Teams in pursuit of warm weather and fast times this weekend...

If there was one thing college track and field fans missed over the last two seasons due to the pandemic, it's the annual migration of teams from this state to places near and far, whether it was Washington last week to North Carolina, or in the case of several schools this weekend, to northern and central California.

The pursuit of warm weather venues has already begun this week, as Mac Franks (WWU Athletics photo) of Western Washington set a new school record in the 3000 steeplechase Thursday at the Mike Fanelli Track Classic in San Francisco, hosted by San Francisco State University.

Franks ran 8:52.50 to finish second behind Craig Huff of the Hoka Aggies, who ran 8:46.82. Just behind Franks was WWU teammate Jeret Gillingham in 8:59.80.

Franks' mark took down the old WWU school record set by Gillingham of 8:55.30 set last year.

The meet continues Friday, and concludes Saturday. Franks is entered in the 1500 meters, while several Viking middle distance runners are entered in the 1500 and 5000. The Gonzaga women will also have a presence in several events on Friday.

The results and start lists for the Mike Fanelli Track Classic is available here.

Just down the road from San Francisco, Washington State's distance crew, plus a few select runners from Gonzaga's women's squad will compete in the Stanford Invitational Friday and Saturday, with the majority competing in Friday night's distance races.

The link to live results for the Stanford Invitational is available here.

Friday, a full squad from Seattle Pacific, and the sprint/hurdles and multis group from the University of Washington will compete in the West Coast Relays, hosted by Fresno State University at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Clovis.

The meet gets underway with field events at 10 am, and the first running events at 1 pm. The Husky women will run a 4 x 100 relay for the first time this season, with Victoria Gersch, Olivia Ribera, Jelani Heath and Aaliyah Wilson, while the Washington men will only run a 4 x 400 relay, comprised of 400 hurdlers Cass Elliott, Jonathan Birchman, Matthew Wilkinson, and short sprinter Anthony Smith, which was the same group that ran in Raleigh.

Seattle Pacific currently owns the fastest times in the GNAC in both 4 x 400 relays and the women's 4 x 100 relay.

The women's 4-by-4 of Peace Igbonagwam, Jenna Bouyer, Ellie Rising, and Vanessa Aniteye has the only sub-3:50 in the conference so far, going 3:49.62 last week. The closest one to them is Alaska Anchorage at 3:53.68.

SPU's 4-by-1 foursome of Igbonagwam, Aniteye, Aniya Green, and Bouyer clocked 47.00 in Tacoma. That has them slightly ahead of Central Washington's 47.46. No one else has broken 50 seconds so far.

Evan Carpenter, David Njeri, Jeff Gordon, and Isaiah Archer have the men's 4-by-4 atop the GNAC list with last week's 3:26.32. Closest to them is Western Washington at 3:29.07.

Flotrack ($) will offer a live stream of the meet, while the heat sheets for the West Coast Relays are available here.

Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon opens its gates Friday for the two-day Hayward Premiere meet.

Washington State, the Gonzaga men, Seattle University, Eastern Washington, and select athletes from Central Washington will be among the teams in the field.

Gonzaga's James Mwaura, the Bulldogs' NCAA and US Olympic Trials qualifier in the 10000 last year, will make his season debut, as he, along with Kyle Radosevich, Riley Moore and Dominic Arce will run the 10000, where they will face Tacoma native and Oregon standout Jack Yearian.

Friday's session comprises primarily of distance races, plus the hammer, javelin, long jump and pole vault competitions, while the rest of the meet occurs Saturday. Field events get underway at 2:30 pm, while Friday's running events start at 5:45 pm.

The link to live results is available here. Media partner RunnerSpace.com ($) will offer a live stream of the meet both days.

Finally, Western Washington will host the WWU Team Invitational starting at 11:30am Saturday, as they go against Central Washington, along with Trinity Western and the University of British Columbia.

The link to the meet is available here.

NOTE: The sports information offices of Western Washington, San Francisco State, Stanford, Seattle Pacific, Fresno State, University of Oregon, and Gonzaga contributed to this report.

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