Watch the recap of the meet HERE
University of Washington hosted their last indoor meet of the season with college athletes trying to gain times for the NCAA championships, professional athletes opening their seasons and college and high school athletes working for personal bests. The top 16 athletes per event qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships. There are two more weekends to make the top 16 list.
Friday
The meet opened, from a distance racing stand point, with the distance medleys. Host Washington men set a school, meet and facility record of 9:14.0 and now has the top time this year in the NCAA. Bay Area rivals California and Stanford finished second and third and also have the second and third fastest times indoor this season in the NCAA.
BYU women came from behind to beat Stanford in the women's DMR. The first five finishers, BYU, Stanford, Northern Arizona, Washington and Utah also ran the top five team times for this indoor season. New Mexico finished sixth and has the ninth fastest time this season.
3000 Meters
The women's invitational 3000 was competed on Saturday, but there were still plenty of highlights from the women's 3000 on Friday. NAU showed their depth by running the three fastest times on Friday led by Hayley Burns of NAU with a time of 9:01.22 followed by her teammates Ava Mitchell and Nikita Moore. High school athletes Victoria Rodriguez (9:30.00) of Mercer Island, Cassidy Armstrong (9:31.65) of Ballard and Emily Wisniewski (9:42.80) of Crescent Valley ran impressive times.
Photo gallery of the women's 3000 are HERE
The men's 3000 included the invitational race on Friday. Habtom Samuel of New Mexico took the win in a time of 7:39.39 over Olympian Nico Young of Adidas who ran 7:39.53. With a lap left in the race, it was anyone's race as Ishmael Kipkurui of New Mexico, Matt Strangio of Portland, Colin Sahlman of Northern Arizona, and Acer Iverson of Washington all ran times that put them in the coveted top 16 to make the NCAA indoor meet. Samuel's winning time places him seventh on the list. Of course, there are two more weekends to qualify.
In an earlier heat of the 3000, Crater High School's Tayvon Kitchen and Josiah Tostenson made history by breaking eight minutes in the 3000. Kitchen's 7:55.48 and Tostenson's 7:57.42 placed them first and third all-time in the high school indoor 3000 meter list.
Photo gallery of the men's 3000 are HERE
5000 Meters
Jenna Hutchins of BYU and Zofia Dudek of Stanford separated themselves from the pack in the women's 5000 with Hutchins winning in a time of 15:31.41 which places her 19th on the NCAA list. It is possible, with athletes choosing to run the 3000 instead of the 5000 at the NCAA, Hutchins might make it into the sixteen athletes racing in March.
Evans Kurui of Washington State set a meet record and broke a long time Washington State school record in the 5000 with at time of 13:17.16. Kurui's time places him tenth on the NCAA 5000 meter list. Thomas Boyden of Stanford and Shadrack Kiptoo of Oklahoma finished second and third on Friday. Their times places Boyden at 17th and Kiptoo of Oklahoma at 19th. Like Hutchins in the women's 5000, the two athletes may benefit by scratches of athletes who prefer to race the 3000 meter race.
High school athletes Aiden Le Roux (14:15.84) of Cheyenne Mountain (CO) and Zafer Courcelle (14:22.68) of Franklin (OR) ran the top two high school 5000 meter times of the indoor season.
Photo gallery of the women and men's 5000 are HERE
Saturday
MIle
Washington's Dempsey facility is known as Mile City and the mile races on Saturday did not disappoint. Maggi Congdon of Northern Arizona made news last summer by racing at the US Olympic Trials 1500 and won her invitational race in a time of 4:27.77 with Anna Camp Bennett of Adidas finishing second in a time of 4:27.83. Congdon's time places her 11th on the indoor NCAA list.
Chloe Huyler of Lakeridge High School (OR) ran 4:44.70 in an earlier mile heat and Alexa Matora of Lake Washington (WA) ran 4:51.60.
Photo gallery of the women's mile are HERE
Nico Young returned on Saturday to win the men's invitational mile in a time of 3:50.98 to set a meet record. Finishing fifth was Aidan McCarthy of Cal Poly with a time of 3:52.83 which places him tenth on the NCAA indoor list.
Josiah Tostenson (4:02.71) and Tayvon Kitchen (4:05.65) of Crater ran impressive high school mile times considering their 3000 meter effort less than 24 hours earlier. Owen Powell of Mercer Island ran the second fastest high school indoor mile time of 3:57.74. He is the first Washington high school athlete to break the fabled four minute mile barrier. Powell has committed to the University of Washington for next fall with his parents as coaches.
Photo gallery of the men's mile are HERE
800 Meters
Juliette Whittaker of Stanford ran in the Paris Olympic 800-meter final last summer and showed why she is one of the top runners in the NCAA and US with her 1:59.44 win. Whittaker's time places her first in the indoor NCAA season. Laura Pellicoro of Portland finished second in a time of 2:00.92 which places her sixth on the NCAA indoor 800-meter list.
The women's invitational 3000 meter race was also contested on Saturday with the top five finishers placing themselves on the NCAA top 16 list. Lexy Halladay-Lowry of BYU won in a time of 8:40.60 and now has the fastest 3000-meter time in the NCAA indoor season. Riley Chamberlain finished second and is second on the indoor list. Same goes for third place finisher Elise Stearns of Northern Arizona as she has the third fastest indoor time of the NCAA indoor season. Sophia Kennedy of Stanford was the next finisher and her time places her fifth on the indoor season and Amina Maatoug of Washington's fifth place finish has her at 11th on the NCAA indoor list.
Photo gallery of the women's 800 and invitational 3000 are HERE
Much like the women's 3000, the fast heat of the men's 800 was so fast that it placed several athletes in the top 16 NCAA indoor list. Colin Sahlman of Northern Arizona won the race in 1:46.40 to place him seventh on the NCAA indoor list. Justin O'Toole of Washington's second place finish placed him eighth on the list. The next finisher, Kyle Reinheimer of Washington, has the ninth best time and Tyler Matthews of BYU is now 13th on the NCAA list thanks to his 1:46.62 finish on Saturday.
Photo gallery of the men's 800 are HERE