It's indoor championship weekend for Washington's Division I schools...
It's championship week for the Division I schools, and it all starts Thursday with Washington going to Indianapolis for the B1G Ten Championships, while Eastern Washington heads to Pocatello, Idaho for the Big Sky Championships, hosted by Idaho State University.
Washington State goes to Reno for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championships which begins on Sunday, which we will preview later this week.
Gonzaga isn't affiliated with a conference that sponsors indoor track, while Seattle University is only sponsoring outdoor track.
B1G TEN PREVIEW...
For the second year in a row, Washington heads to Indianapolis to compete in the B1G Ten indoor championships at the Fall Creek Pavilion, a two year old facility north of downtown Indianapolis which appears will be a semi-permanent host for the meet.
At last year's championships, the Washington women's team finished fifth, while the men were fourth.
Washington heads into the meet ranked number 13 in the latest USTFCCCA indoor track and field ranking index, while the UW women are also ranked 13th.
On paper, Oregon, the nation's number two men's team, and the seventh ranked women's team. is the favorite in both the men's and women's competitions. Number 1 ranked Illinois and number 6 USC on the women's side, and the number 6 men's team from Penn State could have something to say about the outcome.
One athlete that could be a difference maker in the women's team competition is Puyallup native JaiCieonna Gero-Holt (Illinois Athletics photo) of Illinois.
Gero-Holt, a 2024 US Olympic Trials competitor as a high schooler at Emerald Ridge HS, skipped her senior year to enroll early at Illinois, only to go down with a knee injury that wiped out the 2025 season.
She's entered in the pentathlon on Thursday, as well as the high jump on Friday.
Gero-Holt has already scored 4229 (converted up to 4250 points due to flat 200m track) in the pentathlon, which is ranked number 7 on the NCAA descending order list. She's tied for sixth in the high jump at 6-2 (1.88m) this season.
The Huskies' Sofia Cosculluela, who was an NCAA scorer in the heptathlon last year, will make her season debut in Thursday's pentathlon.
One of the featured events of Thursday's competition is the women's pole vault, with all eyes on the Huskies' Hana Moll, the only woman in the world this season to clear 16 feet (4.88m).
While she'll be joined by teammates Sara Borton and Veronica Vacca, one Husky who won't compete at B1G Tens is Hana's twin sister Amanda, who tied with Hana for sixth at last year's world championships in Tokyo.
According to a member of the Washington track & field staff, they have elected to shut Amanda down for the indoor season, and for her to concentrate on the outdoor campaign.
At the UW Invitational in late January, Amanda cleared 14-6.25 (4.43m) using a short approach. She hasn't competed since the UW Invitational.
Washington's Evan Jenkins, who is their only entry in Thursday's men's 5000, is the conference leader in that event, but may have to run faster than his personal best of 13:22.28 if he's to advance to the NCAA championships in two weeks. There's no guarantee that he will have help attaining the mark, especially in a championship race where finish place is more important than time. He's currently at number 16 on the national descending order list.
According to the start lists posted for the B1G Tens, Washington will shuffle their lineups in both distance medley relays from the teams that posted their season bests at the Husky Classic (women) and Arkansas Qualifier (men).
Washington has five entries in Friday's first round of the men's mile--Thomas Diamond, Tyler Bilyard, Reuben Reina Jr., and freshmen Owen Powell and Josiah Tostenson. Twenty six men have broken 4 minutes in the mile in the conference this season.
Going into championship weekend, number 16 on the national descending order list is 3:53.90.
NCAA D3 champ Alex Rhodes goes for the Huskies in the men's 400. Chloe Foerster and Jenica Swartz go in the first round of the women's 800 on Friday.
Saturday, Washington has two entries in the men's high jump, led by Teko Cates. The Huskies have two entries in both the men's and women's triple jumps, and two entries in the men's pole vault, led by collegiate leader Jimmy Rhoads.
Washington's entering four women in the 3000 on Saturday led by Mia Cochran and Chloe Thomas, along with Foerster, who is doing the 800/3000 double.
Media partner RunnerSpace.com ($) and Big Ten Plus ($) will stream all three days of the meet starting at 8:30 am Pacific each day.
BIG SKY PREVIEW...
Eastern Washington makes the trip from Cheney to Pocatello, Idaho for the Big Sky championships, where the Eagles finished seventh in the women's team competition, and the men tied for fourth last year.
Maddy Shekhawat (Paul Merca photo), who is the conference leader in the 60 hurdles at 7.74, looks to defend his title in that event. Shekhawat, who has a personal best of 7.64, will have to get under 7.60 to have a shot at qualifying for the NCAA championships, as 7.59 is currently the 16th fastest time in the collegiate descending order list.
Portland State transfer Dieumerci Migani, who scored for the Vikings in both the long and triple jumps at the conference meet last year, is currently the Big Sky leader in the long jump at 24-5.75 (7.46m), and fifth in the triple jump at 48-10.75 (14.90m).
Suzi Woodall, the conference leader in the women's pole vault at 14-0 (4.27m), looks to win her second straight Big Sky indoor title, and make a run at a possible NCAA berth. Going into the weekend, 14-6.75 (4.44m) is the number 16 mark in the country.
Judith Koumedzina, a native of Togo, who competed in the NJCAA championships for Iowa Western Community College in 2025, could be a factor in the 60 and 200 meter dashes, where she ranks number 5 in the 60, and number 2 in the 200 at 7.47 and 23.70.
ESPN Plus ($) will stream all three days of the Big Sky championships, starting Thursday at 9 am Pacific time each day. The meet's championship central is available here, which includes links to the live results.
NOTE: The B1G Ten, Big Sky, and the sports information offices of the University of Illinois, University of Washington, and Eastern Washington University contributed to this report.
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