Green and Houser secure world championships spots in the 1500m in Philadelphia...
--Vanilla Ice, famous American philosopher
One small problem--going into the weekend, neither held the world championships standard of 3:36.00, so they could get bumped off the team by any one who finished in the top eight at nationals, as they all held the standard.
To solve the problem, the duo traveled from their homes of Seattle and Atlanta to Philadelphia for the Philadelphia Runner Indoor Classic for a shot at the standard on the final weekend of qualifying for the world championships.
Ben Allen set the pace for both Houser and Green, who went through the first 400 in roughly 58.5, as Jack Anstey of Australia went with Allen.
The two Huskies stayed off both Allen and Anstey through the 800, which was in 1:56, with Allen dropping off the track just past the kilometer mark.
Anstey pushed the pace, going through 1200 unofficially around 2:53.
With 100 meters to go, Green shot past Anstey, with Houser in hot pursuit.
As they came off the turn, Houser went to the outside of Green, and both appeared to ease up just before the finish line once they knew they had the standard.
Both Washington alums were credited with identical 3:34.91 times, with Houser credited with the win.
Behind the duo, fellow Husky alums Aidan Ryan (3:35.63) and Ronan McMahon-Staggs (3:38.81) went 4-5, as Anstey finished third in 3:35.62.
For Houser, who competed at last year's world indoors in China, he'll have an opportunity to either defend or move up from his third place finish at last year's meet. For Green, this will mark his first USA senior national team appearance.
Courtesy of Flotrack, here's video of the race.
In the women's 800, Laura Pellicoro of the Brooks Beasts, who won the Italian championships last week, may have to wait to see if she gets into the world championships.
Pellicoro won the race in a personal best 2:00.93, just 3/100ths off the world championships standard of 2:00.90, with Beasts teammate Teagan Schein-Becker second at 2:01.05.
As of now, at least 30 women are under the standard, with a maximum of two per federation, so her status will depend on scratches.
In the men's 800, John Rivera of the Beasts, who has a better mark of 1:46.10 this season, finished third in 1:47.01, while Washington alum Justin O'Toole was sixth in 1:54.01.
O'Toole has a better mark as well. Both needed to get under the world championships standard of 1:46.00.
WWU'S BRAUNSTEIN LAUNCHES SPEAR TO OPEN OUTDOOR CAMPAIGN AT ED BOITANO INVITATIONAL...
Under overcast but slightly windy conditions, the 2026 outdoor track and field campaign opened up on the west side of the state in Tacoma at the Ed Boitano Invitational, hosted by the University of Puget Sound at Baker Stadium.
If there's one thing fans can expect from the meet, it's that there's usually a nationally relevant mark in the javelin.
On his second throw of the day, Western Washington's Jakob Braunstein (Paul Merca photo), launched the javelin 218-2 (66.50m) to post the best mark of the entire meet.
While it's very early in the outdoor campaign, Braustein, who was an NCAA D2 qualifier in the event last season, put up the second best mark in Division II so far this season, pending the outcome of other meets around the country this weekend.
LONGISA NAMED TO KENYAN WORLD INDOOR TEAM IN THE 800...
Washington State's Rosemary Longisa, who is prepping for next week's NCAA indoor championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas, where she'll run the mile, will have one more indoor race after the national championships.
Longisa was named to Kenya's team to the world indoor championships, where she's entered in the 800 meters.
NOTE: Philadelphia Runner, the sports information office of Western Washington, and Athletics Kenya contributed to this report.
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