NEWS & NOTES: Huskies add Stanford grad & All-American Julian Body to roster, plus other items...

Couple of items to pass along, as we reach the one year to go mark before the start of the 2020NE US Olympic Track & Field Trials at the newly renovated Historic Hayward Field:

--The University of Washington announced Thursday that Stanford University graduate Julian Body (above/photo courtesy Stanford Athletics) will finish his final season of eligibility with the Huskies in 2021.

Body was a part of four NCAA championship qualifying relay squads and he was coming off the best indoor season of his career in 2020 before the outdoor season was canceled.

A graduate of Portland's (OR) Jesuit High School, Body completed his Stanford degree this spring, majoring in Product Design.

A versatile sprinter, this past indoor season Body posted both the No. 2 time in Stanford history in the 60-meter hurdles (7.92 seconds) as well as the No. 8 all-time indoor 400-meters time of 47.18, which was good for third-place at the 2020 MPSF Championships in the Dempsey. Body was also set to compete at the 2020 NCAA Indoor Championships on Stanford's distance medley relay, where he would have run the 400-meter leg.

Body has a pair of All-America honors from the DMR, in 2020 and 2018. He also earned First Team All-America honors in 2018 on the 4x400-meter relay, helping the Cardinal reach the NCAA Outdoor Championships final for the first time in school history where it finished eighth. That group set the school record of 3:04.82. That same season, Body also anchored the 4x100-meter relay which made the NCAA Outdoor semifinals. He also scored at the 2018 Pac-12s in the 400 meter hurdles, and holds a personal best of 51.62.

Here's a link to his TFRRS profile, and the link to the University of Washington release.

--As parts of the country slowly begins to re-open from quarantine, USA Track & Field announced on its website that it will mirror World Athletics' decision to suspend the qualifying period for the Olympic Games and the US Olympic Trials between April 6th and November 30th.

No marks from that time frame can be used to qualify for either the Olympics or the US Olympic Trials, which begins in exactly one year (June 18, 2021).

According to USATF's web site, "Rationale is that different areas of the country (and different nations) have varying restrictions on gatherings, activities, and resources.  COVID-19 cases and active community transmission varies between locations.  For fairness, qualifying is suspended during this window."

The information is posted on USATF's Event Hosting FAQ page, which you can access here.

--The COVID-19 pandemic proved to be a help for Allie Ostrander (left/photo by Paul Merca) of the Seattle-based Brooks Beasts, as she took some time off to receive platelet-rich plasma therapy.

Allie was injected with her own platelets to take care of a nagging Achilles tendon problem that bothered her throughout the 2019 outdoor season, which ended with the three-time NCAA steeplechase champ from Boise State setting a personal best in the semis at the IAAF world championships in Doha.

You can read about Ostrander in this piece from Track & Field News here.

--Finally, the Atlanta TC & the Nike Oregon TC Elite will compete in a virtual dual meet this Saturday in Atlanta & Eugene, in the "Return of the Dual".

The “Return of the Dual” will consist of a men’s and women’s 600m and 1200m races each featuring one athlete per club. The winner of each discipline receives one point. The evening will conclude with a 2x2x400m split gender relay made up of two athletes from each team. The winning relay team receives three points. The team with the highest point total will be crowned champion. Athletes in Atlanta and TrackTown USA will begin their races simultaneously. The winner will be decided by hand time.

Both teams will compete at closed venues with no crowds present and in adherence with all local COVID-19 requirements and guidelines. Only those required for the competition and the broadcast will be present for the event. Veteran track and field announcer Tim Hutchings will provide play-by-play and commentary for viewers on the livestream. Additional commentary will be provided on-site in Georgia and Oregon by Jay Holder and Sasha Spencer Atwood, respectively.

The one-time-only competition will be broadcast live on Atlanta Track Club’s YouTube and Facebook accounts at 7:00 p.m. Eastern (4:00 p.m. Pacific) on Saturday, June 20.

Among the featured athletes from Oregon Track Club are World Indoor gold medalist Chanelle Price, Olympic silver medalist Nijel Amos and 2019 Paris Diamond League winner Hanna Green. Atlanta Track Club’s lineup features world finalist Yolanda Ngarambe, U.S. Indoor bronze medalist Abe Alvarado and NCAA runner-up Dylan Capwell. Former Seattle resident Megan Malasarte, who competed for the Brooks Beasts before moving back to Atlanta, will run on Atlanta TC's 2x2x400 mixed relay team.

The release for the event is available here.

NOTE: The University of Washington, Stanford University, USA Track & Field, Track & Field News, Atlanta Track Club, and TrackTown USA contributed to this report.

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