Sharon Colyear-Danville indoor and USATF XC Champs take center stage this weekend...
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| Chloe Foerster of UW, seen competing in 2023 at Boston University, is entered in the elite women's 3000 (Paul Merca photo) |
Distance fans, this upcoming weekend may be one of the most intriguing weekends of the 2025 season before the Christmas holiday break and into 2026.
The traditional start of the 2026 indoor track season in the NCAA gets going this weekend, as teams and athletes can start getting qualifying marks to the NCAA indoor championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas (Division I) and Virginia Beach, Virginia (Division II).
Not only do we have the start of the 2026 NCAA indoor season, highlighted by the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener at the hyper-fast Boston University Track and Tennis Center track on Saturday, but we also have the USATF Cross Country Championships in Portland, Oregon at the Glendoveer Golf Course.
The USATF Cross Country Championships, which is being held in conjunction with the Nike Cross Nationals, the country's unofficial national high school championships, is the selection race for next month's World Athletics Cross Country Championships.
The world cross country championships will be held on January 10th for the third time on American soil in Tallahassee, Florida, and a host of American pros who would normally skip the US cross country championships to either focus on indoors or do a longer buildup to the outdoor season, want in on the action.
Several web sites are toting the USATF Cross Country Championships could be the biggest pro cross country meet in the country in a long while.
Given the stakes involved with a world championship berth on American soil on the line, I tend to agree with it.
SHARON COLYEAR-DANVILLE SEASON OPENER...
At the 2024 Sharon Colyear-Danville meet, 23 marks alone were set my men and women that were good enough to qualify for the NCAA Division I championships (marks that were in the top 16 following the end of the 2024-25 indoor qualifying period following the conclusion of the various conference championships at the end of February).
Nearly all of the 23 qualifying marks came in the 3000 and 5000 meter runs.
As a matter of fact, all four 2025 NCAA champions in the 3000 and 5000: Ethan Strand of North Carolina, Brian Musau of Oklahoma State on the men's side, and Ceili McCabe of West Virginia and Doris Lemngole of Alabama, got their qualifiers to nationals at this meet.
Keep in mind that this meet falls two weeks after the conclusion of the NCAA cross country championships, so many of the athletes in the Sharon Colyear-Danville meet are still race sharp, and are looking to get a great mark before heading home for the holidays.
Getting a top mark at this meet helps avoid having to chase a time towards the end of February to qualify for the NCAA championships. Only the top 16 marks at the end of the qualifying period get into the NCAAs.
Those with qualifiers in hand can dial back their training over the holidays and do a slower buildup to peak for the national championships on March 13th and 14th.
From 3pm to 4:30 pm Eastern time is the meet's elite window, where the top sections of the men's and women's 800, mile, 3000 and 5000s will be contested.
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| UW alum Joe Waskom of adidas is entered in the men's 3000 at the Sharon Colyear-Danville meet in Boston (Paul Merca photo) |
Here's the list of those with Washington ties in the elite sections as of Thursday December 4th:
W 800: Chloe Symon (UW)
W mile: Jenica Swartz (UW)
M 3000: Sam Prakel (adidas), Joe Waskom (adidas), Reuben Reina (UW)
W 3000: Chloe Foerster (UW)
M 5000: Solomon Kipchoge, Evans Kurui (WSU)
W 5000: Chloe Thomas (UW), Rosina Machu (Gonzaga)
The men's 5000 could potentially be the best race of the meet, with CitiusMag's Chris Chavez posting on X that the top runners in the field are asking for 12:55 5000m, which is 31 seconds per lap or 62 seconds per 400.
If that's the case, the field, which is led by NCAA cross country champion Habtom Samuel of New Mexico and Oklahoma State's Brian Musau, the defending indoor and outdoor champion at this distance, could take down the collegiate indoor record of 12:57.14 set in 2024 by Northern Arizona's Nico Young.
Seven of the top ten men's finishers at the NCAA cross country championships two weeks ago, including the Cougars' Solomon Kipchoge (Paul Merca photo) who was third, are in this field.
Assuming the field goes at 12:55 pace, both Washington State's Kipchoge and Evans Kurui could potentially be towed to go under the WSU all time best of 13:06.2 set by the great Henry Rono in 1981.
Kurui already holds the WSU indoor record when he ran 13:17.16 at the Husky Classic last year.
The women's 5000 is just as stacked, with seven of the top ten finishers at the NCAA championships in the field, led by BYU freshman Jane Hedengren, who was the runner-up to Alabama's Doris Lemngole.
