It's the last chance for many to make a travel squad for next week's conference championships...

Washington's Katie Rainsberger is entered in the 1500
at Saturday's Ken Shannon Invitational at Husky Track
(Paul Merca photo)

With spots to make the travel squads for the various conference championships contested next weekend on the line, athletes from eight of the nine Division I and II schools in the state will make their cases to their coaches at two meets Friday and Saturday.

On Friday and Saturday, Eastern Washington and Gonzaga will run athletes at the Spokane Memorial meet hosted by Spokane Community College, while Seattle University, along with Central Washington, Saint Martin’s, Seattle Pacific and Western Washington will compete at Saturday’s Ken Shannon Invitational hosted by the University of Washington.

Those Eagles on the bubble for next week’s Big Sky Conference championships in Missoula will try to convince their coaches to put them on the travel squad, while others will get a final tuneup for the Big Sky meet.

As the West Coast Conference does not sponsor track and field, this meet or next week’s West Coast Invitational in Salem may be the final shot for those Gonzaga athletes to get into the NCAA West Preliminary meet May 23-25 in Sacramento, where the top 48 athletes in each event from the West region will run for spots in the NCAA finals in Austin in June.

In Seattle on Saturday, athletes from the University of Washington will make their cases to go to next weekend’s Pac-12 championship in Tucson, while the athletes from Seattle University will compete with next weekend’s Western Athletic Conference championships in Orem, Utah on their minds as they run, jump, and throw at the Ken Shannon Invitational at Husky Track.

The four Division II schools-Central Washington, Western Washington, Saint Martin’s, and Seattle Pacific, this is their final regular season meet before the GNAC Championships in Monmouth, Oregon.

The Ken Shannon Invitational begins at 10 am with the hammer throws, with the meet expected to conclude around 3:30 pm.  Fans attending the meet are reminded that the Windermere Cup is being contested at the Montlake Cut Saturday, and that no access to the Montlake Bridge is available, so you will have to take the 45th Street exit on I-5 and make your way to the East parking lot from there to get to the track.

The start lists for the Ken Shannon Invitational are available here.

Meanwhile, Saturday officially starts the Pac-12 track and field championships in Tucson, as the decathlon and heptathlon will be contested.

Washington is sending conference leader Hannah Rusnak and Elinor Jones-Toutant in the heptathlon, while Parker Kennedy will be the Huskies’ lone decathlete.

Washington State sends Lindsey Schauble in the heptathlon, while Ray Littles represents the Cougars in the decathlon.

The Pac-12 multi events championships get underway at 5 pm Saturday at Drachman Stadium near the University of Arizona campus.

The link to the start lists will be posted after the technical meeting this evening.

NOTE:  The sports information offices of Spokane Community College, the University of Washington, the University of Arizona, and the Pac-12 Conference contributed to this report.