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The indoor season in Washington goes into full gear with meets at Dempsey and The Podium...


All eight Washington Division I and II schools are in action, along with a bevy of post collegiate athletes as the 2026 indoor track season goes into full swing Friday and Saturday with the UW Indoor Preview in Seattle at the UW's Dempsey Indoor facility, and two meets in Spokane at The Podium: the Spokane Sports Showcase on Friday, and the Spokane Indoor Challenge Friday and Saturday.

UW INDOOR PREVIEW...

All but two of Washington's eight Division I and II squads are headed to Seattle for the UW Indoor Preview Friday and Saturday, with only Gonzaga and Eastern Washington opting to stay close to home and compete in Spokane.

The meet's headliner is Australia's Cameron Myers (Paul Merca photo), the world U20 record holder in the 1500 and mile, who is entered in the top section of the men's mile on Saturday at 11:25 am, where he'll face a field that includes Brannon Kidder of the Brooks Beasts; Joe Waskom and Sam Prakel of adidas and UW coach Andy Powell's pro group, as well as collegians Reuben Reina Jr., Josiah Tostenson, Evan Jenkins, Thomas Diamond and Jamar Distel of Washington and Mark Milner and Yakima native Jonas Price of Portland.

Northern Arizona alum Maggi Congdon of Nike Swoosh TC is entered in both the mile and the 800 Saturday.

In the 800, Congdon faces 2022 world championships team member Ellie Baker of Great Britain, and former NCAA mile champ Olivia Howell of adidas.

Alexandra Carlson and Washington alum India Weir, who last week competed for Great Britain in the mixed 4 x 2k relay at the World Cross Country Championships, are in the mile, while Mia Cochran and Julia David-Smith lead the Dawgs into battle.

The women's 1000m is headlined by Stanford's Paris Olympic finalist at 800m Juliette Whittaker, as she goes against UW's All-American Chloe Foerster, Stanford alum Christina Aragon, UW alum Claire Yerby, and Washington State All-American Rosemary Longisa, who is dropping down in distance.

The men's 1000 is headlined by Washington alum Sam Ellis, who faces UW's Owen Powell, who is making his Dempsey home debut as a Husky. Also making his Husky home debut is Tyler Bilyard, who ran 3:52 in the mile last winter.

The men's 3000 is headlined by Waleed Suliman of the Brooks Beasts, against All-American Evans Kurui of Washington State and Leo Young of Stanford. B1G Ten 10000m champion Evan Jenkins, who redshirted during the cross country season, makes his 2026 racing debut, and frosh sensation Josiah Tostenson makes his Husky track debut.

Washington State alum Ray-Ray Wells, who won the UW Preview 60 last year, and rode the momentum all the way to Nanjing, China and the world indoor championships, is entered in the men's 60.

While twins Hana and Amanda Moll are sitting this meet out after a long 2025 season that ended in a sixth place tie at the Tokyo world championships, there will be fireworks in both the men's and women's pole vaults.

The men's vault features current NCAA D1 leader Jimmy Rhoads of the Huskies, who cleared a personal best of 18-8.75 (5.71m), and towed teammate Eli Gault-Crabb to a PB, as he joined the 18-foot club for the first time, clearing 18-0.5 (5.50m) at the Spokane Invitational last month.

The women's pole vault features the home debut of high school All-American Veronica Vacca from Pennsylvania, who cleared 14-4 (4.37m) last winter and 14-5.25 (4.40m) in the summer of 2024. She faces Husky teammate Sara Borton, who was injured all of last season, and was an NCAA scorer in 2023.

Also in the mix is Washington's Avril Wilson, who is competing unattached this winter after scoring at the B1G Ten championships last year.

Central Washington's Emy Ntekpere looks to continue the momentum set last spring when the reigning NCAA D2 high jump and triple jump champion competes in both of her specialties.


Day 1 of the UW Indoor Preview starts Friday at 1 pm, with the first running event at 4 pm. Saturday's session starts at 9 am.

Publisher Paul Merca went on West Coast XC's podcast, and previewed the meet. You can watch it below:


SPOKANE SPORTS SHOWCASE/SPOKANE INDOOR CHALLENGE...

The Podium hosts two different meets this weekend, starting with the Spokane Sports Showcase on Friday morning, and the Spokane Indoor Challenge, which starts Friday night, and goes through Saturday.

In both meets, Eastern Washington and Gonzaga will have a large presence.

The Showcase meet is highlighted by the appearance of defending NCAA men's indoor and outdoor team champion USC.

Highlighting the Trojans' appearance in Spokane is sprinter JC Stevenson.

Stevenson, the reigning B1G Ten indoor men’s 60 meters champion, is entered in the dash. He finished sixth in at the NCAA Indoor Championships at Virginia Beach last winter. Stevenson was one of ten athletes recently named to The Bowerman preseason watchlist.

Also in the mix for the Trojans is Garrett Kaalund and William Jones. The two All-Americans are entered in the men's 300.

The USC women, the reigning Big Ten outdoor champions, will field a sprint-heavy squad this weekend, led by The Bowerman preseason watchlist athlete Madison Whyte.

Whyte, the Big Ten outdoor champion in the women’s 200 and 400, is entered in the 300 with 4x100 relay national champion teammate Dajaz Defrand and sophomore Mia Brahe-Pedersen, who was injured most of last season.


One race to watch is the women's 60 hurdles, featuring B1G Ten 100 hurdles runner-up Yanla Ndjip-Nyemeck of UCLA. She'll face off against teammate Madison Fleming, USC's Noah Waldron, and former WSU Cougar Micaela De Mello (Paul Merca photo), who was an All-American in this event.

De Mello, who is out of indoor eligibility, transferred to Oregon, where she only has outdoor eligibility remaining.

For Eastern Washington, Spokane native Dominick Corley, a high school All-American in 2024, makes his Eagle debut after transferring from USC. He's entered in the 60 dash, where he'll face Bellingham native Jacob Andrews of USC in the prelims.

The Spokane Indoor Challenge gets underway Friday night at 7 pm, with action in the 5000 and the distance medley relays.

The Zags have three teams entered in both the men's and women's' races.

Friday and Saturday's meet offers up competitive opportunities for many of the smaller schools from Eastern Washington, Idaho, and Oregon.

The link to live results for the Spokane Sports Showcase is available here, while the link to the Spokane Indoor Challenge is available here.

All three meets--the UW Indoor Preview, the Spokane Sports Showcase, and the Spokane Indoor Challenge, will be streamed by media partner RunnerSpace.com ($). The UW Indoor Preview will also be streamed on B1G Ten Plus ($).

NOTE: The University of Washington, Spokane Sports, and RunnerSpace.com contributed to this report.

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