Division II schools head to Bellingham for Saturday's WWU Classic showdown...

Western Washington standout Jane Barr
(photo courtesy WWU Athletics)

It’s as close a feel to a championship race without it being a championship race.

Saturday, all four Washington GNAC schools meet up in Bellingham for the Western Washington Classic at Sudden Valley Golf Course, hosted by the Vikings.

In addition, several other schools from the GNAC will make the trip to Bellingham, including Western Oregon, Alaska Anchorage, Northwest Nazarene, and Simon Fraser.

This meet will give the men one regular season race to contest the regional and national championship distance of 10k as opposed to the conference championship distance of 8k, which they will run in two weeks as the GNAC championship meet goes east of the Rocky Mountains to Billings, Montana, hosted by Montana State Billings.

Action gets underway at 10 am with the women’s 6k featuring four nationally ranked teams—number 4 Chico State, number 7 Seattle Pacific, number 15 Alaska Anchorage, and number 18 Western Washington.

In the men’s race that gets underway at 11 am, Chico State is the only nationally ranked team in the field at number 3.

Western Washington’s meet preview is available here, while the GNAC release is available here.

In Division I, Gonzaga is the only school in action Saturday, as they make the drive from Spokane to Lewiston, Idaho for the Inland Empire Championships, hosted by Lewis-Clark State.

The women’s 5k begins at 10 am, while the mens’ 8k goes at 10:45 am.

Gonzaga’s release is available here, while host school Lewis-Clark State’s home page for the meet is available here.

NIKE OREGON PROJECT NO MORE…

One story this site didn’t follow as closely during our time in Doha was the announcement last week of Alberto Salazar’s (left/photo by Paul Merca) 4-year suspension handed down by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) after a 4-year investigation.

In response to that, Nike CEO Mark Parker yesterday announced that the Nike Oregon Project will cease to exist, first reported by Runner’s World.

In deciding USADA’s case against Salazar, two independent three-member arbitration panels found that Salazar “trafficked testosterone, a banned performance-enhancing substance, administered a prohibited IV infusion, and engaged in tampering to attempt to prevent relevant information about their conduct from being learned by USADA.”

“This situation, along with ongoing unsubstantiated assertions, is a distraction for many of the athletes and is compromising their ability to focus on their training and competition needs. I have therefore made the decision to wind down the Oregon Project,” Nike chairman, president, and CEO Mark Parker wrote.

Nike will help those athletes on the team, including recent world champions Donavan Brazier (800m) and Sifan Hassan (1500/10000m), along with 10000m silver medalist Yomif Kejelcha of Ethiopia, Oregon grads Galen Rupp, Jordan Hasay, and Jessica Hull, find new coaching situations.

The Runner’s World story is available here.

MARATHON WEEKEND…

Late Friday night, Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge will make his second attempt to break the 2-hour barrier in the marathon at the INEOS 1:59 Challenge in Vienna, Austria.

Just like his first attempt two years ago in Monza, Italy, Kipchoge will have a team of pacers working with him who will be shuttled in and out to shield him from the elements as they run in a V formation.

Among the pacers are 2018-19 University of Washington volunteer coach and 2016 Olympic 1500m champion Matthew Centrowitz, and Washington State University hall of fame member and two-time Olympic medalist Bernard Lagat.

Lagat was one of the pacers in Kipchoge’s attempt in Monza two years ago.

You can watch the race on YouTube as it starts at 11:15 pm Friday night, Pacific time (8:15 am, Vienna time).

Meanwhile, defending champion and four-time Olympic gold medalist Mo Farah of Great Britain, and 2016 Olympic marathon bronze medalist and 2017 champion, Galen Rupp go head-to-head in Sunday’s Bank of America Chicago Marathon.

It is significant in that this is Rupp’s first race since the suspension of Nike Oregon Project coach and founder Alberto Salazar.

Rupp has battled Achilles tendon issues over the last year, stemming from last year’s race, where he finished fifth.

Oregon alum Jordan Hasay, who like Rupp, was a member of the Nike Oregon Project, is entered in the women’s elite field, along with University of Washington alum Lindsay Flanagan, a native of the state of Illinois.

You can read about the Bank of America Chicago Marathon elite field here.

NOTE:  The sports information offices of Western Washington University, the GNAC Conference, Gonzaga University, Lewis-Clark State, the INEOS 1:59 Challenge, and the Chicago Marathon contributed to this report.