Eight of nine Washington schools in action, with large groups at Stanford, UNLV and Whitworth...
The 2026 outdoor season kicks into high gear starting Friday with eight of the nine Washington Division I and II schools in action in various venues on the West Coast.
Washington and Washington State head to Stanford for Friday and Saturday's Stanford Invitational, hosted by Stanford University.
As has been the case, the Stanford Invitational is heavily skewed towards the distance races, with Friday afternoon and evening essentially being a parade of heats in the 1500, steeple, 5000 and 10000.
At last year's Stanford Invitational, Evans Kurui (Paul Merca photo) led twelve men under 28 minutes, running a meet record 27:37.32, which is the third fastest time in WSU school history.
This year's field appears deeper on paper, as Kurui, along with teammate Solomon Kipchoge, will face a strong field that includes NCAA indoor 5000 meter champion and former NCAA 10000 champ Habtom Samuel of New Mexico.
One potential wild card in the men's 10000 is the entry of NCAA mile champ Carter Cutting of BYU. Cutting has never run a 10000. That said, Cutting is entered in the 1500, so he may be running as a pacer.
Both Washington and Washington State will run their top line middle distance and distance runners. The most notable runner missing from the UW and WSU entries is Rosemary Longisa, who ran at the world indoor championships two weeks ago after finishing second in the mile at the NCAA championships.
Nearly all of Washington's distance runners who competed at the NCAA indoor chanpionships will make their outdoor debuts at Stanford.
Washington will also have its hurdles, jumps and throws group competing at Stanford. That event group is coming off of a strong showing at last week's Payton-Shotwell Invitational in Tacoma.
The most notable pro entered in the meet is Washington alum Joe Waskom, who is entered in the top section of the 3000 steeplechase. He last ran the steeple at last year's Bryan Clay meet.
paulmerca.blogspot.com will be on site for the Stanford Invitational.
Washington State, along with Western Washington and SeattleU will have a group of distance runners just north of Stanford in San Francisco for Friday and Saturday's Mike Fanelli Track Classic, hosted by San Francisco State University at Cox Stadium.
Western Washington is sending a group of sprint and field event athletes to La Jolla for the Triton Invitational on Friday and Saturday, hosted by UC-San Diego.
A group of sprints and field event athletes from Eastern Washington are in Las Vegas for Friday and Saturday's UNLV Rebel Elite meet hosted by the University of Nevada/Las Vegas.
The only other group competing outside the state of Washington this weekend is a group of three pole vaulters from the University of Washington.
Sara Borton, Veronica Vacca and Jimmy Rhoads are all entered in the elite sections of the women's and men's pole vaults at the Texas Relays on Saturday.
Finally, Gonzaga, Eastern Washington, SeattleU, Seattle Pacific, and Central Washington will have athletes competing in Friday's Whitworth Peace meet in Spokane, hosted by Whitworth University at Boppell Track at the Pine Bowl.
Field events get underway at 9:55 am, with running events starting at 11 am, and ending just after 6 pm.
NOTE: The sports information offices of Stanford, Washington, Washington State, Western Washington, UC San Diego, Whitworth, UNLV, Texas, and San Francisco State University contributed to this report.
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