THE WEEKEND AHEAD: Light schedule for Washington D1 schools, while pros chase marks in Boston...

With the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship meet now in the rear view mirror, this weekend is very light for the Division I schools, and for that matter, the pros, who are trying to qualify for the USATF Indoor Championships next weekend in Staten Island, NY.

The entry deadline for the USATF indoor championships was Wednesday February 18th, so those who entered before Wednesday's deadline have until Sunday to get a qualifying mark.

ARKANSAS QUALIFIER...

Friday, the University of Washington will travel six athletes to Fayetteville, Arkansas for the Arkansas Qualifier, hosted by the University of Arkansas, at the Randal Tyson track, which will host the NCAA indoor championships in three weeks.

Unlike the women's team, which got their qualifying mark last weekend at the Husky Classic, the men's squad has not run a distance medley relay this season.

The Huskies will go with a pool led by former Razorback Rueben Reina Jr (Paul Merca photo), who returns to his old stomping grounds, where he won an SEC indoor mile title for the Razorbacks last year.

Also traveling to Arkansas are Australian Thomas Diamond, who ran a personal best of  3:52.49 in the mile at the Husky Classic last week, along with Briton Tyler Bilyard, who ran 3:54.43 two weeks ago at the Mile City meet.

Reina, who ran 3:52.37 at Mile City, is ranked number 5 on the NCAA descending order list, while Diamond stands at number 7. Bilyard is currently 19th on the list, which would not advance him to the NCAA championships if the qualifying period ended today (the qualifying period ends March 2nd; it's top 16 individuals, and 12 relay teams).

The Huskies are also traveling freshmen Owen Powell and Josiah Tostenson, plus 400 meter runner Alex Rhodes.

Washington holds the current world best time of 9:14.10 set at last year's Husky Classic, well under the accepted all-conditions world record time of 9:14.58 set by Seattle's Brooks Beasts in 2024.

Going into Friday's meet, the best time in the nation is an altitude-converted 9:28.61 set by BYU (9:44.49 actual time, run at Weber State at 4700 feet elevation). The number 12 mark is currently Alabama at 9:47.11.

None of the Huskies who were on that 2025 world best team are on this year's squad, as Ronan McMahon-Staggs (1200), Kyle Reinheimer (800) and Nathan Green (1600) have all graduated, and Bodi Ligons (400) hasn't raced so far this season.

We project that Reina (1600) and Rhodes (400) will run those legs Friday, while Diamond and Bilyard are interchangeable in the opening 1200 and the third leg of 800 meters, though Bilyard is faster over 800m than Diamond. That said, Owen Powell has a 800m personal best of 1:46.63, set at last year's Brooks PR meet in Renton.

Bilyard, Powell and Tostenson are all entered in the 800, while Rhodes is entered in the 400.

The men's DMR gets the running events started at 2:30 pm Central/12:30 pm Pacific.

The meet will be streamed on the SEC Network+ ($).

The link to live results is available here.

SAUCONY BATTLE FOR BOSTON SUNDAY...

On Sunday, Washington's Mia Cochran and Julia David-Smith Paul Merca photo), are off to Boston for the Saucony Battle for Boston last chance meet at Boston University.

Cochran and David-Smith are entered in the women's mile, which goes at 7:35 pm local time/4:35 pm Pacific. Both are outside the top 16 in the mile, with Cochran at number 23 at 4:30.98, and David-Smith at 49 at 4:34.95.

Evans Kurui of Washington State is entered in the men's 5000, and Zenah Cheptoo is in the women's 3000.

Kurui is outside the top 16 in the 5000 at 13:24.79 which is number 20 on the D1 descending order list, while Cheptoo is at 27 at 8:53.90.

For the two Washington State runners, what complicates matters is that the MPSF championship meet on March 1-2 is held at 4500 feet of altitude in Reno.

Unlike their WSU counterparts, the Huskies can take one more shot at qualifying for the NCAA without altitude, as next week's B1G Ten championships are in Indianapolis.

A number of local pros are also competing in Boston, as they try to improve their marks for next week's USATF championships.

Among those entered are Washington alum Justin O'Toole, along with Brannon Kidder and John Rivera of the Brooks Beasts in the men's 800; Washington alums Joe Waskom Aidan Ryan, Eric Gibson and Sam Ellis, along with Waleed Suliman of the Brooks Beasts in the men's mile; Chloe Scrimgeour of the Brooks Beasts in the women's 3000; Matt Strangio and Parker Stokes of the Brooks Beasts along with Washington alum Aaron Ahl and Yakima native Jonas Price in the men's 3000.

Flotrack ($) will stream the meet. 

The start list is available here, while the link to live results will be up closer to the start of the meet.

NOTE: The sports information office of the University of Arkansas, University of Washington, Washington State, and DC Meet Management contributed to this report.

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