The 2022 indoor season kicks into high gear with meets at The Podium and Dempsey Indoor...
Track and field fans in the state of Washington got a taste of what the 2022 indoor season will be like when The Podium hosted the Spokane Invitational last month.
The 2022 indoor track season kicks up into high gear starting Friday with the two-day Cougar Classic Open and Invitational meets at The Podium, while across the state, the UW Indoor Preview gets the indoor season rolling Saturday at Washington's Dempsey Indoor.
COUGAR CLASSIC
While Washington State hosts the Cougar Classic open section, they will not have athletes in the meet, but those athletes will compete in the invitational section Saturday.
The open section consists of athletes from Alaska Anchorage, Central Washington, Eastern Washington, Gonzaga, Montana, San Jose State, UCLA and Whitworth.
Saturday's invitational section adds the host Cougars, plus Boise State, Fresno State, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, and Santa Clara.
The headliner at the Cougar Classic is Italian Olympic triple jump finalist Emmanuel Ihemeje (photo courtesy Oregon Athletics) of the University of Oregon, who is entered in the 60 and the long jump, and is the defending NCAA indoor champ in the triple jump.
NCAA indoor 60 champions Kemba Nelson and Micah Williams of the Ducks begin their road to defending their titles at The Podium.
The women's pole vault features Eastern Washington's NCAA qualifier Morgan Fossen against her teammate and defending Big Sky champ Katrina Terry, along with Big Sky scorer Savannah Schultz. They'll go against Washington State's Pac-12 scorer Emily Coombs.
The Washington State duo of Sam Brixey and Nick Johnson headline the men's 60 hurdles. Last month, Brixey, an Olympic Trials qualifier, beat Johnson at the Spokane Invitational, running 7.82 to Johnson's 8.05. Johnson ran 7.94 earlier in the semis. Both are currently in the top eight among NCAA D1 competitors heading into this weekend.
Nevada's multi-event star Nicola Ader, a 6-foot performer in the high jump, goes against the Washington State trio of NCAA qualifier Suzy Pace, Aislinn Overby, and Kaylee Sowle, with Oregon's Tori Sloan also in the mix.
Most of the Gonzaga men's squad that qualified for their second straight NCAA cross country championship meet in November will race, with the notable exception of James Mwaura, their school record holder and US Olympic Trials qualifier at 10000 meters.
Friday's open section begins at 9 am with the men's high jump and women's weight throw, with the mens 60 hurdles the first running event at 11 am.
The invitational section will have two events Friday night at 7 pm on the track--the 5000 and the distance medley relay, plus the mens high jump and weight throws. The meet resumes Saturday with the first field event at 10 am, and the first running event at noon.
Washington State's meet preview is available here.
Media partner RunnerSpace.com ($) will stream the meet.
The start lists for the Cougar Classic are available here (subject to change).
UW INDOOR PREVIEW
The Dempsey Indoor opens its doors to track and field athletes for the 21st season of competition Saturday with the UW Indoor Preview meet beginning at 9 am with the women's triple jump, weight throw, and men's long jump, while the first running event gets underway at 10 am with the women's 60 hurdles.
With the notable exception of Saint Martin's University, Seattle Pacific, Seattle University, and Western Washington will have full squads competing at the Dempsey. Oregon State, Stanford, plus GNAC schools Western Oregon and Simon Fraser will join the party, along with Washington State's distance runners.
As expected, the distance races will be the ones to watch, particularly the men's and women's miles, which will end the meet.
Gregorek is now being coached by UW head coach Andy Powell, and has spent the last few weeks in Seattle training.
They'll go against Colton Johnsen and Zach Stallings of the Cougars, along with the Dawgs' NCAA West Regional cross country champ Kieran Lumb and Luke Houser, plus Sam Ellis of Princeton.
Amy-Eloise Markovc, a Tokyo Olympian at 5000 meters, returns home to the Dempsey for the first time as a pro, as she's entered in the mile against US Olympic Trials finalist Rebecca Mehra of Oiselle. Former NCAA D2 1500 champ Addy Townsend of Vancouver is also entered in the field, as are several Huskies who ran at the NCAA cross country championships in November.
The men's 3000 is scheduled to have in the field 2016 US Olympian at 1500 meters Ben Blankenship, who raced last Saturday at the USA cross country championships in San Diego. His Nike Oregon Track Club teammate Vince Ciattei is in the field, as well as Prakel, Gregorek, and Johnsen, though it remains to be seen if all three will double Saturday.
Markovc and Mehra are listed as doubling in the 3000, where they're entered against Stanford All-American Christina Aragon, Washington All-Americans Haley Herberg and Allie Schadler, plus several other Huskies who ran at the NCAA cross country championships in November.
The women's 60 hurdles features Costa Rica's Andrea Vargas, a Tokyo Olympian and 2019 world championship finalist, going against the Huskies' Ida Eikeng, an All-American in the heptathlon, and Pac-12 scorer Aaliyah Wilson.
Eikeng is also entered in the long jump against Seattle Pacific's Peace Igbonagwam, the 2020 GNAC indoor champ, and Aliyah Dawkins of Western Washington.
Pac-12 pole vault champ Makenna Barton, who set an indoor personal best of 13-7.25/4.15m last month in Spokane, looks to build upon the momentum from clearing a PR in the first meet of the season.
Swiss Olympian Sarah King, a NCAA D3 All-American at George Fox, is entered in the 400. She was on Switzerland's 4 x 400 relay pool at the Tokyo Olympics.
Media partner RunnerSpace.com ($) will stream the meet.
Spectators wishing to attend the UW Indoor Preview are required to show proof of Covid-19 vaccination before being allowed into the Dempsey. Please click on this link for more details.
The accepted entries for the UW Indoor Preview are available here. A link to the heat sheets will be posted here when it becomes available. As always, all entries are subject to change.
NOTE: The sports information offices of the University of Oregon, Washington State University, the University of Washington, and the Spokane Sports Commission contributed to this report.
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