Beasts and other state athletes head to Portland & NYC in final qualifying weekend...
This weekend is the final weekend to get a qualifying mark for the Toyota USATF Outdoor Track & Field Championships in two weeks in Eugene, and a host of athletes are off to New York and Portland to improve marks and race against top flight competition.
Close to home, a number of runners from Seattle's Brooks Beasts are headed south to Portland for the Stumptown meet that is part of the Rose City Mile at Jesuit High School near Beaverton in a meet that features the 2023 season debut at 5000 meters of reigning Olympic champion Sifan Hassan (Paul Merca photo) of the Netherlands.
Hassan, who was part of the defunct Nike Oregon Project, makes a return to Portland weeks after running a two-day 29:37.80/3:58.12 10000/1500 double at the Fanny Blankers-Koen meet in Hengelo on June 3rd-4th.
Hassan is the defending champion of the Stumptown 5000, as she ran 15:13.41 at last year's meet. She'll start off the high performance section of the Stumptown meet at 11 am.
In the women's 800 at 12:55 pm, Nia Akins of the Brooks Beasts is the headliner, as she goes against a field that includes Michaela Meyer and McKenna Keegan of the Nike Union AC, and another former Oregon Project runner in Germany's Konstanze Klosterhalfen, now competing for Puma Elite.
Akins' teammate Laurie Barton is on the start list, and is also entered in the 1500.
In the men's 800 at 1:05 pm, world championships competitor Kyle Langford and Beasts teammate Devin Dixon go against a field that includes 2016 Olympic 1500m champ Matthew Centrowitz, and Tokyo Olympic 1500m finalist Cole Hocker, as both drop down in distance.
Allie Buchalski of the Beasts drops down in distance to the women's 1500 at 1:15pm, as she faces Sinclaire Johnson of the NIKE Union AC and Klosterhalfen, along with BYU alum Anna Camp Bennett and Ella Donaghu of Nike Union AC.
Washington alum Katie Follett is in the second section of the women's 1500, along with former Seattle Pacific All-American and Oregon State alum Kaylee Mitchell.
The top section of the men's 1500 features Dillon Maggard of the Beasts, as he faces off against world championships competitor Josh Thompson of the Nike Bowerman TC, as well as Hocker. Also in the field are Washington alum Aaron Ahl, Tacoma native Jack Yearian, and recent WSU grad Zach Stallings.
The second section of the 1500 has UW grad Will Laird.
In New York, former Renton resident and Oregon alum Devon Allen runs in Saturday's USATF NYC Grand Prix meet at Icahn Stadium on New York's Randall Island.
The two-time Olympian and current member of the Philadelphia Eagles goes in the 110 hurdles at 10:13 am Seattle time (1:13pm in New York) against a field that includes his 2022 world championships teammate Trey Cunningham.
In the men's 1500 at 10:33 am (1:33 pm in New York), Henry Wynne of the Brooks Beasts goes against 2019 world championships finalist Craig Engels, along with Drew Hunter and Abdihamid Nur.
Isaiah Harris of the Beasts races the men's 800 at 11:15 am (2:15 pm in New York), where he'll face Brandon Miller, Bryce Hoppel, and Clayton Murphy.
The meet will be televised on NBC (KING 5 in Seattle) and on Peacock TV starting at 10 am Pacific.
In Silesia, Poland, it was a rough outing for University of Washington sophomore Tim Luebbert of Germany in the men's triple jump at the European Team Championships First Division meet.
Luebbert, who finished third at the Pac-12 championships for the Huskies, only managed to jump 46-2.5 (14.08m) on his one legal mark in the first round to finish 16th.
On his second attempt, Luebbert appeared to tweak his ankle on his jump phase. On his third attempt, he simply ran through the pit, grimacing in pain.
After 12 events, Luebbert's German squad is in fifth place with 121.5 points, as Italy leads with 141.
NOTE: Portland Track, the USATF NYC Grand Prix, and European Athletics contributed to this report.
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