Championship week draws Huskies to Lincoln for B1G Ten, and Eagles to Gresham for Big Sky...
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| Washington's Evan Jenkins is the defending B1G Ten 10000 meter champion entering this weekend (Paul Merca photo) |
For Washington and Eastern Washington, it's championship weekend as the Huskies head to Lincoln, Nebraska for the B1G Ten Championships hosted by the University of Nebraska on their newly resurfaced Nebraska Track, while the Eagles make the bus ride from Cheney to Gresham, Oregon for the Big Sky Championships, hosted by Portland State at the Mount Hood Community College track facility at Klapstein Stadium.
B1G TEN PREVIEW...
The Washington women's team, ranked number 21 in this week's USTFCCCA rating index, and the men's squad, which is just outside the top 25, make their first appearance in Lincoln since joining the B1G Ten Conference last season.
All eighteen teams will contest for the B1G Ten title on the women's side, while only seventeen schools will participate in the men's championship meet, as Northwestern does not field a team.
The Huskies have 26 women and 23 men heading to Lincoln to compete at the Nebraska Outdoor Track. Friday and Saturday's competition will be streamed live on Big Ten Plus ($) as well as media partner RunnerSpace.com ($) Day three on Sunday will also be streamed online, plus a live broadcast on Big Ten Network which will begin at 10:30 a.m. Pacific time.
One year ago, the Huskies finished sixth in both the men's and women's outdoor B1G Championships in their conference debut. UW won a trio of titles last year, with Evan Jenkins getting the first in the men's 10000 meters, followed by Amanda Moll winning the women's pole vault, and Sophie O'Sullivan winning the women's 1500 meters.
While the Huskies have numerous athletes ranked in the top ten, the Dawgs will be led into Lincoln by number one seeds Alex Rhodes (400m) and Jimmy Rhoads (pole vault) on the men's side, and Hana Moll (pole vault) and Sofia Cosculluela (heptathlon) on the women's side.
With Cosculluela currently the national leader in the heptathlon, the Spaniard will not contest that event, but will run the 100 hurdles and long jump, which are two of her stronger heptathlon events. At last year's B1G Tens, she was ninth in the hurdles and tenth in the long jump.
Based on the meet entries and the conference descending order list, we project that both Washington teams will finish sixth.
Our projected top five men's teams are in order: Oregon (149), USC (91), Iowa (82.5), Nebraska (72) and Minnesota (67), with Washington scoring 64.5.
The projected women's top five are in order: USC (117.5), Nebraska (101), Oregon (98), Illinois (87) and Minnesota (69.5), with Washington at 62.
BIG SKY PREVIEW...
With host school Portland State not having an on campus competition track, the Vikings will host the Big Sky Championships at Mount Hood Community College's Klapstein Stadium, east of Portland in Gresham.
The Big Sky championships got underway Wednesday with the first day of the combined events, with both the decathlon and heptathlon finishing Thursday.
In the decathlon, Eastern Washington's Pry'nce Millman got the Eagles on the board with his sixth place finish, scoring 6128 points.
His three strongest events all came in day one, where he ran 11.28 in the 100, jumped 21-8.75 (6.62m) in the long jump, and ran 50.52 in the 400.
Tom Stoelken of Idaho State won the decathlon with a final score of 7202 points.
Ella Seelhoff of the Eagles finished 11th with a final score of 4400 points. Her best events over the two days were in the three running events. She ran 15.56 in the 100 hurdles, 26.57 in the 200, and 2:27.06 in the 800.
Idaho's Hanna Tait won the heptathlon with a score of 5206 points.
Individual events open Friday with the men's javelin and women's high jump at 10 a.m., while track events begin at 1 p.m. with the women's 3000m steeplechase. Saturday's final day starts with the men's discus, men's high jump, and women's triple jump in the field, while the 4x100m relays open the track schedule.
Eastern enters the championships with seven athletes ranked inside the Big Sky top five. Maddy Shekhawat leads the conference in the 110m hurdles, while Merci Migani sits second in the triple jump. Jordyn Grady ranks third in the 400m hurdles, Shai Gray is third in the long jump, and Cort Gebbers is third in the discus. Zoe Dunn enters the weekend fourth in the triple jump, while Azaria Purdy ranks fifth.
ESPN Plus ($) will stream Friday and Saturday's competition.
WANDA DIAMOND LEAGUE OPENS SATURDAY IN CHINA...
A group of four athletes with Washington ties are off to China for Saturday's Wanda Diamond League season opener in Shanghai/Keqiao, starting at 2:15 am Pacific/5:15 pm local time.
Though the meet is listed as the Shanghai stop, it will be contested in Keqiao, about 220 kilometers (136 miles) southwest of Shanghai.
Former Seattle Pacific and Oregon State All American Kaylee Mitchell (Paul Merca photo), along with Woodinville native Olivia Markezich are both entered in the 3000 steeplechase.
Mitchell, currently ranked number 15 in the event, and who was a finalist at the world championships last year, makes her season debut in the steeple after running five races on the flat. She most recently ran to an eighth place finish in the 1500 last week at the Oregon Twilight, where she ran 4:13.89.
For Markezich, the meet will be her season debut, after passing on the indoor season, and early season outdoor meets in the USA. Her last race was the US nationals on July 31st, where she finished fifth in the steeple in a personal best 9:14.26.
They will run against a field that includes defending world and Diamond League champion Faith Cherotich of Kenya
Brandon Miller of the Brooks Beasts is entered in the men's 800, which has a field of 13 athletes on the start list, as he'll make his season debut at the distance, after racing twice at 1500 and the mile. Australia's Peter Bol, who was fourth at the world indoor championships in March, is the top seed entering this meet.
Washington State alum CJ Allen is entered in the infrequently contested 300 hurdles, where he'll face a field that includes former world champions Karsten Warholm of Norway and Alison dos Santos of Brazil. The 300 hurdles is in its second full year as a World Athletics world record event.
Flotrack ($) will offer live streaming of the Shanghai/Keqiao stop of the Wanda Diamond League and all meets in the series this season.
NOTE: The USTFCCCA, Big Ten, Big Sky, Wanda Diamond League, and the sports information offices of Washington, Nebraska, Eastern Washington and Portland State contributed to this report.
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