the 16 spots in the NCAA championships in Birmingham, Alabama in three weeks.

Media partner Flotrack ($) will provide live streaming coverage of the meet.

The start lists for the Last Chance College Elite Meet are available here.

NOTE:  The University of Washington sports information office contributed to this report. TFRRS provided statistical information.