If you like indoor distance racing, all eyes will be on Spokane & Seattle this weekend...

If you are into indoor distance racing, Friday and Saturday brings two high powered meets that will have a focus on the distances, as The Podium hosts the Lilac Grand Prix Friday night in Spokane, and the University of Washington opens the gates to the Dempsey Indoor for the Husky Classic Friday and Saturday.

LILAC GRAND PRIX

With Spokane the site of the only hydraulic banked 200 meter track in the Western United States, the Lilac City, and the Nike Union Athletics Club will host the Lilac Grand Prix, a 2-plus hour meet designed to help athletes attain the USATF and World Athletics indoor championship standards starting at 6 pm. 

The Lilac GP is also an opportunity for the largely pro field to compete on The Podium track that will host the USATF indoor championships February 25-26th.

A number of Washington pros will be competing in Spokane Friday night as they aim for those coveted USATF and World Athletics indoor qualifying standards.

The Seattle based Brooks Beasts will have a dozen athletes in the field, including Nia Akins and Laurie Barton in the 800; Brannon Kidder, Izaic Yorks, Henry Wynne and Waleed Suliman in the 1500; Isaiah Harris in the 600; Olympian Marta Pen Freitas and Allie Buchalski in the 1500; Olympic 1500m bronze medalist Josh Kerr & Drew Windle in the 800; and David Ribich in the 3000.

Other Washington pros entered in the Lilac Grand Prix include: Olympia native Brooke Feldmeier (Paul Merca photo), currently the second fastest American at 800 meters so far this season, and Camas' Alexa Efraimson in the 800; WSU grad Paul Ryan in the 1500; Gig Harbor HS coach Mark Wieczorek in the 600 & 800; and, Rebecca Mehra and Karisa Nelson in the 1500.

Gonzaga's NCAA and US Olympic Trials qualifier James Mwaura will stay in Spokane and race the pros in the 3000, while the rest of his Gonzaga teammates are split between the Husky Classic in Seattle and the Whitworth Invitational at The Podium Saturday.

Tickets for Friday night's Lilac Grand Prix are available through meet producer Tracklandia/Portland Track via this site, along with access to watch the meet via pay-per-view ($).  Portions of the ticket and pay-per-view sales will be used to fund prize money for the top finishers in each of the pro races.

Live results of the Lilac Grand Prix are available here.

HUSKY CLASSIC

Here are some men's and women's numbers to digest before getting to the meet preview:

1:48.80, 3:57.04, 7:51.53, 13:36.78 and 2:05.27, 4:37.11, 9:04.34, 15:49.39.

Those numbers, as of Wednesday evening, represents the number 16 times on the NCAA Division I  men's and women's descending order lists in the 800, mile, 3000 and 5000 meter runs.

In addition to the host Washington Huskies, athletes from collegiate distance powerhouses Stanford, Oklahoma State, Colorado, BYU, Northern Arizona, Portland, Arkansas, Villanova, New Mexico, Adams State, plus a number of Olympians and world championships competitors who aren't running in Spokane are making the trip to the Dempsey for the expected assault on those NCAA top 16 times.

Friday's competition begins at 2 pm, and resumes Saturday at 10 am.

As Arkansas women's coach Lance Harter told media partner RunnerSpace.com, “There is an aura about when you walk in those doors, that, hey, you better run fast or you’re going to get run over.”  

“It’s focused on one thing and that’s getting some really quality fast distance marks and obviously we want to be a part of that because we feel like we have the athletes that fit into that category, and we want to give them an optimal chance to perform at their best while we’re there.”

The top sections in both the men's and women's 800, mile, 3000 and 5000 are set up so runners can run fast. Every distance race above 800 meters has a number of conference champions, NCAA qualifiers, and All-Americans all vying to ensure that they're one of the sixteen that will be on the line in their events four weeks from now at the NCAA Division I championships in Birmingham, Alabama.

All five Washington Division I schools will have athletes competing, while Western Washington is the only Washington Division II school participating in the Husky Classic. The other three D2 schools will compete in Saturday's Whitworth Invitational at The Podium, before making a return trip to Spokane for the GNAC championship meet on February 21-22nd.

While the distance races certainly take top billing, the women's pole vault at noon on Saturday is perhaps the best non distance event of the meet.

The women's pole vault field includes Eastern Washington's NCAA qualifier Morgan Fossen and the Eagles' defending Big Sky champ Katrina Terry, going up against the Huskies' defending Pac-12 champ Makenna Barton.

Also in the field are three of the nation's top high school pole vaulters: twins Hana and Amanda Moll of Olympia's Capital HS, both of whom are among the country's top ten all time; and Allison Neiders of Seattle's Holy Names Academy, who had the ninth best prep vault in 2021.

The Moll twins and Neiders are the top entries in the pole vault, with Hana's personal best 14-8 (4.47m), and Amanda's 14-7.25 (4.45m), while Neiders has a personal best of 14-0 (4.27m).

USC's men's and women's sprint corps will run in Seattle, while Washington State's Sam Brixey and Nick Johnson continue their duel in the 60 hurdles. USC's Earnie Sears, who has a personal best of 7-6.5 (2.30m) could threaten the facility record in the high jump of 7-7 (2.31m) set by USC alum Jesse Williams.

Media partner RunnerSpace.com ($) will stream the meet both days.

The accepted entries are available here, while the link to live results is available here.

NOTE: Portland Track/Tracklandia, Spokane Sports, and the sports information offices of the University of Washington, Gonzaga University, Washington State University and Eastern Washington University contributed to this report.

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