Both Gonzaga's Rosina Machu, and Washington's Chloe Thomas are in this elite field. Machu and Thomas were both out of cross country eligibility, and have All-America credentials in hand. Thomas, the University of Connecticut grad transfer, is coming off a second place performance at the Canadian cross country championships last weekend, which earned her a spot on the Canadian team for next month's world championships in Tallahassee, Florida.
Machu holds the Gonzaga ultimate school record of 15:37.05, set at this meet two years ago. Thomas set her personal best of 15:17.47 at this meet last year, which is well under the UW ultimate school record of 15:22.81 set outdoors by Amina Maatoug last year, as well as the indoor record of 15:38.47 set by Haley Herberg in 2024.
The link to the accepted entries, and time schedule is available here. Flotrack ($) will stream the meet starting at 9:45 am Eastern/6:45 am Pacific time.
We will be in Boston to cover the meet!
USA CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS TO DETERMINE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BERTHS TO TALLAHASSEE...
Saturday's USATF Cross Country Championships will be held at Portland's Glendoveer Golf Course, and will be the selection race for next month's World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee, Florida.
There is some question as to why the selection meet for the world championships is being held in Portland instead of Tallahassee, where potential team members can have an advance look at the course. That said, Nike approached USATF and asked to host the meet, to which the federation happily accepted.
Nonetheless, the show must go on.
After the conclusion of Saturday's Nike Cross Nationals, the unofficial national high school championship races at 10:05 am (boys) and 11:35 am (girls), the USATF championships take over with the men's 2k championship at 12:30, followed by the women's 2k ten minutes later.
The men's 10k championship race goes at 12:55 pm, followed by the women's 10k at 1:50 pm.
The day concludes with the under-20 men's 8k at 2:50 pm, and the under-20 women's 6k at 3:30 pm.
Unlike the men's and women's 10k races where the top six will go to Florida, in the 2k races, only the top two will go. Those runners will comprise the team for the mixed 4 x 2k relay at the world championships.
In the men's and women's under-20 races, the top five, plus the winner of the boys and girls' races at the Nike Cross Nationals race will earn selection to the world championships.
The Seattle based Brooks Beasts will have a strong presence in the meet, led on the women's side by Allie Buchalski (Paul Merca photo) and Kayley DeLay, who went 1-2 at the USATF National Club Cross Country Championships at Chambers Creek Regional Park in University Place last year (DeLay is also entered in the 2k race).
Also entered is Woodinville native Olivia Markezich, a former NCAA steeple champ and cross country All-American out of Notre Dame, along with Washington's Abby DeVeau, the biggest surprise of the Husky women's team this season. Former Seattle resident Allie Ostrander, a 2019 world championships steeplechase competitor is also in the field.
The men's 10k will have Parker Stokes and newcomer Matt Strangio representing the Beasts in the field. Also entered is Washington alum Acer Iverson.
Brandon Miller of the Beasts, a US Olympian at 800 meters, is in the men's 2k race, while Teagan Schein-Becker along with DeLay are entered in the women's 2k. Washington alum Claire Yerby is also in the field.
paulmerca.blogspot.com media partner RunnerSpace.com will offer free live streaming of both the Nike Cross Nationals and the USATF Cross Country Championships.
OH, ONE LAST THING...
Early Sunday morning (Saturday night on the West Coast), Washington alums Izzi Batt-Doyle (Paul Merca photo), Lindsay Flanagan, and Jack Rowe are among the entries at the Valencia Marathon in the Spanish city.
Batt-Doyle passed on an opportunity to run the marathon at the Tokyo world championships in September, and opted to run the 10000 on the track, where she finished 17th. She ran 1:08:55 to win the Nike Melbourne Half Marathon in October.
Flanagan, a two-time world championships competitor, intended to run the Boston Marathon in the spring, but suffered a partial tear of her hamstring at the New York Half Marathon in March. In her most recent race, she ran 1:13:13 at the Boston AA Half Marathon last month.
Rowe, who has only raced three times in 2025, is making his marathon debut.
The former Husky ran 60:53 to finish tenth at the Copenhagen Half Marathon on September 14th.
Flotrack ($) will stream the Valencia Marathon starting at 11 pm Saturday night, Pacific time/2 am Sunday morning Eastern time.
NOTE: The sports information office of Boston University, USA Track & Field, Nike Cross Nationals, and the Valencia Marathon, contributed to this report.
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