PREVIEW: Wanda Diamond League makes its annual Eugene stop for Nike Pre Classic...
Starting Friday evening, the Nike Prefontaine Classic kicks off with a three and a half hour window starting at 6 pm at Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus.
The Pre Classic is the ninth stop on the season long Wanda Diamond League tour, and is the only stop in North America.
Though there were no athletes with Washington ties that competed at the previous stop in Paris on Sunday, the Meeting de Paris was marked by outstanding performances by Sweden's Mondo Duplantis in the pole vault, and Switzerland's Audrey Werro in the 800.
Friday night's session consists of non-Diamond League scoring events. When you look at Friday night's session, with the exception of the men's hammer, which kicks off the meet at 6 pm, the bulk of the session happens between 8 and 9 30 pm.
The women's pole vault at 8 pm features a reunion of last year's USA world championship team, headlined by reigning world champ and former Pullman resident Katie Moon (photo courtesy Wanda Diamond League).
She'll be joined by Tokyo teammates Sandi Morris and the Huskies' Amanda and Hana Moll, both of whom are coming off a collegiate season where each won an NCAA title: Amanda outdoors, and Hana indoors.
The women's pole vault is essentially a domestic field, with only Marie-Julie Bonnin from France the only foreign competitor.
At 6 pm, Ridgefield native Trey Knight, who was a world championships finalist, goes in the men's hammer. It's one of the few times in the Wanda Diamond League series that the event is even contested this season, even though it won't be scored.
The field in the hammer includes defending world and Olympic champion Ethan Katzberg of Canada, along with Tokyo world championships teammate Rudy Winkler. Every thrower in the field is world ranked 18th or higher, led by Katzberg.
Washington alum Luke Houser is entered in Friday night's men's mile just before 9 pm, against a predominately domestic field.
Brandon Miller of the Brooks Beasts is part of an 11-man field in the men's 800 that includes Texas teen sensation Cooper Lutkenhaus, who opened some eyes last month by winning two Wanda Diamond League meets in Stockholm (1:42.70) and Oslo (1:42.08).
Lutkenhaus goes into the Pre Classic ranked number 4 in the world.
Woodinville native Olivia Markezich is the only athlete with Washington ties in Saturday's portion of the meet. She'll be in the women's 3000 steeplechase.
Markezich, currently ranked 19th in the world, has competed in three Wanda Diamond League meets this season, finishing eleventh in Shaoxing/Keqiao (9:22.15), 16th in Xiamen (9:38.79), and eleventh in Stockholm (9:25.79).
Defending world champion and world ranked number one Faith Cherotich of Kenya is the headliner in this field, along with number 2 ranked Peruth Chemutai of Uganda, who has the fastest time in the world this season at 8:51.06.
The Pre Classic will be streamed Friday night on Peacock ($) starting at 8:30pm Pacific. Saturday's session will be on NBC Sports (KING5 in Seattle) and Peacock starting at 1 pm Pacific.
NOTE: The Wanda Diamond League and the Nike Prefontaine Classic contributed to this report.
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