UW Preview (Men)

The University of Washington Indoor Preview is often seen as one of the true kickoff meets of the NCAA indoor season. Some athletes raced earlier in December, mostly off of their cross country fitness. Now, the athletes have had a few weeks to buckle down and really come out of winter break guns blazing.

The Dempsey indoor track is considered to be one of the fastest tracks in the country. At 307 meters a lap, the longer straightaways and more gentle turns cater to fast times across all events. Because of this, we can expect to see some impressive performances and potential national qualifying times.

Full heat sheets can be found here

800

The 800 field at the UW Preview is rather small with only two heats. The first heat is headlined by professionals such as Josh Kerr, but UW athletes like Devan Kirk, Connor Morello, and Cass Elliott will also be alongside the pros. Kirk is in his second year with the Huskies and boasts an impressive PR of 1:48 from the 2018 spring track season. With a year of experience under his belt, he could do some damage this winter. Portland's Cobie Chavez-Killinger will also join the Husky men in heat one.

The second heat is mainly comprised of DII athletes from the Pacific Northwest area.

1000

The 1000 meter race will likely be one of the more competitive middle distance events this weekend. In another professional-filled field, Mick Stanovsek will make his indoor debut in a Huskies singlet. Josiah Langstaff of Columbia (1:48 / 2:23) will keep things interesting as he contends with Stanovsek for the top collegiate spot.

Stanovsek has run 2:21.53 for 1000 meters as well as 1:49.93 for 800 meters to complement his 3:39/3:57 speed in the 1500m/mile. We may see some unbelievably fast times from the pros, but Stanovsek should be able to hold his own in this off-distance race.

The second heat will be nearly all Stanford, Washington and Portland athletes. Isaac Cortes, Hari Sathyamurthy, Brian Smith and Nathaniel Kucera will represent the Cardinal. Washington’s Alex Slenning and Nate Beamer, along with Portland’s Said Guermali and Cobie Chavez-Killinger (who is doubling in the 800) will try to break up the Stanford quartet.

Seven out of 10 athletes in the third and final heat are from the University of Western Oregon. This heat may look more like a team time trial than a normal race.

Mile

Portland’s Logan Orndorf will be the only collegiate athlete in the top heat of the mile. He will be mixing it up with a group of professionals which includes Olympic bronze medalist Clayton Murphy and two-time world indoor champion Yomif Kejelcha. This race could go pretty fast, and Orndorf will certainly be looking to use this to his advantage. If he can hang, the Portland veteran will shoot for a time that will put him in the NCAA's top 16 later this season for a spot at Nationals. The redshirt junior does not have a listed mile time anywhere, but he has run 3:49 in the 1500. This time does not sound super impressive when compared to the rest of the field, but Orndorf should hopefully be ready to establish himself as a top miler after becoming an All-American this past fall.

The field over the next four heats looks pretty strong. Emmanuel Roudolff-Levisse, Michael Teran-Solano, Caleb Webb, and Noah Schutte will headline a strong contingent of Portland Pilots competing in the mile. Stanford has entered rather large squad as well. Liam Conway, Connor Lane, Clayton Mendez, Michael Vernau and Blair Hurlock will be bringing the heat for the Cardinal.

Some other top names include Gonzaga's James Mwaura (competing unattached) and Brandon Pollard as well as Washington's Nicholas Laccinole and Alex Slenning.

The Stanford squad will be looking to set the tone for later in the winter when they bring out their stars such as Grant Fisher and Steven Fahy. I am personally excited to see what James Mwaura can do after an exciting freshman cross country season in which he ran 23:54 for 8k.

3000

Riley Olsen of Portland and Jake Perrin of Gonzaga are the only collegiates listed in the first heat of the 3k. Olsen has run 8:08 and Perrin has run 8:09. Both will be looking to improve upon those times in a loaded professional field that includes some of the top professionals in the US from clubs like the Nike Oregon Project and Brooks Beasts.

The later heats of the 3000 are not all that stacked with top collegiate talent and are filled with professional and local club athletes. However, schools like Washington, Gonzaga, and Portland have entered a lot of their younger up-and-coming athletes so we may see some breakthrough performances in the second and third sections.

Many of these athletes, such as Washington’s Chase Equall and Portland’s Justin Hazell are true freshmen who ran under 9:00 for 3200 meter last year as high schoolers. This will be their first test as collegiate athletes, so keep an eye out for them in their debuts.

An interesting entry in both the mile and 3k is Jaxson Hoey. The former Oregon Duck and brother of high school indoor 800 national record holder Josh Hoey is now signed to Adidas and is representing Mission AC. To my knowledge, this will be Hoey’s first race since leaving Oregon last summer following the departure of Andy Powell.

Overall, this meet serves as a kickoff / rust buster for a lot of teams, but that doesn’t mean we won’t see some impressive performances. The professional athletes in the fields will ensure that the races go out fast, and collegiate athletes will be able to use this to chase fast times. UW will host more meets as the season goes on, and these races will set the tone for the entire indoor track season.