This weekend gets busy with meets at the Dempsey, Podium, plus New Mexico and Boston...

Eight of Washington's nine schools will have a presence at the UW Invitational that begins Friday and goes through Saturday at the Dempsey Indoor on the campus of the University of Washington.

Kicking off the meet at 1 pm Friday is the first of four events in the two-day heptathlon, the 60 meters, which features NCAA decathlon competitor Jami Schlueter (Paul Merca photo) against Washington State's Mason Mahacek, who was 12th in the NCAA heptathlon in Boston last year.

Also at 1 pm is an intriguing women's pole vault clash featuring Washington's Moll twins, Hana and Amanda, both of whom jumped 15-3 (4.65m) at the National Pole Vault Summit in Reno, as they go against Washington State's Tatum Moku, who cleared 14-5.5 (4.41m) two weeks ago in Spokane, and NCAA indoor qualifier Eva Lowder.

The women's pentathlon goes 30 minutes later, and it features the UW debut of two time Spanish national heptathlon champion Sofia Cosculluela, where she'll face former Oregon multi-event specialist Colleen Uzoekwe, who is now a grad student at Fresno State.

As always, the distance races will offer up plenty of intrigue.

The men's 5000 features WSU cross country All American Evans Kurui and former Harding NCAA D2 All American Josphat Meli, who makes his WSU debut, while the women's 5000 features the Huskies' Tori Herman and WSU's Zenah Cheptoo.

The women's 3000 is headlined by New Mexico's Pamela Kosgei, the NCAA cross country runner up, going against former Seattle Pacific and Oregon State All-American Kaylee Mitchell of the Nike Bowerman AC, and the UW trio of Amina Maatoug, Mia Cochran and Julia David-Smith.

NCAA and Olympic Trials qualifier Wil Smith of Gonzaga tops the men's 3000, which has Cal sub-4 miler Garrett MacQuiddy, Portland's Estanis Ruiz, and UW's Thomas Diamond, Rhys Hammond, and Tyrone Gorze.

The men's pole vault has Tokyo Olympian Matt Ludwig against Washington's Scott Toney, Mathis Bresko, and Simon Park, with Washington alum Max Manaon, and former Michigan State vaulter Trevor Stephenson thrown in for good measure.

Perhaps the most intriguing race on the schedule is the men's 800 Saturday featuring Washington's Nathan Green, who ran the fastest time in the world in the mile so far this season two weeks ago when he ran 3:50.74, and teammate Ronan McMahon-Staggs, who ran 3:51.85.

Washington alum Sam Ellis is in the 800m field, as is current Husky Cole Lindhorst, in what might be a shot at Kyle Reinheimer's UW school record of 1:46.45 set two weeks ago. Reinheimer's mark is currently the third fastest NCAA D1 time this season.

There's a better than even chance that at least ten runners break 4 minutes in the men's mile, and it's possible that a handful of women will break 4:30.

All American Michaela De Mello of Washington State is scheduled to compete in both the 60 hurdles and 60 dash, which is not her specialty. 

In the 60 dash, De Mello potentially faces off against Central Washington's All American E'lexis Hollis.

The women's and men's shot puts feature Washington's Kaia Tupu-South on the women's side, and former NCAA shot champ and Oregon 22 world championships eighth place finisher Adrian "Tripp" Piperi III.

Publisher Paul Merca was a guest on West Coast XC publisher Ken Martinez's podcast to preview the UW Invitational:

Media partner RunnerSpace.com ($) will stream both days of the meet, with Friday's session beginning at 1 pm and Saturday's session at 10 am.

The Big Ten Network Plus ($) will also stream the meet.

The start list and live results will be posted here. The final time schedule will be posted on the UW's home meet home page, which is here.

Saturday, Eastern Washington makes the short drive from Cheney to compete in the Inland Northwest Invitational hosted by Whitworth University at The Podium in Spokane.

Also entered in the meet are split squads from Gonzaga, Washington State, and Central Washington.

RunnerSpace.con ($) will stream the meet starting at 9 am.

The link to live results is available here.

Another group of athletes from Washington State is headed to Albuquerque, New Mexico for the New Mexico Team Open.

The link to live results is available here. Flotrack ($) will stream the meet.

Also on Saturday in Boston, former Husky Sam Tanner, and current Brooks Beast Kyle Langford are entered in the mile and 800 at the John Thomas Terrier Classic at the Boston University Track and Tennis Center.

Friday's portion of the John Thomas Terrier Classic features Olympia native Brooke Feldmeier in the mile, and former Brooks Beast Jessica McClain in the 5000, as she drops down in distance.

Flotrack ($) will stream the meet. The link to live results is available here.

To cap off a busy weekend, former Huskies Sam Tanner and Luke Houser, along with Seattle resident Sam Prakel, are entered in the 3000 at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix meet in Boston at The TRACK at new balance on Sunday.

The meet, which is part of World Athletics' Indoor Tour Gold Series, is one of two Gold Level meets in the USA this season, with the Millrose Games in New York on February 8th.

Washington alums Joe Waskom and Kieran Lumb are entered in the 1500, while former Washington State Cougar Charisma Taylor is in the triple jump.

NBC and Peacock will televise the meet live Sunday beginning at 1 pm Pacific time. 

The home page to the meet, which will include a link to live results, is available here.

NOTE: The sports information offices of the University of Washington, University of New Mexico, Whitworth University, Boston University, and the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix  contributed to this report.

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