Washington's D-1 and D-2 schools all in action this weekend as indoor season truly gets underway...
While Gonzaga, Eastern Washington, Central Washington, Washington, and Washington State got a meet in last month, the indoor season for all nine Washington Division I and II schools truly gets underway this weekend with the Spokane Sports Showcase and Spokane Indoor Challenge on Friday and Saturday at The Podium, and the UW Indoor Preview Saturday in Seattle at the Dempsey Indoor Facility.
Central Washington, Eastern Washington, Gonzaga, and Washington State will have full squads for the meets in Spokane, while Saint Martin's, Seattle, Seattle Pacific, and Western Washington will converge onto Dempsey for Saturday's meet hosted by the University of Washington.
Among the teams headed to Spokane includes USC, Stanford, Hawaii, San Jose State, Montana State, and Idaho.
For the meet in Seattle, teams from Stanford, New Mexico, Cal Poly, Oregon, Oregon State, and Nevada will be represented, along with a host of notable professionals.
SPOKANE SPORTS SHOWCASE (FRIDAY) & SPOKANE INDOOR CHALLENGE (SATURDAY)...
 |
| Gonzaga's Wil Smith is entered in both the mile and 3000 (Paul Merca photo) |
Friday's Spokane Sports Showcase meet is a NCAA Division I only meet, while the Spokane Indoor Challenge meet, which technically starts Friday night at 7 pm with the men's and women's distance medley and the men's high jump and weight throws, are open to Division I, II, III, NAIA, and community colleges.
Among the athletes to watch in Friday's meet (as always, start lists are subject to change) are Wil Smith of Gonzaga in both the mile and 3000; Washington State's Michaela De Mello in the 60 hurdles; USC's Yemi John and Jan'Taijah Jones in the women's 300; Eastern Washington's Savannah Schultz and Rosalie Folger-Vent in the women's pole vault; and a matchup between Eastern Washington's Zach Klobutcher and Washington State's Brayden Freitag in the men's pole vault.
The men's 300 is led by USC's Johnnie Blockburger, who was an NCAA qualifier in the 400 both at USC and his previous stop at the University of Arizona.
The second section of the men's 300 features a trio of Washington state high school products who battled each other all throughout their prep career. That section includes freshmen Will Floyd of Stanford (Seattle Prep), Washington State's Grant Buckmiller (Lake Stevens), and USC's Jacob Andrews (Sehome).
The Spokane Sports Showcase starts at 10 am with four field events. Running events start at 11 am.
The main portion of the Spokane Indoor Challenge starts Saturday at 10 am.
Media partner RunnerSpace.com ($) will stream both meets. The link to live results for the Spokane Sports Showcase is here, while the link to live results for the Spokane Indoor Challenge is here.
HOST OF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITORS HIGHLIGHT SATURDAY'S UW INDOOR PREVIEW...
 |
| Nia Akins of the Brooks Beasts is entered in the mile at the UW Preview (Paul Merca photo) |
The Seattle based Brooks Beasts will have a host of their athletes running including world championships 800 meter finalist Nia Akins, who opens her 2024 campaign in the mile. Budapest world championships competitor at 800 meters Isaiah Harris of the Beasts will open in the mile, as well as his teammates Brannon Kidder and Waleed Suliman.
As always at the Dempsey, the distance races (600, 800, 1000, mile, and 3000) are the most intriguing, and could possibly produce some early season world, American and NCAA leading marks.
Starting with the women, UCLA alum and Olympic 4x4 relay pool member Shae Anderson goes against the Huskies' Carley Thomas and Marlena Preigh, Portland's Laura Pellicoro, and Stanford alum Christina Aragon in the 600, while Stanford's Juliette Whittaker headlines the 800.
Pellicoro and Aragon are also entered in the 1000. In the mile, Canadian Olympic 1500m finalist Gabriela DeBues-Stafford goes against Akins and Julia Heymach of the Brooks Beasts, with Oregon State All-American and former Seattle Pacific standout Kaylee Mitchell, along with Silan Ayyildiz, Mia Barnett, and Klaudia Kazimierska of Oregon in the mix.
The 3000 has both Mitchell and Ayyildiz doubling back against Pac-12 cross country champ Amy Bumnnage of Stanford, Allie Buchalski and UW alum Kayley DeLay of the Brooks Beasts, Seattle resident Rebecca Mehra, and six Huskies, led by two-time All American Hayley Herberg.
Oregon All-Americans Jadyn Mays and Aaliyah McCormick headline the sprints and hurdles, while USA U20 heptathlon champ JaiCionna Gero-Holt from Puyallup's Emerald Ridge HS is entered in the 60 hurdles, high jump, and shot put.
The pole vault is headlined by UW's All Americans Nastassja Campbell and Sara Borton, along with freshman teammate Amanda Moll, the first high schooler to clear 15 feet. Moll's twin sister Hana, who finished ninth at the world championships in Budapest last summer, will compete at Friday night's Pole Vault Summit in Reno.
Washington State and Rainier Beach HS alum Emmanuel Wells is the headliner in the men's 60.
The men's 1000m features a pair of world championships competitors in John Rivera of Puerto Rico, who ran the 800 in Budapest, and former Nike Union AC standout and 2019 Doha 1500m finalist Craig Engels, who runs against NCAA 1500 champ Nathan Green of the Huskies, and a pair of UW alums in Canadian 1500m champ Kieran Lumb, who ran in Budapest last summer, and former All-American Sam Ellis.
Defending USA indoor mile and 3000 meter champ Sam Prakel, who trains under UW coach Andy Powell, will get an early test against Brannon Kidder, Waleed Suliman and Isaiah Harris of the Beasts. NCAA 5000 and 10000 meter champ Ky Robinson of Stanford, along with teammates Cole Sprout and twins Lex and Leo Young could pull the field to a sub-4 minute mile clocking.
As a side note, in its 22 seasons, the Dempsey has produced 271 sub-4 minute miles by 186 different athletes. Kidder is in a three-way tie with Oregon's AJ Acosta and Nike Bowerman TC's Evan Jager for the most career sub-4 minute miles run in the Dempsey with five.
The second and third place finishers in the NCAA cross country championships in November, Habtom Samuel of New Mexico, and Ky Robinson of Stanford face off in the 30000 against Prakel, Lumb, NCAA indoor mile champ Luke Houser and world championships 1500 competitor Joe Waskom of the Huskies. The Young twins from Stanford, along with Henry Wynne of the Brooks Beasts and NCAA steeple runner-up Duncan Hamilton from Montana State, now running for the Nike Bowerman AC are also in the field.
NCAA scorer and UW alum Jacob Englar leads the pole vault field, going against a trio of Husky grad transfers in Mathis Bresko, Max Manson and Simon Park.
As always, the start lists are subject to change.
Media partner RunnerSpace.com ($) will stream the meet, which begins at 8:30 am with early sections of the 3000 meter run,
NOTE: The sports information office of Brigham Young University 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.
Comments