A dozen Brooks Beasts, plus a host of UW alumni set to race in LA Track Fest at UCLA...
Saturday marks the outdoor season debut of the Beasts' biggest name, as Josh Kerr (Brooks Running photo) starts on the road to July's Project 222, where he'll take a shot in London at Hicham El Guerrouj's of Morocco's world record of 3:43.13 in the mile set in 1999.
Kerr is scheduled to race the 800 meters at the LA Track Fest, where he'll be joined in the field by teammates Isaiah Harris and Brandon Miller.
In Kerr's last race of the 2026 indoor season, he won the 3000 at the world indoor championships in Torun, Poland, where he ran 7:35.56.
Miller is coming off a strong performance at last week's Shanghai stop of the Wanda Diamond League tour in Keqiao, China where he finished third in 1:44.00. Harris has only raced once this season, running 1:45.62 indoors in February in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Also competing for the Beasts in a separate section of the 800 is Texas A&M alum Sam Whitmarsh. In the 1500, new member Max Davies and Waleed Suliman are in the top section, while veteran Brannon Kidder goes in another section.
Washington alums Nathan Green and Luke Houser are in the top section of the men's 1500, which promises to be one of the most competitive races of the program, that features Olympian Nico Young, and Parker Wolfe.
Parker Stokes makes his season debut in the 3000 steeplechase. He'll face a field that includes College Place native and Olympic silver medalist Kenneth Rooks (center/Paul Merca file photo), along with Washington alums Ed Trippas and Aaron Ahl. Yakima native and Portland alum Jonas Price is also in the field.
On the women's side, Valery Tobias, who last competed at the world indoor championships, makes her outdoor season debut at 800 meters. Teammate Kristie Schoffield runs in a separate section of the 800.
Rounding out the Beasts lineup for the LA Track Fest are Laura Pellicoro and Teagan Schein-Becker, who are both entered the second section of the 1500.
Washington alum Eleanor Fulton is entered in the top section of the women's 5000. Another UW alum, Justin O'Toole, is in the second section of the men's 800. Redshirt UW freshman Owen Powell is in the third section of the men's 1500, where he's in a field that includes teen sensation and world indoor 800 champion Cooper Lutkenhaus, who will make his debut at 1500 meters.
UW alums Aidan Ryan, Joe Waskom, and Ronan McMahon-Staggs are in the second section of the men's 1500 with Kidder of the Beasts, while Gonzaga alum James Mwaura, now competing for the Boston AA, is in the second section of the 5000.
Closing out the LA Track Fest is Washington alum Julius Diehr, who is entered in the second section of the 3000 steeplechase.
paulmerca.blogspot.com will be on site to cover the LA Track Fest.
Flotrack ($) will live stream the LA Track Fest starting at 4 pm. The start list and live results are available here.
NOTE: Brooks Running, Sound Running and World Athletics contributed to this report.
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