Championship weekend arrives for Huskies, Eagles and Redhawks...

While it's only a short 4.5 hour bus ride from the University of Washington campus to the corner of 15th & Agate Street on the University of Oregon campus, the Husky men's and women's track and field teams head into relatively unknown territory as they compete in their first Big Ten Track & Field Championships starting at noon on Friday.

The Dawgs will compete in an outdoor track and field championship meet outside whatever iteration of the Pac-12, Pac-10, Pac-8, and Pacific Coast Conference this weekend at Hayward Field.

Seventeen of the conference's 18 schools will participate in the first championship mega meet, with Northwestern the only school opting out. Northwestern does not sponsor a men's or women's indoor or outdoor track team, but will have a women's team beginning with the 2026 season.

Oregon swept the men's and women's indoor team titles back in March in Indianapolis, with Washington finishing fourth in the men's championships, and fifth in the women's meet. 

The men's team title is USC's to lose, based on their strength in the sprints and hurdles. Our men's team projections have the Trojans scoring 141 points, with Wisconsin second at 97, and Washington third with 78 points.

That said, there are four teams that are close to the Huskies: Minnesota, with their strength in the jumps and throws, along with indoor champ and host Oregon with of course their strength in the middle distance and lower places in most of the field events with both at 73; Nebraska, with their strength in the jumps and throws at 70.5; and Iowa with 59, with their strength in the hurdles, the throws, and the decathlon (the paragraphs in red were changed after the Big Ten posted the accepted entries).

On paper, no one is touching USC in the 100, 200, 400, the 110 and 400 hurdles, and both relays. The Trojans have three sub-10 second sprinters, led by Max Thomas, who's run 9.92 and 20.33.

Washington and Wisconsin figure to battle each other in the distance races from 800 to 10000, plus the steeplechase, with both the Huskies and Badgers getting the majority of their team points in those events.

The wild card in the distance events (and for that matter, across the board) is Oregon, which on paper, projects to only score 33 points from 800-10000 and the steeplechase. 

Anyone who ignores the Hayward Magic entering that stadium is either crazy or naive.  While on paper, Oregon doesn't have the depth that they had from 2007 to 2022 when they won 15 straight Pac-12 titles,

the home track advantage Oregon has is real, and while I don't think that they will get the crowds that previous teams once got at Hayward, the Ducks will be inspired to perform at home.

The one event that's worthy of an NCAA final is the men's 1500, featuring Washington's Nathan Green (Paul Merca photo) against Wisconsin's Adam Spencer, and a surging Simeon Birnbaum from Oregon. Behind that group of three are NCAA competitors Ronan McMahon-Staggs and Rhys Hammond of Washington.

On paper, Green is the favorite, but to discount either Spencer or Birnbaum isn't a good idea.

Qualifying heats in the men's 1500 happens Friday night at 7:09 pm, with the finals Sunday at 12:58 pm.

Pole vaulter Scott Toney is perhaps Washington's best shot outside the distance events to win an individual men's title, as he's the co-leader in the event at 18-2.5 (5.55m). That said, co-leader Dyson Wicker of Nebraska beat Toney two weeks ago at the Desert Heat meet in Tucson, when he cleared 18-2.5 (5.55m).

The men's pole vault finals will be contested Friday at 2 pm.

Like the men's team race, the women's team race looks on paper as USC's to lose, with indoor Big Ten women's team champion Oregon close enough that the final team standings could flip-flop.

UCLA is on paper the third best team, with Washington projected to finish seventh (this was changed after Washington elected to run Chloe Foerster only in the 800, Sophie O'Sullivan only in the 1500, and Sofia Cosculluela out of the heptathlon).

Based on the projected numbers, the top three teams are from three of the conference's four newest teams from the remnants of the old Pac-12.

While USC has the top end depth in the sprints, it's not as significant as in the men's field. They have the conference leader in the 200 and 400 in Madison Whyte (22.32/50.78), five of the top seven in the 200, and four of the top six in the 100.

In the 800 through the 10000 plus the steeplechase, Washington is led by conference leader in the 800 Chloe Foerster. Washington also has in its arsenal Olympian Sophie O'Sullivan in the 1500, plus NCAA indoor scorer Amina Maatoug, who is entered in the 5000.

As was the case during the indoor season, the pole vault is perhaps the best event on the women's side, though an argument could be made for the 1500.

