Cali is where it's at starting Thursday in Long Beach and Azusa...
 |
| Luke Houser, Nathan Green & Joe Waskom of Washington are all entered in the 1500 at the Bryan Clay Invitational this weekend (Paul Merca photo) |
Despite the Mt.SAC Relays being contested one week later, seven of the nine Washington schools are making their annual trip to southern California and the greater Los Angeles area for competition starting on Thursday.
Depending on the event group, athletes from Eastern Washington, Gonzaga, Washington State, Washington, Seattle University, Seattle Pacific and Western Washington will compete at either the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate meet on Thursday, the Beach Invitational on Friday-Saturday hosted by Long Beach State in Long Beach; the three-day Bryan Clay Invitational starting on Thursday hosted by Azusa Pacific in Azusa; or the UCLA Invitational hosted by UCLA on Saturday in Los Angeles.
Scheduling what you want to watch might be tricky, but doable depending on your familiarity with the freeways in the greater Los Angeles area, and knowledge of the time schedules for all of the meets.
Here's the rundown:
Thursday begins with the Pacific Coast Invitational in Long Beach, hosted by Long Beach State.
Eastern Washington, Western Washington, Seattle University, and Seattle Pacific will have representatives at the meet, primarily from their sprint and field event groups, though Seattle University will have some distance runners competing Thursday in Long Beach.
Also on Thursday, the Bryan Clay Invitational begins its three day run at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa.
The track at Azusa Pacific has in recent years received a reputation for producing fast marks in the distance races, so the distance squads from Washington, Washington State, and Gonzaga will be at the Bryan Clay, as well as select runners from the other four Washington schools who meet the qualifying standards in the distance races.
At the Bryan Clay meet, the steeplechase and the invitational sections of the 10000 will be run Thursday night, while action during the day consists of several sections of the multi events.
Friday's competition consists of the open 5000, 800 and 5000 in the morning and early evening, plus the conclusion of the multi-events; and the invitational sections of the 5000s starting at 9:15 pm, and going until almost midnight.
Saturday's session at the Bryan Clay consists of the main portion of the track and field meet, then starting at 5 pm, the meet will run a total of 96 (!) heats of the 1500 meters, which should end close to midnight.
Back in Long Beach on Friday, Eastern Washington, Washington State, Western Washington and Seattle Pacific will have entries at the two-day Beach Invitational hosted by Long Beach State.
Finally, a small group of athletes from Washington State is expected to compete at Saturday's UCLA Invitational.
Here are the links to the meets in greater Los Angeles:
PACIFIC COAST INVITATIONAL (Thursday)
BRYAN CLAY INVITATIONAL (Thursday/Saturday)
BEACH INVITATIONAL (Friday/Saturday)
UCLA INVITATIONAL (Saturday)
OTHER MEETS THIS WEEKEND...
On Thursday, a small group from Central Washington, Gonzaga, Eastern Washington, and Washington State will stay close to home to compete at the Whitworth Twilight meet in Spokane, starting at 2 pm.
A small group from Central Washington and Saint Martin's will compete in Friday and Saturday's Larry Byerly Invitational, hosted by Lewis & Clark College.
Thomas is entered in the 800, while Trippas is in the 3000 steeple, and Tokyo Olympian Batt-Doyle will attempt to put herself in consideration for a second Olympic team in the 5000 meters.
Batt-Doyle already has the Olympic standard in the marathon, but is ranked fourth in Australia in that event.
Batt-Doyle hasn't run three 5000 meter races since the Olympic qualifying period opened July 1, 2023, so she doesn't have enough points to earn a ranking. Izzi has run one 5000 meter race since the qualifying period opened, running a personal best 14:59.18 on February 15th in Melbourne. The Olympic qualifying standard in the 5000 is 14:52.00.
Thomas and Trippas are in the world rankings quota in their event. Thomas is currently ranked number 5 in Australia, while Trippas, who is looking to make his second straight Olympic team, is ranked first in his event.
The Olympic standard in the women's 800 is 1:59.30, while the men's steeple standard is 8:15.00.
Thomas begins her quest on Friday at 5:20 pm local time (Adelaide is 16.5 hours ahead of Seattle), while Trippas goes on Saturday at 5:05 pm local time, and Batt-Doyle competes on Sunday at 4:50 pm local time.
The start list for the Australian national championships is available here, while Athletics Australia's release is available here, which includes a link to watch the meet.
NOTE: The sports information offices of Azusa Pacific, Long Beach State, UCLA, Whitworth University, and Athletics Australia 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