THE WEEKEND AHEAD: Desert Heat, OSU High Performance, Grand Slam Miami & Shanghai DL...
With the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships coming up next weekend in Bellingham, and the Division I schools starting to sharpen up for their conference championships in two weeks, here's what's happening this weekend:
Eastern Washington and Washington will send a group of athletes to Tucson for the Desert Heat Classic on Saturday, hosted by the University of Arizona at Drachman Stadium.
The group of athletes that will head down to the desert are primarily in the sprints, jumps, hurdles, and throwing events.
The invitational women's pole vault features Washington's Hana (Paul Merca photo) and Amanda Moll, the last two NCAA indoor champions in the event, going against Washington alum Nastassja Campbell, who cleared 15 feet for the first time at the Texas Relays in March.
One intriguing matchup could come in the men's 800, where Washington's All American Justin O'Toole goes against Iowa State's Darius Kipyego. At the NCAA indoor championships, O'Toole finished sixth, while Kipyego was seventh in the finals.
Eastern Washington's Egypt Simmons looks to improve upon her second place finish at last year's Desert Heat triple jump competition. Teammate Maddy Shekhawat looks to improve his ranking in the Big Sky conference 110 hurdles, where he's currently ranked second at 13.70.
Most of the Washington schools will be in Corvallis for Friday and Saturday's Oregon State University High Performance meet at the Whyte Track & Field Center on the OSU campus.
While there are other events contested Friday, the bulk of the running events consist of distance events, which will have its own session from 4:20 pm to just past 10 pm.
Eastern Washington, Gonzaga, Saint Martin's, Central Washington, Western Washington and Seattle University will have athletes competing both days, while Washington is sending a small distance group running only on Friday night. Seattle Pacific has only one athlete in the meet in hurdler Hannah Chang.
Media partner RunnerSpace.com ($) will stream both days of the meet.
THE PROS AT GRAND SLAM TRACK MIAMI & SHANGHAI DIAMOND LEAGUE...
Josh Kerr of the Brooks Beasts, along with Washington State alum Maribel Caicedo are competing Friday and Saturday in the second stop of the Grand Slam Track tour at the Ansin Sports Complex in Miramar, Florida, outside Miami.
Kerr, who was one of the first athletes to sign with Grand Slam Track, will run in Friday's 1500 against a field that includes Olympic 1500 champ Cole Hocker, Olympic 1500 bronze medalist Yared Nuguse, defending world 800m champion Marco Arop, and Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Timothy Cheruiyot.
At the first stop in Kingston last month, Kerr finished fifth in the 1500 in 3:35.61, and eighth in the 800 in 1:50.68, collecting 5 points and a seventh place finish in the short distance (800-1500) category, as challenger Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya, the reigning Olympic champion at 800 meters, won the weekend by winning the 1500 and the 12 points in 3:35.18, then finished second in the 800 in 1:46.44, collecting 8 points for a total of 20 points and $100,000.
Caicedo makes her debut in Grand Slam Track as a challenger in the short hurdles, going up against racers Masai Russell of the USA, Cyrena Samba-Mayela of France, and Ackera Nugent of Jamaica.
Caicedo runs the 100 hurdles Friday as the meet's opening event at 2:42 Pacific time, while Kerr will run the 1500 nine minutes later.
Saturday, Caicedo races over 100 meters against the same field who ran the hurdles at 3:10 pm Pacific, while Kerr faces the 1500 field over 800 meters Saturday at 4:05 pm Pacific.
Peacock ($) will stream all three days of the Miami stop of Grand Slam track, while The CW will televise live Saturday and Sunday's sessions.
Washington State alum CJ Allen and Washington alum Brian Fay are entered in Saturday's Wanda Diamond League stop in Shanghai/Keqiao, China.
Allen is in the 400 hurdles, where he'll face reigning world champion Karsten Warholm of Norway and Kyron McMaster of the British Virgin Islands.
Allen ran in the season opening Diamond League meet in Xiamen, where he ran in the 300 hurdles, which is, as of this season, a world record event.
Last month, Allen ran as a challenger in Grand Slam Track's opening meet in Kingston, Jamaica, where he finished sixth overall over the two days of competition, placing fifth in the 400 hurdles, and seventh in the flat 400.
Fay, the Irish Olympian, will run the 5000 against a field led by veteran Getnet Wale of Ethiopia, a former Diamond League champion in the steeplechase.
The Shanghai/Keqiao stop of the Wanda Diamond League begins streaming on Flotrack ($) starting at 4 am Pacific time.
NOTE: The sports information offices of the University of Arizona, University of Washington, Eastern Washington University, Oregon State University, as well as Grand Slam Track and the Wanda Diamond League contributed to this report.
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