The pole vault features Washington's collegiate record holder Amanda Moll, and her twin sister Hana, both of whom have the world championships standard in that event, going against Rutgers' Chloe Timburg, the defending NCAA outdoor champ, and 15-foot vaulter Tori Thomas of Illinois.

That event will be contested at 11 am on Sunday.

The women's 1500 could see a battle between the Huskies' O'Sullivan, against Oregon's Silan Ayyildiz, Mia Barnett, and their Olympian, Klaudia Kazimierska.  

The women's 1500 meter heats happen Friday at 7:37 pm, with the finals Sunday at 1:07 pm.

The Huskies' Jami Schlueter will contest the decathlon, as he'll need to score somewhere in the neighborhood of the high 7600 point total to advance to the NCAA championships at Hayward Field in four weeks (the combined events are not contested at the NCAA West and East First Rounds, but go off the top 24 scores from the regular season).

Washington's Sofia Cosculluela, the Big Ten leader in the heptathlon, will not contest it as she's currently in fourth on the national descending order list and should advance to NCAAs as one of the top 24.

The 2025 Big Ten Track and Field Championships will begin on Friday, May 16, and run through Sunday, May 18, at Hayward Field. All three days of action will be streamed live on Runnerspace.com ($), and Sunday's final day of competition will air live on the Big Ten Network beginning at 12:30 p.m.

The link to live results is available here, while the list of accepted entries is here.

We have an in-depth piece on the Big Tens that you can access here ($).

BIG SKY

Eastern Washington heads to Sacramento for the Big Sky Track & Field Championships at Hornet Stadium, hosted by Sacramento State.

Egypt Simmons, Kimberly Smith and Suzi Woodall are the three on the women's side looking to make an impact for the Eagles at the conference championships.

Simmons leads the Big Sky in the triple jump and holds the third-best mark in the long jump.  Smith sits just behind Simmons in the long jump at fourth. Woodall is ranked second in the conference in the shot put and is aiming to capture another gold medal.

Eastern is evenly represented in both track and field events. Maddy Shekhawat leads the way, ranked second in the 110-meter hurdles. Former Husky Daniel Gaik holds the fifth spot in the 400 meters, while Enoch Okoh is seventh in the 100 meters and Owen Higgins is also seventh in the 800 meters. In the relay events, the men's 4x100-meter team clocked a time of 40.50 to rank fifth in the conference, 

Discus thrower Cort Gebbers is ranked third in the Big Sky going into the championships, while Logan Ashbeck stands sixth in the javelin.

The link to live results is available here. ESPN+ ($) will stream all three days of the Big Sky Championships.

WESTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE...

Seattle University's track and field season, and their time in the Western Athletic Conference will mercifully come to an end starting Thursday in Arlington, Texas.

In the words of TNT's Charles Barkley, the Redhawks quite frankly have been "TURRIBLE", which is beyond terrible.

Entering the conference championship meet, they have no one inside the NCAA West Region's top 100 in any running or field event. 48 is the cutoff to qualify for the NCAA West Region First Round meet in two weeks in College Station.

The link to live results for the Western Athletic Conference championship meet is available here. ESPN+ ($) will stream all three days of the meet.

MOON AND ALLEN COMPETE IN DOHA DIAMOND LEAGUE MEET FRIDAY...

Former Washington State volunteer assistant coach Katie Moon, along with WSU alum CJ Allen will compete in the third stop of the Wanda Diamond League series Friday in Doha, Qatar.

Moon, the reigning outdoor world champion, makes her season outdoor debut after cutting short her indoor season following the USA championships in New York.

She'll face a field that includes fellow Americans Sandi Morris, Gabby Leon and Emily Grove, along with Great Britain's Molly Caudery and New Zealand's Eliza McCartney.

Allen, who has raced in all of the opening meets of the Diamond League circuit in China, will face a field that includes Turkiye's Berke Akcam, and Sweden's Carl Bengtstrom, currently third and fourth in the Diamond League standings with 10 points.

Allen is currently seventh in the Diamond League standings in the 400 hurdles with 4 points.

The start list for the Doha Diamond League meet is available here. Flotrack ($) will stream the meet starting at 9 am Pacific time Friday.

NOTE: The Wanda Diamond League, Big Ten, Big Sky, WAC, and the sports information offices of Washington, Seattle University and Eastern Washington contributed to this report.

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