Nathan Green adds the 3000 to his list of Washington school records at Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener...
Green stayed off the front of the pack, going through 1600 meters in 4:08.40, as pacer Josh Hoey, who won the mile earlier in the day in a world leading time of 3:52.61, took the leaders through 1600 meters in 4:02.97.
University of North Carolina teammates Ethan Strand and Parker Wolfe took command after Hoey stepped off and kept going, finishing 1-2 in 7:30.15, and 7:30.23, under the qualifying standard of the 2025 world indoor championships in Nanjing, China of 7:31.00.
Strand, Wolfe, along with third place finisher Yaseen Abdalla of Arkansas (7:34.17) and Gary Martin of Virginia (7:36.09) all went under the NCAA collegiate record of 7:36.42 set by Drew Bosley of Northern Arizona on this track on January 26, 2024.
Green stopped the clock in 7:40.09, breaking the old school record of 7:40.40, set by Luke Houser this past season.
In the same heat, recent UW grad Joe Waskom was ninth in 7:46.62.
It's now the fourth different distance where Green owns the top time in school history. He also has the UW record at 800-meters (1:46.23), 1,000-meters (2:18.56), and 1,500-meters (3:32.20 set in a fifth-place Olympic Trials finish this past summer).
In the second heat, UW alum Sam Ellis took the win in 7:49.69, while current Husky Rhys Hammond was 15th in 7:57.99, as the Cornell transfer broke eight minutes for the first time.
In the top section of the women's 3000, the Huskies' Amina Maatoug just missed breaking 9 minutes, finishing twelfth in the heat, running 9:00.65. Zenah Cheptoo of Washington State was 16th in 9:14.37, while the Huskies' Chloe Foerster was 17th in 9:15.90.
Heat 2 saw Willow Collins of Gonzaga finish 19th in 9:19.86, while the next heat saw Claire Yerby of Washington finish 4th in 9:18.06, and teammate Maggie Liebich 11th in 9:26.75.
Gonzaga's Ireland Robertson won heat 5 in 9:28.36, while Seattle University's Lillianne Hargreaves and Azalea Groleau were 9th & 13th in 9:36.11 and 9:41.85.
In the second heat of the women's 5000, Rosina Machu of Gonzaga was 9th in 15:44.14, and Julia David-Smith of UW 15th in 15:55.05.
The fourth heat saw Seattle Pacific's Annika Esvelt finish fourth in a school record 16:09.93, which is the third fastest time in NCAA Division II this season.
The multi-time D2 All-American moved up as far as second at the 3000-meter mark. then remaining third or fourth for the final 2000 meters.
"The pace fell off a little bit somewhere in the middle, and I think if (it had kept up), I would have been maybe five seconds faster," Esvelt said afterwards.
The previous SPU indoor school record was set by the legendary Jessica Pixler, who ran 16:12.65 in 2009.
In the top section of the men's 5000, Seattle resident Sam Prakel finished sixth in 13:18.06, just off his personal best of 13:15.96 set at this meet two years ago.
Washington alum Kieran Lumb was ninth in 13:19.47, while Gonzaga alum James Mwaura was eleventh in the heat in 13:22.21, an outright personal best.
Two time NCAA cross country champ Graham Blanks of Harvard won in 12:59.89, and ducked under the world championships standard of 13:01.00 for next September's meet in Tokyo.
Running in his first ever indoor meet, Washington State's Evans Kurui was eleventh in a personal best 13:38.66. His previous personal best was 13:48.98 set in 2023 in Nairobi.
Wil Smith of Gonzaga was eleventh in heat 3 in 13:42.09, which is an indoor personal best for him, but remains number three on the school's all-time list.
A couple Husky debuts in the 1,000-meters resulted in a couple top-10 times. Kyle Reinheimer, a a transfer from North Carolina, ran 2:21.30 to take second in the race, and right next to him was Justin O'Toole, a transfer from Columbia, in a time of 2:21.44. Those times put them fourth and fifth in school history.
In Honolulu, Washington's Sophie O'Sullivan finished eighth in the Kalakaua Merrie Mile road race held in conjunction with Sunday's Honolulu Marathon.
Racing on an out-and-back course, O'Sullivan clocked 4:39.17, as Nikki Hiltz won in 4:28.39.
In Reno, Western Washington's Bec Bennett was scheduled to run the women's 400 Saturday at the Nevada Silver State Invitational.
Unfortunately, Bennett, a junior from Australia, never made it to the starting line, as she was forced to scratch due to a case of food poisoning the night before.
NOTE: The Honolulu Marathon, Boston University and the sports information offices of the University of Washington, Washington State University, Seattle University, Seattle Pacific, and Gonzaga contributed to this report.
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