Olympian Brandon Miller of Brooks Beasts leads qualifying in men's 800m at USATF Champs...
EUGENE--It was a strong showing for the Seattle based Brooks Beasts, as the team qualified three runners to Sunday's finals of the 800 meters to highlight day two of the Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships at Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon Friday.
In the men's 800, Olympian Brandon Miller (Paul Merca photo) patiently sat behind Vincent Crisp, as they went through the first 400 in 50.35, with Beasts training partner Isaiah Harris and 2019 world champion Donavan Brazier lurking.
Miller turned on the jets over the third 200, before cruising in to take the heat win in 1:44.25, which was the fastest time of the three semifinal heats.
Brazier made a late run at Miller, then eased in once he was assured of finishing second and the final automatic qualifying spot.
Harris, who is looking to make yet another world championships team, finished third in the heat, but ended up running the fastest non-automatic qualifying time, coming through in a season best 1:44.53, 3/100ths of a second short of the world championships qualifying standard.
Washington alum Cass Elliott was eighth in the heat in 1:47.08.
Washington's Kyle Reinheimer was sixth in heat 2 in 1:46.91.
In heat three, Brannon Kidder of the Brooks Beasts was eighth in 1:47.10.
The women's 800 saw former Brooks Beast and Olympian Nia Akins win the first semifinal in 1:58.09, which turned out to be the fastest time of the day.
Valery Tobias of the Beasts finished fourth in heat two, running a personal best 1:59.40, then had to watch the final heat to see if her time would hold up as one of the three time qualifiers to Sunday's final.
Heat 3 was won by Stanford's Roisin Willis in 1:59.60, which meant only the top two from the heat would advance. Tobias' mark was the third and final time qualifier to Sunday's finals.
În the decathlon, Washington State alum Lee Walburn, who began the day in twelfth place, finished eighth with a final score of 7525 points.
He began day 2 by running 15.14 in the 110 hurdles. Walburn had his best performance of the two days with a second place finish in the discus, spinning the platter 166-4 (50.71m), a new personal best.
In the pole vault, Walburn cleared 15-1 (4.60m), a small victory, considering that he snapped his Achilles tendon in this event at the US Olympic Trials at Hayward Field.
Walburn threw 186-8 (56.90m) in the javelin, then finished the day by running the 1500 in 4:54.46.
Kyle Garland won the decathlon with a personal best 8869 points.
In the only other event involving a Washington athlete, Central Washington's NCAA D2 high jump champ Emy Ntekpere, competing in her first meet since the NCAA Division II championships in May in Colorado, failed to clear the opening height of 5-8.75 (1.75m).
Vashti Cunningham continued her nine-year long dominance in the event at the senior level, winning with a jump of 6-5.5 (1.97m).
After the decision by both defending world champions Noah Lyles and Sha'Carri Richardson to withdraw from the 100 meters, Kenny Bednarek (9.79) and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden (10.65) took the national titles.
ON TAP SATURDAY...
The race of the day is the men's 1500 meter finals at 2:14 pm, with Washington's NCAA champion Nathan Green, along with former champ Joe Waskom, and two time NCAA indoor champ and world indoor championships bronze medalist Luke Houser, along with former UW volunteer assistant coach Sam Prakel (Paul Merca photo), comprising one-third of the 12-man field.
Those four will face Olympic champ Cole Hocker, bronze medalist Yared Nuguse, and Paris fifth place finisher Hobbs Kessler.
Many experts see a scenario in which it will take 3:31 or faster to get one of the three spots to Tokyo.
While Green's personal best is 3:32.20, set in the finals of last year's Olympic Trials, he has not gone under the world championships qualifying standard of 3:33.00 since the qualifying period opened on August 1st of 2024. In fact, Waskom, Houser, and Prakel have yet to go under 3:33.00, though Prakel came awfully close in Thursday's semifinals, running 3:33.08.
Paris Olympic silver medalist and College Place HS alum Kenneth Rooks looks to win his third straight USA national title in the 3000 steeplechase at 2:49 pm. Parker Stokes of the Brooks Beast is also in the field.
Right after the men's steeple is the women's steeple at 3:04 pm after the NBC television window, with former Seattle Pacific All American Kaylee Mitchell, Woodinville native Olivia Markezich, and former Seattle resident Allie Ostrander.
On the field, Eastern Washington's Egypt Simmons and Central Washington's Emy Ntekpere battle in the women's triple jump at 12:40 pm, while Washington's Scott Toney goes in the men's pole vault ten minutes later.
After Friday's first round of the 400 hurdles was canceled, Washington State alum and Paris Olympian CJ Allen goes in the semifinals of that event, along with Washington alum Matthew Wilkinson.
Arlington native and former WSU standout Parker Duskin makes his USA championships debut in the first round of the 110 hurdles at 12:14 pm.
After the NCAA championships, where he ran on the Cougars' 4 x 100 relay team, he entered the transfer portal, and found a home at the University of Arizona.
Starting the day at 7 am is the men's and women's 20k walk with Vancouver native Dan Nehnevaj and Bellevue native Katie Burnett.
Here's who's competing Saturday with Washington ties:
7:00 AM W 20K WALK (final) Katie Burnett
7:01 AM M 20K WALK (final) Dan Nehnevaj
12:14 PM M 110 HH (1st round) Parker Duskin
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12:40 PM W TJ (final) Egypt Simmons
Emy Ntekpere
12:50 PM M PV (final) Scott Toney
1:41 PM M 400H (1st round) CJ Allen
Matthew Wilkinson
2:14 PM M 1500 (final) Sam Prakel
Luke Houser
Nathan Green
Joe Waskom
2:49 PM M STEEPLE (final) Kenneth Rooks
Parker Stokes
3:04 PM W STEEPLE (final) Kaylee Mitchell
Olivia Markezich
Allie Ostrander
Name in GREEN has world championships qualifying standard.
Day 3 of the Toyota USATF Outdoor and Para National Championships will be televised on NBC (KING 5 in Seattle) and Peacock ($) both Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 3 pm Pacific each day.
The meet will also be streamed on USATF.tv ($) during the non-televised window, along with dedicated field event streams.
NOTE: USA Track & Field, and World Athletics contributed to this report.
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