THE WEEKEND AHEAD: Idaho Team Challenge, Jacksons/Nike Invite, Portland & Millrose on tap...

Eight of Washington's nine NCAA Division I and II teams will see some action as they enter the meat of the indoor track & field season.

On Friday, Washington State, Gonzaga, Eastern Washington and Seattle University will compete in the Idaho Team Challenge meet in Moscow, hosted by the University of Idaho at the Kibbie Dome.

Field action will begin at 10 a.m., with running events starting at 11 a.m. The meet will be streamed on WatchBigSky.com.

Two of the most anticipated battles of the meet are the women's pole vault, featuring the Eagles' Samantha Raines (above/photo courtesy EWU Athletics) and teammate Savannah Schultz.

Both set personal bests at last week's UW Invitational, albeit in separate sections.

Schultz set her personal best of 13-5.25 (4.10m) competing in the open section of the UW Invitational Friday night, while Raines, the defending Big Sky outdoor champion, matched Schultz's mark in Saturday's invitational section.

Raines was named by the Big Sky Conference as last week's women's field event athlete of the week.

"With the vaulters coming off such a great week of competition all eyes will be on them to improve even more," said women's head coach Marcia Mecklenburg. "I think they are ready to go higher and their next marks are going to be close to national indoor qualifying heights. It is always exciting to have EWU represented at the national level."

Another highly anticipated battle in Moscow is the men's 60 hurdles, featuring the Vandals' Ben Doucette and the Eagles' Parker Bowden, who currently stand 1-2 in the Big Sky Conference.

At last week's UW Invitational, Bowden barely beat out Doucette for second, with both credited with times of 8.03.

This season, Bowden's run 7.97 twice at the UW Preview and the Idaho Open, while Doucette's run 7.90 in beating Bowden at the Idaho Open.

Bowden has a 2-1 edge this season, as in their only other meeting, Bowden was second in 8.02 & Doucette third in 8.06 at the Vandal Open on January 10th in Moscow.

Idaho's release is available here, while the heat sheets are available here.

Meanwhile, Seattle Pacific and Central Washington head to Nampa, Idaho for the Jacksons/Nike Boise Indoor Invitational, hosted by Boise State University at Jacksons Track.

Both teams will compete on the same track that will host the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship meet on February 21st-22nd.

The Wildcats are sending a full team to Nampa, while the Falcons will send their sprinters and jumpers to Idaho.

The start list for the meet is available here.

Saturday and Sunday, a small group of athletes from Saint Martin's, Western Washington and Seattle Pacific will head south to Portland to compete in the Portland Indoor II.

The Saturday portion of the meet (sprints and field events) will be held at George Fox University in Newberg, while Sunday's meet will be held at the Chiles Center on the campus of the University of Portland.

Live results for the meet will be available at live.tf 

MILLROSE GAMES THE FOCUS FOR AREA PROS, INCLUDING THE NEWEST MEMBER OF THE BROOKS BEASTS, ERIK SOWINSKI...

For the area pro track & field athletes, Saturday marks the biggest domestic meet of the indoor season, not counting the Toyota USATF Indoor Championships in two weeks in Albuquerque.

The focus of the pros lies squarely on the Armory Track in New York City as it hosts the NYRR Millrose Games in front of a nationally televised audience on NBC Sports.

Brannon Kidder of the Brooks Beasts is entered in the 800 meters, where he will face American record holder and reigning world outdoor champion Donavan Brazier.  He's also joined in the field by the newest member of the Brooks Beasts, Erik Sowinski (left/photo courtesy Brooks), who signed with the Seattle based team.

Sowinski has been one of the most consistent US 800-meter runners of his generation. Sowinski made 13 straight US finals, indoors and out, from 2013 to 2019, during which time he claimed three US indoor titles and a bronze medal at the 2016 World Indoors. Outdoors, he owns a PR of 1:44.58 and has made one World Championship team (2015).

West Seattle HS grad Chloe Cunliffe goes in the women's pole vault against a field that includes reigning world indoor champion Sandi Morris.

Older sister Hannah competes in the women's 60 meter dash, where she'll face her former University of Oregon teammate Deajah Stevens, Jamaican teen sensation Briana Williams, and the most decorated woman in Olympic track & field history, Allyson Felix.

Marta Pen Freitas of the Brooks Beasts, and teammate Allie Ostrander are entered in the 3000 meters, where they'll face Washington alum Amy-Eloise Neale, and the last two NCAA cross country champions in Weini Kelati of New Mexico and Alicia Monson of Wisconsin.

Tacoma native Marcus Chambers runs in the rarely contested 300 meter dash, where he'll go against 2019 USA world championship team members Rai Benjamin and Wil London.

2016 US Olympian and former Puyallup prep standout Hassan Mead runs in the 3000 against Washington alum Izaic Yorks of the Brooks Beasts and Kirkland native Dillon Maggard.

The Millrose Games concludes with the running of the Wanamaker Millrose Mile where Seattle resident and UW volunteer coach Sam Prakel is in a field that includes Norway's Filip Ingebrigtsen, New Zealand Olympic medalist Nick Willis, and 2016 US Olympian Ben Blankenship.

The start list for the NYRR Millrose Games is available here.

NOTE:  The NYRR Millrose Games, Brooks Running, and the sports information offices of the University of Idaho, Eastern Washington, Washington State, Central Washington, University of Portland, Boise State, and Seattle Pacific contributed to this report.