UW alum Gianna Woodruff goes Wednesday in 400H semis at Pan Am Games in Chile...

While the meet doesn't have the shine it once had, the track and field portion of the Pan Am Games in Santiago, Chile began Monday at the Coliseo del Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez.

The first athlete with state of Washington ties runs Wednesday morning at 2:00 pm Pacific time (6:00 pm local time in Santiago), as University of Washington alum Gianna Woodruff (Paul Merca photo) of Panama goes in the first of two semifinal heats in the women's 400 hurdles,

Woodruff, who got as far as the semifinals at the world championships in Budapest in August, is the top seed in the meet with a season best of 54.46, run back in June at the Bislett Games Diamond League meet in June.

Should she advance, the finals of the women's 400 hurdles will be held Friday at 1:35 pm Pacific time (5:35 pm local time).

Other athletes with Washington ties competing include the University of Washington's Nastassja Campbell in the women's pole vault on Thursday; Seattle resident Derek Holdsworth in the men's 800 on Friday; Olympia native Brooke Feldmeier in the women's 800; and Pasco native Marisa Howard in the women's steeplechase on Saturday.

Feldmeier and Holdsworth are also in the 4 x 400 relay pools.

Seattle Pacific alum Turner Wiley competed in the men's marathon on the first weekend of the Pan Am Games, where he finished ninth in 2:20:25.

Because of how late in the season the meet is, combined with the 2024 season being an Olympic year, a number of athletes who would normally compete in the Pan Ams are skipping the meet to prepare for the upcoming campaign.

That said, the Pan Ams are classified by World Athletics as an A level meet, so the top eight will earn no fewer than 60 bonus points, up to a maximum of 140 points for winning, in addition to performance points, which could come in handy for world rankings when the Olympic qualifying period closes at the end of June.

The link to live results and the track & field time schedule for the Pan Am Games is available here. A free live stream of the Pan Am Games is available here. 

NOTE: The US Olympic and Paralympic Committee, USA Track & Field, and the Santiago 2023 LOC contributed to this report.

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