THE WEEKEND AHEAD: WSU Invite in Spokane; UW at three sites & pros at New Balance GP...

Central Washington, along with Eastern Washington, Gonzaga, and host WSU are competing starting Thursday at the Washington State University Invitational and Multis at The Podium in Spokane.

Thursday's competition which starts at noon, solely consists of the first four events of the men's heptathlon, plus all five events of the women's pentathlon.

The meet resumes Friday at 11 am with the final three events of the heptathlon, while the women's weight throw the first field event starting at 12:30.

The women's 800 gets action going at 3pm, followed by the 200s, 5000s, and finishes off with the women's and men's distance medley relay starting at 6:15 pm.

Saturday's action gets going at 10 am with the women's 3000, and on the field at 11 am with the women's pole vault.

The meet concludes with the women's and men's 4 x 400m relays at 4:45pm, with the men closing it out at 5:10 pm.

Some of the top events to watch at the WSU Invitational include both distance medley relays featuring teams from the University of Victoria, and Arizona; the men's 60 hurdles with Eastern Washington alum Parker Bowden (above/Paul Merca photo) going against Bellingham native and Idaho alum Ben Doucette; the Cougar duo of Maribel Caicedo and Michaela De Mello in the women's 60 hurdles; the men's 60 with WSU and Rainier Beach HS alum Emmanuel Wells; and the men's mile featuring Duncan Hamilton of Montana State, the only man to have broken 4 minutes in the mile at The Podium. Hamilton will go against local favorite Wil Smith (Paul Merca photo) of Gonzaga

Media partner RunnerSpace.com ($) will stream all three days of the WSU Invitational and Multis.

The start list and link to live results are available here.

HUSKIES ARE ALL OVER THE COUNTRY...

Three groups of University of Washington track and field athletes are splitting up for meets across the United States, with the multi-event specialists and pole vaulters going to Lincoln, Nebraska and the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational; the sprint and throws group going to Albuquerque, New Mexico for the New Mexico Collegiate Classic, and a small group of women's middle distance runners to Boston for the Boston University Scarlet & White Invitational.

2022 NCAA competitors Ida Eikeng in the pentathlon and Ollie Thorner in the heptathlon lead the Husky charge into Lincoln. They'll be joined by Bruno Comin Pescador and Jamie Schluter in the heptathlon.

Women's pole vaulters Sarah Burton, Nastassja Campbell, and Sarah Ferguson, all coming off strong performances at the UW Invitational will join the multi event group in Lincoln. All will see an old friend, as Husky grad Jonah Wilson now competes for Nebraska.

The start list for the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational is available here; the link to live results are available here.

The sprints and throws group head south to Albuquerque for Friday and Saturday's New Mexico Collegiate Classic.

Washington's group includes sprinters Danielle Hunter, Anthony Smith, Cass Elliott, Daniel Gaik, Jonathan Birchman, and Matthew Wilkinson; and throwers Jayden White, Beatrice Asomaning, Makayla Kelby and Kaia Tupu-South.

The start lists and the link to live results for the New Mexico Collegiate Classic are available here.

Finally, a small group of women's middle distance specialists head to chilly Boston for Friday and Saturday's Boston University Scarlet & White Invitational.

The Friday night session consists solely of a men's and women's invitational distance medley relay.

The Huskies are tentatively lining up Anna Gibson, Madison Heisterman, Marlena Preigh, Sophie O'Sullivan, with relay orders to be determined shortly before race time, though Preigh is the most likely runner on the 400 (second) leg.

On Saturday, Carley Thomas, Chloe Foerster and Preigh are entered in the 800, while Gibson, O'Sullivan, and volunteer coach Alli Cash are entered in the mile.

The accepted entries for the Boston University Scarlet & White Invitational are available here; the link to live results is available here.

PROS AT NEW BALANCE SATURDAY...

A group of Washington pros, along with current Husky Brian Fay will compete about two miles away from Boston University at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix Saturday at the TRACK at new balance on the campus of New Balance's world headquarters.

The New Balance Indoor Grand Prix is part of World Athletics' Gold Level Indoor Tour, which includes the Millrose Games in New York, the Copernicus Cup in Torun, Poland; the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais in Lieven, France; a meet in Madrid, Spain; and the finale in Birmingham, UK.

Competing in Boston are reigning world and Olympic champion Katie Moon in the pole vault; Kyle Langford of the Brooks Beasts in the 800; former Huskies Sam Tanner and Cruz Culpepper, along with UW volunteer coach Sam Prakel & Oregon alum Johnny Gregorek in the mile; and Fay in the 3000.

The meet will be televised live on NBC starting at NBC from 4:00PM to 6:00PM EST (1 to 3 pm Pacific time on the West Coast).

The link to the start list and live results are available here.

We are covering both meets in Boston this weekend.

NOTE: The sports information offices of the University of Washington, Washington State University, Boston University, the University of Nebraska, the University of New Mexico, and the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix contributed to this report.

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