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UW Invitational and Mile City highlight this weekend's track action in the state...

The momentum of the 2024 indoor track and field season picks up more steam as all nine Washington Division I and II schools head to Seattle for Friday and Saturday's UW Invitational at the Dempsey Indoor on the University of Washington campus.

In a twist to the UW Invitational, the Huskies will host the first Mile City Festival, a meet within a meet, featuring races for the community, which will conclude at approximately 7 pm Saturday.

Friday's session begins at 3 pm with action in the men's weight throw and high jump, as well as preliminary heats in the women's and men's 60 hurdles.

Other running events Friday include heats of the 5000, 200, and 3000. The other field events contested Friday are the men's pole vault, men's and women's triple jumps, and the women's high jump and weight throw.

Saturday's session begins at 9 am, with action on the track in the 60, 400, 800 and 4x400 relay, along with the long jumps, shot put and two sections of the women's pole vault.


The invitational section of the women's pole vault, which coincides with the start of the Mile City heats, features 2016 Olympic gold medalist and 2017 world champion Katerina Stefanidi (Paul Merca photo) of Greece.

Stefanidi, who was coached at Stanford by current UW associate head coach Toby Stevenson, goes up against a field that includes 2017 US world championships team member Emily Grove, UW's 2023 NCAA indoor and outdoor scorers Nastassja Campbell and Sara Borton; and the last three national high school record holders in the event, including West Seattle HS alum Chloe Cunliffe, and current Husky freshmen Amanda and Hana Moll, who were the first US high schoolers to clear 15 feet when they each did it in 2023.

MILE CITY PREVIEW...


The Mile City portion of the UW Invitational is an offshoot of last year's meet, where eight runners from the host University of Washington broke four minutes in the mile in the same race. In creating the Mile City, the organizers envision a celebration where the community is provided a dynamic setting for runners of all ages to test themselves over 5.23 laps over the 307 meter Dempsey Indoor facility.

Food trucks will be parked outside the Dempsey, and a live DJ will add energy to the event.

To kick off the Mile City portion of the UW Invitational, a pro women's 1000 meter run featuring American mile record holder Nikki Hiltz (Paul Merca photo) against Australian mile record holder Jessica Hull starts the racing at 1pm Saturday

The elite section of the women's mile is expected to include the Huskies' Sophie O'Sullivan, as the Irish internationalist already has the Olympic qualifying standard in the 1500 in her pocket.

O'Sullivan, who is making her 2024 season debut, is projected to face a field that includes US Olympic Trials finalist Grace Barnett; Tokyo steeplechase Olympian Alicja Konieczek from Poland; Portland Pilot Laura Pellicoro; and former Seattle Pacific and current Oregon State standout Kaylee Mitchell. 


The last three men to win the NCAA 1500 and mile races--Joe Waskom, Luke Houser, and Nathan Green (Paul Merca photo)--are among the top seeds in the men's Mile City races. 

Among those entered in the men's Mile City are Doha world championships 800m competitor Brannon Kidder of the Seattle based Brooks Beasts; Gonzaga alum and Tacoma native James Mwaura; two-time Canadian steeplechase champ and Tokyo Olympian John Gay; Gonzaga's Wil Smith, the first in school history to break 4 minutes in the mile; Western Washington alum Mac Franks of Club Northwest; UW alum Sam Ellis, who with Waskom, Houser & Green, comprised four of the eight Huskies who broke 4 minutes in this meet last year; and 2016 Rio Olympic 1500m champion Matthew Centrowitz.

Centrowitz, the Oregon alum who trained under UW men's coach Andy Powell, has competed at a world class level for over 14 years, with his last appearance at a major championship meet the semifinals of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. He missed all of the 2022 season with injuries, and finished tenth at last year's Toyota USA championship 1500m race in Eugene.

The elite portion of the Mile City Festival will be between 3 and 3:30 pm Saturday, with two elite women's mile heats, the invitational women's 800 featuring Washington's Carley Thomas against Villanova alum Angel Piccirillo and Campbell All-American Dorcus Ewoi from Puma Elite, followed by the two elite men's mile heats.

The Mile City portion of the UW Invitational also features several elite high school boys and girls in the field. 

Among the entries include Crater HS junior Josiah Tostenson, who was fourth in the Oregon 5A 800 last year, and ran 8:08.70 in the 3000 at the UW Indoor Preview two weeks ago; his Crater teammate Tayvon Kitchen; and, Blanchet's Vincent Recupero, the defending Washington 3A 3200 champion. 

Senior Gioana Lopizzo of California's La Costa Canyon, who was third in the CIF 3200 is the top high school women's entry, along with Sydney Collier of Skyline, who was third at the USA U20 championships in the steeplechase. Alexa Matora of Lake Washington and Victoria Rodriguez of Mercer Island are also in the field.

Other events of note to watch at the UW Invitational include Friday's men's pole vault featuring UW alum Jacob Englar against Mexico's Pan Am bronze medalist Jorge Luna-Estes, and USATF competitors Cole Riddle and Nate Richartz; and the men's long jump, featuring UW's Prestin Artis, who is edging close to both 26 feet and 8 meters, which hasn't been done since Norris Frederick almost 16 years ago.


Media partner RunnerSpace.com ($) will stream the meet starting at 3 pm, Pacific time.

JOHN THOMAS TERRIER CLASSIC IN BOSTON FEATURES NOTABLE WASHINGTON PROS...

Friday and Saturday's John Thomas Terrier Classic at the Boston University Track & Tennis Center promises to be a barnburner, with the meet's featured event, the men's 5000 drawing most of the attention.

The field in the men's 5000 is so deep that the elite portion of the race is being split into two sections, a Scarlet and a White.

Coincidentally, the Scarlet section features five runners from the Boulder based On Athletics Club, led by Colorado alum Joe Klecker, while the White section is led by Portland alum Woody Kincaid, who has the fastest time going into the race at 12:51.61.

In any event, both races are set up to go after the Olympic standard of 13:05.00. Both races will have two pacers who will take the field through 3000 meters at between 7:50-7:52.

Washington alum Brian Fay of Ireland, who already owns the Olympic standard when he ran 13:01.40 on July 15th in Heusden, is in the White section with Kincaid.

Also in the White section are Dillon Maggard of the Brooks Beasts; and two members of UW coach Andy Powell's pro group, Sam Prakel, and Kieran Lumb.

According to a post on X by CitiusMag's Chris Chavez, the elite sections of the men's 5000 is scheduled to go at 7:40 pm eastern time Friday (4:40 pm Pacific).

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Also competing in the John Thomas Terrier Classic is Walla Walla native Kenneth Rooks, the reigning USA steeplechase champion. He'll go against UW alum Jack Rowe of Great Britain in the men's 3000, while Stanford freshman Will Floyd is the top seed in the men's 400.

All of the men's races will be contested Friday, with the women's portion of the meet on Saturday. No significant athletes with Washington ties are entered in the women's portion of the meet.

Flotrack ($) will stream the meet starting at 8 am, Pacific Friday.

The time schedule and start lists for the John Thomas Terrier Classic is available via the Lancer Timing website (home page linked here).

NOTE: The sports information office of the University of Washington, and Boston University, along with CitiusMag contributed to this report.

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