THE WEEKEND AHEAD: Prakel, Lawrence, Bartelsmeyer, & Nageotte in action overseas...

Several athletes with Washington connections are split up among several venues this weekend:

In Göteborg, Sweden, University of Washington volunteer coach Sam Prakel (left/photo by Paul Merca) will run the men’s 1500 Saturday at the Folksam Grand Prix meet against a fairly competitive field that includes Arizona State grad and Canadian William Paulson, who finished third at the Pan Am Games 1500 last week.

The start list for the Folksam Grand Prix is available here.

Sunday, the IAAF Diamond League tour resumes after a four week break for various national and continental championship meets around the world, with the Müller Grand Prix Birmingham in Birmingham, England.

Katie Nageotte, who earned a silver medal at last week’s Pan Am Games in Lima, returns to the circuit in the women’s pole vault, where she faces a field that includes Pan Am winner Yarisley Silva of Cuba, defending world and Olympic champ Katerina Stefanidi, and 2012 Olympic champ Jenn Suhr.

Washington alum Mel Lawrence, who was sixth at the Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships in Des Moines, Iowa three weeks ago, is entered in the women’s 3000 steeplechase, where she’ll face current world #1 ranked Beatrice Chepkoech of Kenya.

Also in the field are Pan Am steeple champ Genevieve Lalonde of Canada, Anna Moller of Denmark, and Gesa Krause of Germany.

In a non-Diamond League scoring event, Washington volunteer coach Amos Bartelsmeyer of Germany is entered in the men’s 1500, where he’ll face a field that includes US national champion Craig Engels of the Nike Oregon Project, Jakub Holusa of the Czech Republic, Chris O’Hare of Great Britain, and Ryan Gregson of Australia.

The start list for the Müller Grand Prix Birmingham is available here.

The meet will be shown on NBC Sports Gold ($) starting at 5 am, pacific time.