NIKE Prefontaine Classic preview (part 1): Men's International Mile...
This is the first of a series of mini-preview posts on Saturday's Nike Prefontaine Classic at Hayward Field.
The Prefontaine Classic, named after the late University of Oregon runner Steve Prefontaine, celebrates its fiftieth anniversary as the nation's premier one-day invitational meet.
The Prefontaine Classic is the only North American stop on the 15-event Wanda Diamond League tour, which began in April in China, and ends in Zürich.
We preview those events which will have athletes with ties to the state of Washington competing. First up--the men's International Mile.
The fields are now officially set for Saturday's Nike Prefontaine Classic at Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon, the ninth stop of the 15-meet Wanda Diamond League tour.
There will be a distinct Seattle vibe in the field of the men's International Mile, which is set to start at 12:51 pm, a few minutes before the start of the meet's television window on NBC and Peacock at 1 pm.
Former Huskies Luke Houser and Sam Tanner will join Seattle resident Sam Prakel, and incoming Husky Owen Powell (Paul Merca photo) in the 15-man field.
The majority of the field in the men's International Mile are rising American talents, including Oregon's Simeon Birnbaum and Elliott Cook, Virginia's Gary Martin and Wes Porter, Aidan McCarthy of Cal Poly/SLO, and North Carolina's Ethan Strand.
Sprinkled in the field are Olympians Adam Spencer of Australia, who recently finished his collegiate career at Wisconsin, and Tanner from New Zealand.
After moving on from the Seattle based Brooks Beasts last fall, Washington grad Luke Houser, a two time NCAA indoor mile champion, has experienced a bit of a resurgence as a member of the Atlanta Track Club. Houser was a surprising bronze medalist at the world indoor championships in Nanjing in March.
Prakel, a former Washington volunteer assistant coach who still trains at the UW under Husky men's head coach Andy Powell, finished ninth in Nanjing at the world indoors. In his three outdoor races at 1500 meters, he's had three straight third place finishes at the Track Fest in Los Angeles, the pro section of the Brooks PR in Renton, and most recently, the Portland Track Fest on June 15th.
After winning yet another New Zealand national title at 1500m, Tanner's run in two Wanda Diamond League meets in Rabat and Stockholm. At the Stockholm meet, the two time Olympian ran a season best of 3:33.06, just 6/100ths off the world championships standard of 3:33.00.
Tanner was 14th in Ostrava on June 24th, running 3:40.02 in the 1500.
While the race will be up front, there's an interesting sub plot in the International Mile as Mercer Island's Owen Powell will face off against New Zealand's Sam Ruthe.
Ruthe, who shares the same club coach as Sam Tanner, made headlines on March 19th, a mere 25 days before his 16th birthday, when he became the youngest man to break 4 minutes in the mile, clocking 3:58.35 in Auckland.
Powell, who broke 4 minutes for the first time at the Husky Classic in February when he ran 3:57.74, then followed it up six days later in Boston, running 3:56.66, steamrolled his way through the 2025 high school season, winning both the Washington 3A 800 and 1600 meter titles for Mercer Island HS for the second straight year.
Powell and Ruthe raced against each other at the Arcadia HS Invitational in California over two miles, with Powell winning in 8:39.86 to Ruthe's 8:43.57.
Having not only Ruthe and a predominantly professional field in the International Mile pull Powell along, the possibility is there to threaten the long standing national high school record of 3:53.43 set by Alan Webb of South Lakes HS in Reston, Virginia at the 2001 Nike Prefontaine Classic.
Powell currently stands fourth on the high school boys' absolute list behind Webb, Jim Ryun of East HS/Wichita (3:55.3, 1965), and Colin Sahlman of Newbury Park, California (3:56.24, 2022).
USATF.tv will air the events not covered in the television window, starting at 10 am Pacific with the men's hammer throw.
NOTE: The Nike Prefontaine Classic, World Athletics, and the Wanda Diamond League contributed to this report.
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