Gonzaga & SU in action Friday along with Washington pros; individual collegians chase marks...
While Eastern Washington and Washington tune up for next weekend's Big Sky championships in Portland and the Big Tens in Lincoln, Nebraska, the Gonzaga men are sending a small group to Eugene for Friday night's Oregon Twilight, while Seattle University sends two athletes to Azusa to run in Friday and Saturday's Franson Last Chance meet at Azusa Pacific University.
The Gonzaga group is led by steeplechasers Logan Law (Paul Merca photo) and Paul Talens. Both are currently inside the top 48 in their events, which is the number to advance in all individual events to the NCAA First Round (West Regional) in Fayetteville, Arkansas starting May 27th. Both will try to improve upon their marks before May 18th, which is the qualifying deadline before the NCAA first round competitors are announced the next day.
Gonzaga will also send five additional runners to Eugene for Friday night's meet that begins at 4 pm.
Saint Martin's Kekaihulali Halpern is entered in the 800 meters, after finishing fourth in the 1500 at the GNAC championships.
Among notable pros with Washington ties entered in the meet include Rainier Beach and WSU grad Emmanuel "Ray Ray" Wells in the 100, and former Seattle Pacific All-American Kaylee Mitchell in the 1500
Media partner RunnerSpace.com ($) and Big Ten+ ($) will stream the meet.
While Seattle University currently has no athletes inside the top 48 in any events going into the weekend, the Redhawks are sending Seku Sanders and Azalea Groleau to Azusa for Friday night's Franson Last Chance meet.
Sanders, who set the SU school record in the 800 of 1:48.75 at the Bryan Clay meet, has the most realistic shot at getting into the West Region top 48. Currently, the number 48 time in the West Region is 1:48.37, but that mark is expected to go lower with the majority of Division I conference championship meets happening next weekend.
Washington alum Ronan McMahon-Staggs is entered in the same section of the 800 as Sanders.
Groleau is entered in the 10000 meters, in her debut at that distance. The number 48 time in the NCAA West Region is 33:53.13.
The link to live results for the Franson Last Chance meet is available here.
A small group of runners from Western Washington are entered in Saturday's Portland Twilight meet at Lewis & Clark College, according to a WWU spokesperson. They will also have athletes entered in Saturday's Emilie Mondor Invitational, hosted by Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, BC.
For the Division II athletes, one advantage of having the GNAC meet earlier is that they can chase a mark that puts them in the top 22 on the NCAA descending order list until Sunday. Most conference championship meets in D2 are happening around the country this weekend.
The link to live results for the Portland Twilight meet will be here once the meet entries are uploaded. No link for the Emilie Mondor meet has been established yet.
A small group of Gonzaga's women's team ran in Wednesday's Whitworth Last Chance Meet, with the Zags getting three wins on the afternoon.
Rosina Machu dropped down in distance to win the 1500 in 4:20.64. Machu is well inside the NCAA West region top 48 in both the 5000 and 10000.
Greta Dani won the 400 in 56.32, while Ashlinn Auguayo took the 800 in 2:08.84.
NOTE: The sports information offices of the University of Oregon, Azusa Pacific, Gonzaga, Seattle University, and Western Washington contributed to this report.
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