Washington State names Anna Bearrs new associate head cross country & track coach...

While we are in the national and continental championship window on the international track and field calendar, here's a few items involving athletes and schools with Washington ties:

In Pullman, Washington State announced that Anna Bearrs as its new associate head coach for its men’s and women’s cross-country and track teams, replacing Laura Harmon, who accepted a similar position at Iowa State University,

Bearss (photo courtesy University of Oklahoma) arrives to WSU from the University of Oklahoma where she served as the co-head coach for the Sooners' cross-country program, and an assistant coach for the distance events on the track.

Bearss spent the last two seasons in Norman and brings nearly a decade of experience to the Palouse, including stops at Drake, Akron, South Dakota State, and Indiana State. 

At Oklahoma, the Sooner women finished 12th in the SEC cross country championships with Sanae Hassnaoui their top finisher in 22nd. The Sooner women also finished 12th the year before in the SEC, led by Leah Jeruto, who was ninth.

Bearss spent the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons at Drake University, in Des Moines, Iowa, serving as the associate head cross country coach and assistant track and field coach for distance events. In the fall of 2023, the women’s cross-country team notched its highest finish in program history at the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships.

The Washington State release is available here.

Speaking of Washington State, the University of Arizona announced on its Instagram page that Josphat Meli has transferred to the school after two seasons at WSU.

Last season, Meli was fifth at the West Coast Conference championship meet, 27th at the NCAA West Regionals, and 190th at the NCAA championships in Missouri.

OVERSEAS RESULTS...

The Commonwealth Games track and field competition got underway Monday in Glasgow, Scotland, and goes on until August 1st.

Washington alum Aaron Ahl helped get the track and field portion started Monday night with a sixth place finish in the men's 3000 steeplechase.

Ahl finished with a time of 8:31.71, as Kenya's Edmund Serem led a sweep of the three podium spots, running 8:18.23.

Results are available on the Glasgow 2026 site (click day, and Athletics sub menu, then look for the event).

On Sunday, Laura Pellicoro (Paul Merca file photo) of the Brooks Beasts finished second in the 1500 meters at the Italian championships in Florence, Italy.

Pellicoro finished with a time of 4:18.93, as Nadia Battocletti won in 4:17.29.

Results of the Italian championships are available here.

NCAA TRACK & FIELD COMMITTEE WIPES OUT ALTITUDE CONVERSIONS...

As we were returning from Ireland and Great Britain. the NCAA Division I Track and Field and Cross Country committee announced that it will eliminate altitude and track-size conversions beginning with the 2026-27 season.

Simply put, marks made on tracks at altitude, such as the Air Force Academy, the University of Colorado, Northern Arizona, and the Albuquerque Convention Center, will count the same as marks made on tracks at sea level.

This move follows previous efforts by the oversight committee to align NCAA rules with those of World Athletics, a notable example being the implementation of a stack height limit on shoes used in Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field competitions.

In the distance races, the NCAA used a conversion factor for races run at altitude, the most notable being Isaiah Givens’ 3:51.73, which came from his 3:57.76 effort at the Potts Invitational in Boulder, Colorado, which is located at ~5,300 feet of elevation.

LetsRun.com has a post on its site with a chart of the number of qualifiers for the NCAA Division I championships that came from altitude-converted marks.

Conversely, this will be an incentive for sprint and jumps-heavy teams to travel to altitude to compete now that there's no penalty for altitude aided marks.

The big question, and one that athletic directors should ask, is whether or not this will increase travel costs for their teams to fly down to sea level to run distance races or fly to meets at altitude for their sprinters and jumpers.

Also, there is a proposal that will be voted on about August 11-12th for an optional scoring system for meets involving 12 or more teams.

The link to the minutes of the NCAA oversight committee is available here.

 

NOTE: The sports information office of Washington State and the University of Oklahoma, the Commonwealth Games, the Italian Athletics Federation, LetsRun.com, and the NCAA contributed to this report.

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