Washington schools in action in Seattle, Tuscon, Spokane, and Cheney this weekend...

Washington's NCAA Division I and II schools are in action this weekend, with meets in Seattle, Tuscon, Spokane and Cheney on the docket.

The University of Washington will host the Washington Open Friday and Saturday at Husky Track, which opened for business last year.  

This is the third meet on the school's new track, following the UW/WSU dual and the Ken Shannon meet last year.  The field will consist of local schools such as Western Washington, Seattle Pacific, plus Division III Puget Sound, Pacific Lutheran, and Evergreen State.

One of the meet's headliners is 2012 US Olympian Kibwe Johnson (left/photo by Kirby Lee, Image of Sport), who is scheduled to compete in the men's hammer, which is the meet's opening event at 2pm on Friday.

Two other events will occur on Friday--the women's javelin at 4:30pm, followed by the men's javelin upon the conclusion of the women's event.

Washington's middle distance and distance crew will either move up or down in distance, after coming off a big meet at last week's Stanford Invitational.

The Husky vertical jumpers, led by pole vaulters Jax Thoirs, Diamara Planell Cruz, and Kristina Owsinski, along with high jumper AJ Maricich, are back in action after taking the week off last weekend.


The Saturday portion of the meet gets underway at 9am with a series of field events, with the first running event starting at noon.

Washington State heads to Tuscon for the Jim Click Shootout, a five-way scoring meet hosted by the University of Arizona.

The Cougs will face squads from the Air Force Academy, Kansas State, and New Mexico, in addition to the host Wildcats.


Those Cougars who don't make the trip to Tuscon will head to Spokane for Friday & Saturday's WAR VII meet hosted by Spokane Community College.

In this unique meet, the scoring will be based on a Washington State versus the field, with all Washington schools scored as one team, and all other schools scored as another team.

In addition to host Spokane CC, Seattle University, Gonzaga, Central Washington, and Saint Martin's will have athletes entered.

One of the schools that won't be at WAR is Eastern Washington, as they host the Pelluer Invitational at Roos Field in Cheney.

The Pelluer is the lone outdoor home meet and one of just two home meets the entire season for Eastern. The meet returned to the schedule this season after taking a one-year hiatus last year, and will be scored as a dual between the Eagles and Montana. Eastern has gotten quite familiar with the Grizzlies, as they have competed against them the past two weekends at the Al Manuel Invite (March 28-29) and MSU Open (April 5).

According to Eastern head coach Stan Kerr, this year’s Pelluer will also give Eastern’s staff and administration another chance to get acclimated hosting a meet. That preparation will be vital as EWU will host the 2015 Big Sky Outdoor Championships, a meet that will feature 12 Big Sky Conference schools with Idaho set to join next season.

Field events will start at 10 a.m. Saturday with the women’s hammer and the men’s javelin. The hammer, javelin, discus and shot put will be contested in the throwing complex next to the intramural fields. All other events will be held at Roos Field. Running events will kick off at noon with the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase.


NOTE:  The sports information offices of the University of Washington, Seattle Pacific, Seattle University, Washington State University, Eastern Washington, and Spokane CC contributed to this report.

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