Eight of nine Washington D1 and D2 squads in action this weekend, with five in Bay Area...
To say that this coming weekend is going to be one of the busiest weekends for eight of the nine Washington Division I and II schools is an understatement.
Most of the action this weekend happens in Northern California, as Washington, Washington State, Gonzaga, Seattle University plus a select few from Western Washington and Seattle Pacific will be at Stanford for the Stanford Invitational on Friday and Saturday.
For Washington, this marks for all intents and purposes, the Huskies' season opener, though they had four athletes compete last week at the Texas Relays and Bobcat Invitational.
According to the accepted entry list published by Stanford University, twins Hana (l) and Amanda Moll (above/Paul Merca photo), the last two NCAA indoor pole vault champions, will open their outdoor campaign. The women's invitational pole vault at the Stanford Invitational goes at 2:30 pm Friday.
While there will be a plethora of great distance races Friday evening, perhaps one of the most intriguing will be the men's 10000.
Both are in the field, which potentially could be the best men's 10000 field assembled in the country so far this season. The Stanford field includes Alabama's Victor Kiprop and Oklahoma State's Denis Kipngetich, who finished second and third at last year's NCAA championships, along with Washington State's Evans Kurui.
A select number of distance runners from Western Washington, Seattle University and Seattle Pacific will compete at the Mike Fanelli Track Classic Thursday through Saturday hosted by San Francisco State University.
Western Washington's combined events group will head to Berkeley for the Brutus Hamilton Multis meet hosted by the University of California on Thursday and Friday.
The Vikings are also sending their sprints, throws and jumps contingent to La Jolla, California for the Triton Invitational hosted by UC San Diego Friday and Saturday.
Eastern Washington and Central Washington, plus those athletes from Seattle Pacific, Gonzaga, and Washington State not traveling to the Bay Area will compete at Friday's Whitworth Peace Meet, hosted by Whitworth University in Spokane.
Links to live results are available below:
CENTRAL WOMEN RANKED INSIDE DIVISION II TOP TEN...
After a strong performance at both the Texas Relays and the Bobcat Invitational over the weekend, the Central Washington women's team enters the first USTFCCCA Division II women's rating index as the nation's number eight team.
The Wildcats were sparked by six Division II top 15 performances, including two number 1 marks by Emy Ntekpere in the high jump at 5-10.5 (1.79m), and in the triple jump at 43-6 (13.26m).
They were also boosted by a number 2 performance by E'lexis Hollis (11.27w) in the 100 meters; a number 4 performance in the 4 x 100 relay (45.15); a vault of 13-3.5 (4.05m) by Lauryn McGough, good for number 8 in Division II; and, the 11th best mark in the country in the long jump by Ntekpere at 19-4.75 (5.91m).
The nation's top five teams in Division II are in order: Pittsburg State, West Texas A&M, Grand Valley State, Fresno Pacific, and Azusa Pacific.
The Wildcats are the only GNAC squad ranked in the national top 25 on the women's or men's side.
Central Washington competes this weekend at the Whitworth Peace Meet in Spokane.
In Division I, no Washington schools are ranked in the top 25 in the initial men's or women's rating index.
NOTE: The sports information offices of Stanford, San Francisco State, Western Oregon, Whitworth, Central Washington, and the USTFCCCA contributed to this report.
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