Stanford Invitational and Mike Fanelli Track Classic highlight weekend for Washington schools...
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| Walla Walla native Kenneth Rooks is entered in the 5000m at Stanford (Paul Merca photo) |
While Central Washington's track and field teams are in Texas, the Bay Area is the destination for Washington, Washington State, Gonzaga, SeattleU, Seattle Pacific and Western Washington this weekend.
The Huskies, Cougars, Bulldogs, and Vikings are off to Palo Alto for the two-day Stanford Invitational, while a group from both SeattleU and Western Washington will compete at the Mike Fanelli Track Classic hosted by San Francisco State University up the road in Hayward.
Seattle University has a small men's group entered at Stanford, led by sprinter Miguel Rosario, the WAC runner up in the 60 meter dash.
Eastern Washington, Seattle Pacific, and Saint Martin's squads are off this weekend, with the exception of SPU's Annika Esvelt, who is entered in the women's 5000 at Stanford.
All except for the Huskies have competed in an outdoor meet so far this season, though a few Huskies ran at last week's Peyton/Shotwell Invitational in Tacoma as unattached competitors.
The weather forecast for the Bay Area is for cloudy conditions with a chance of showers both Friday and Saturday.
In addition to the Washington D1 and D2 schools competing, several pros with Washington ties are entered, including defending USA steeplechase champion Kenneth Rooks, who is entered in the 5000, along with Washington State alum Paul Ryan.
Oregon alum and Curtis HS grad Lexi Ellis is entered in the invitational triple jump, while Washington alum Anna Gibson runs in the top section of the women's 5000.
A couple of notable entries at Stanford among the collegiate athletes are 2022 NCAA 1500m champ Joe Waskom of the UW in the steeplechase, and Gonzaga's Wil Smith in the 10000.
Waskom, who has a personal best of 8:35.71, and was a Pac-12 scorer in 2021 and 2022, last ran the steeple at last year's Pac-12 meet, where he lost his shoe in the first 800, then was pulled from the race. Smith has run two track 10000s in his career, and has a personal best of 28:25.4, set at last year's Stanford Invitational.
The start list for the Stanford Invitational is available here, and the link to live results is here.
The start list for the Mike Fanelli Track Classic is available here, and the link to live results is here.
TEXAS RELAYS
In Austin, Washington State's Lee Walburn set a new personal best in the decathlon, as he finished second with a final score of 7694, eclipsing his previous mark of 7323, set at last year's Texas Relays.
His mark sits as the second-best score in Division I going into the weekend, and is also the fifth-best score all-time at WSU.
Walburn, who started the day in third with 3930 points, ran 15.16 in the 110 hurdles, just off his PR of 15.04 set two weeks ago at the Arizona Spring Break meet. He then set a personal best of 157-3 (47.95m), beating his previous best of 153-1 (46.66m).
He had a big hiccup in the pole vault, needing a second attempt at his opening height of 14-5.25 (4.40m), well below his best of 15-11 (4.85m).
Walburn rallied in the javelin, picking up his only win, throwing a big personal best of 201-0 (61.26m), 12 feet further than his previous best of 189-0 (57.61m). He finished the day running 4:50.03 in the 1500.
Reigning NCAA champion Leo Neugebauer of host Texas won with a world leading score of 8708 points.
In the men's hammer, Rainier HS grad Jeremiah Nubbe of host Texas won the event with a throw of 239-10 (73.11m), the third furthest throw so far this season. Ridgefield HS grad Trey Knight of Cal State Northridge, who was second a few weeks ago in the weight throw at the NCAA indoor championships, is the current national leader at 250-6 (76.36m).
In the timed final section of the men's 400 hurdles, Central Washington's Josh Boast and Aiden Wise ran 55.19 and 56.94, respectively. Zoe McDevitt ran 66.30 in the timed final section of the women's 400 hurdles. Branden Wise threw 178-0 (54.27m) in the B section of the men's javelin.
BOBCAT INVITATIONAL
In San Marcos, Texas, Central Washington's Ellie DeGroot stands 13th in the heptathlon with a first day score of 2922 points, as Hope Bender of VS Athletics leads at the break with 3727 points.
DeGroot's best marks came in the opening 100 hurdles, where she ran a personal best 14.40, and in the 200 where she ran a personal best 25.17. She was slightly off her personal best in the high jump of 4-11.75 (1.52m), as she cleared 4-10.5 (1.49m), but threw a personal best of 32-3 (9.83m) in the shot put.
Central's Drew Klein is 10th in the decathlon with 3482 points (we earlier said he was 16th, as a high jump mark wasn't recorded).
Wyatt Franklin finished fifth in the B section of the men's discus, with a personal best of 161-7 (49.27m), while Payton Elenbaas (138-1/42.10m) with eighth in the women's B section of the discus.
The best performance of the day came in the B section of the men's long jump where the Wildcats' Isaiah Webster jumped a personal best 24-1.5 (7.35m), which currently leads the GNAC conference.
OTHER NOTES...
Nia Akins and Marta Pen Freitas of the Brooks Beasts, along with Seattle resident Rebecca Mehra have been announced as one of three athletes in the field of next month's Penn Relays, where they will run in the Olympic Development section of the women's 1500.
Coming off the best year of her career in 2023, Akins will return to her roots of Franklin Field where she was a successful Penn All-American. Last year, she won a US national title in the 800m with a time of 1:59.50, then followed it up with a personal-best time in the event of 1:57.73 to finish sixth.
Single day tickets for the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Track & Field in Eugene at Hayward Field on June 21-30th went on sale to the public on Thursday, March 28 at noon Pacific time.
Customers are able to select their reserved seat at the time of purchase. Prices for single day tickets start at just $25 (order processing fees will be added to the cost of each ticket), and customers are limited to purchasing a maximum of eight tickets per day.
All-session ticket packages for all eight days of the meet are still available in reserved seating on a limited basis.
NOTE: TrackTown USA and the sports information office of Central Washington University, Washington State University, University of Texas, Texas State University and the University of Washington contributed to this report.
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