THE WEEK AHEAD: Washington schools begin final push for conference championship spots...
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| Washington State's Colton Johnsen (Paul Merca photo) |
With only two weeks to go before the championship season begins on the second weekend of May, all nine Washington Division I and II schools are in action this weekend as individuals attempt to ensure their spots.
Washington and Washington State, who just saw each other last week in Pullman, will see each other again this week in Palo Alto Friday at the Payton Jordan Invitational, hosted by Stanford University, as well as the Fresno State Invitational in Fresno on Saturday.
The Payton Jordan meet, one of the nation's top distance meets, returns after a three year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Both the Cougars and Huskies will send distance runners to Stanford, with Washington State entering Zach Stallings & Felix Wammetsberger (1500), Colton Johnsen (steeple/5000), Sam Griffith & Kelvin Limo (steeple), Neema Kimtai (800/1500).
Washington's entries include Tibs Proctor (10000), Allie Schadler & Haley Herberg (5000).
There are a handful of Washington pros entered in the meet, including Eleanor Fulton (5000), Julius Diehr (steeple), Tom Anderson & Jack Rowe (5000), and Dillon Maggard & Turner Wiley (10000).
The start list for the Payton Jordan Invitational and the link to live results is available here. Flotrack ($) will stream the meet.
On Saturday, the Dawgs and Cougs reunite in Fresno at the Fresno State Invitational, hosted by Fresno State University, where the majority of both teams will be competing.
In Fresno, they will be joined by the sprint and jumps crew from Seattle Pacific, as they make a late push to get more athletes into the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship meet in Ellensburg.
Washington alum Olivia Gruver (pole vault) and Washington State alum Sam Brixey (110 hurdles) are among a small group of pros entered in the predominantly collegiate meet,
The list of accepted entries and link to live results for the Fresno State Invitational are available here.
Washington's three remaining Division I teams--Eastern Washington, Gonzaga, and Seattle University head to Corvallis for the Oregon State High Performance meet Friday and Saturday.
Friday's events consists of the long throws, pole vaults, and long jumps on the field, the 400 hurdles and the 200s, and a distance carnival as the meet heads to twilight, while Saturday's action consists of the remaining running events to 800 meters, the short hurdle races, and relays, plus action in the javelin, high jump, shot put, and triple jump.
Eastern Washington will send a small group of vaulters and throwers to southern California for Friday and Saturday's Steve Scott Invitational, hosted by UC Irvine.
The start list and the link to live results for the Steve Scott Invitational is available here.
Finally, all four Washington Division II schools will converge on Bellingham's Civic Stadium for Saturday's Ralph Vernacchia Invitational, hosted by Western Washington University.
All four schools will also see Simon Fraser and Alaska Anchorage, plus select area post collegians as the schools ramp up for the GNAC championships in two weeks.
The link to live results will be posted here.
NOTE: The sports information offices of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, Stanford University, Fresno State University, Oregon State University, UC Irvine, and Western Washington University, contributed to this report.
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