Women's pole vault field highlights season-opening Spokane Invitational Saturday...

Season Three of The Podium's indoor track and field season opens Saturday as the Pacific Northwest's only hydraulic banked short 200 meter track opens its doors to teams and clubs from the West Coast for the Spokane Invitational.

Action gets underway at 9 am with the men's high jump, women's weight throw, and women's long jump, while the women's 5000 kicks off the racing on the track at 10 am.

The men's 4 x 400 relay concludes the day's competition at 6:25 pm.

Six of Washington's nine NCAA Division I and II schools will be represented at The Podium Saturday, with only Seattle University, Western Washington and Saint Martin's opting not to open the indoor season until after the holidays.

For those schools competing in Spokane, it's an opportunity to test themselves after spending the fall months doing base training. For the distance athletes, it's an opportunity to squeeze in a race after a full season of competing in cross country.

Here's what to watch in Spokane (based on entries posted December 7th; as always, it's subject to change):

--Without a doubt, if you go to watch only one event Saturday, watch the women's invitational pole vault at 2:30 pm.

(Update 4:00 pm Friday December 8th):  With the large number of entries in both the men's and women's pole vaults, meet management is now splitting the vaults into two sections, with the first section going at the original scheduled time of 10 am, and the invitational section, comprised of the top vaulters based on seed marks moved to 2:30 pm.

While the men's pole vault will be going simultaneously on another runway, the women's pole vault features the collegiate debuts of Hana (Paul Merca photo) and Amanda Moll of Washington, as the twins from Capital HS in Olympia face off against Husky teammate and NCAA scorer Nastassja Campbell.

Hana Moll, who was named Track & Field News' 2023 High School girls' athlete of the year by the publication, is coming off a season where the 2022 world Under-20 champion broke the absolute national high school record in the event when she cleared 15-3 (4.65m) in the qualifying round at the world championships in Budapest in August, and finished ninth in the finals at 14-9 (4.50m).

Twin sister Amanda, the first high schooler to clear 15 feet when she cleared 15-1.5 (4.61m) at the National Pole Vault Summit in Reno on January 13th, looks to return after taking a break from vaulting in the middle of the outdoor season to concentrate on running the 4 x 100 and 4 x 200 for Capital, which won the Washington 3A title in both events.

Campbell, who scored for the Huskies at both the NCAA indoor and outdoor championships and was sixth at the Toyota USATF championships in July, extended her outdoor season with a seventh place finish at the Pan Am Games in Santiago, Chile on November 2nd, where she cleared 13-5.25 (4.10m).

In the field of 32 vaulters, ten women in the field have seed marks above 4 meters (13-1.5), including defending Big Sky indoor champion Savannah Schultz of Eastern Washington, who has a personal best of 13-7.75 (4.16m), defending Spokane Invitational champ Sarah Ferguson of Washington at 13-9.25 (4.20m), and Big West champion Miranda Miller of CSU Bakersfield at 14-1.25 (4.30m).

Don't sleep on the men's pole vault going on at the same time, which features NCAA scorer Jacob Englar as the former Cougar and Husky transitions to the pro level. He'll face Eastern Washington's Zach Klobutcher, the defending Big Sky indoor champion, as well as current Husky Mathis Bresko, a grad transfer who won the Big West title last season at Cal Poly.

--British Olympian at 10000 meters and former Lewis-Clark standout Sam Atkin against Gonzaga's Wil Smith in the mile at 2:05 pm. Both have personal bests under 4 minutes, but could be challenged by Grand Canyon's Brendan Hebert, formerly of the University of Texas, who is also a sub 4 miler.

--Washington's multi-event specialists Bruno Comin Pescador and Jami Schlueter are entered in the 60 hurdles, long jump, shot put and high jump. Comin Pescador, an NCAA scorer indoors in the heptathlon & Spanish decathlon champ, and Schlueter, a Pac-12 decathlon scorer, will be pressed by Pac-12 decathlon scorer Lee Walburn of Washington State in the 60 hurdles and the shot. Walburn is opting for the 300 and the 60 dash to round out his day. Big Sky scorer Cody Teevens of Eastern Washington is in the 60, long and high jumps. 

(Update 4:00 pm Friday December 8th): Bruno Comin Pescador is now dropping the long jump and the high jump, and is entered in the invitational pole vault.

--Washington State's Micaela De Mello, an NCAA qualifier in 2022 in the 100 hurdles, is entered in the 60 hurdles qualifying at 11:15 am, as is NCAA D2 qualifier Lauryn Chandler of Central Washington. Eastern Washington's Madelyn Knight and UW freshman Kapiolani Coleman could be in the mix for a spot in the finals at 1:15 pm;

--Assuming both advance to the finals, look for a good battle between former Arizona standout Neysia Howard of Grand Canyon and Skyler Walton of Washington State in the 60 dash at 11:35 am, with the finals at 1:30 pm. Also, look for NCAA D2 qualifier E'Lexis Hollis of Central Washington to mix it up.

--At 2:40 pm, Washington DMR All-American Daniel Gaik goes in the 400 against Husky Pac-12 400 hurdle scorers Jonathan Birchman and Matthew Wilkinson along with NAIA scorer London Kirk of Lewis-Clark State;

--The top section of the men's 800 at 3:45 pm features Washington 400 hurdles All-American Cass Elliott against USATF finalist and Pan Am Games competitor Derek Holdsworth of Seattle, along with training partner and UW alum Wil Laird.

The final time schedule for the Spokane Invitational is available here. The link to live results is available here.

If you can't make it to The Podium, media partner RunnerSpace.com ($) will stream the Spokane Invitational.

NOTE: Spokane Sports and the sports information offices of Central Washington, Eastern Washington, Gonzaga, Seattle Pacific, Washington, and Washington State  contributed to this report.

paulmerca.blogspot.com may receive a commission for any purchases made from links clicked. Please support this site and our sponsors by clicking on the links. You can also support the site by clicking the yellow "Buy Me A Coffee" link below.