The UW High School Invitation is set to take place on Feb. 16 at the Dempsey Indoor Stadium in Seattle, Washington. The first event will be broadcast starting at 8:30 a.m. PT. The last race is scheduled to start at 5:50 p.m. PT.
We've outlined some of the best races to watch at this year's meet and MileSplit Universal Subscribers can catch all the action live on FloTrack. Check out some of the biggest races to watch below.
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Girls 60m
When: Finals 3:50 p.m. PT
Who: Aliya Wilson (Tahoma TC, WA), Faith Richardson (Tahoma TC, WA), Kayla Palmer (Red Bird Run) Zanae Woods (Unattached, CA)
Why: All the athletes listed above have seed times of 7.65 or faster. This should make for a competitive final. The top prelim seed time is 7.45 held by Aliya Wilson from Tahoma Track Club. Wilson ran 7.46 earlier this year at the UW Indoor Preview.
Boys Mile
When: 4:15 p.m. PT
Who: Daniel Maton (Camas, WA), Joe Waskom (Mount Si High School, WA), Leo Daschbach (Unattached), Zane Fodge (McMinnville, OR), Brian Martinez (Moorpark High), Cal Banta (Air Academy High School)
Why: This is hands down the one race you don't want to miss. The field is stacked with some of the West Coast's best. The biggest name to watch out for is Daniel Maton (Camas, WA). Maton is ranked U.S. No. 1 in the 800m with a 1:51.88, and he's tied for the U.S. No. 5 mark in the mile with a 4:09.97. Maton ran both his 800m and mile times in professional fields at the Dempsey last moth competing in the UW Indoor Preview and UW Invitational.
The entire field has seed times sub-4:30 so this should be a fast race for everyone entered, but one guy who could be particularly close to Maton is Mount Si High School's Joe Waskom. Waskom was 33rd this past fall at Nike Cross Nationals finishing the 5K course in 15:34.70. He holds an outdoor mile PR of 4:09.80 from the Nike/Jesuit Twilight Relays and an indoor mile PR of 4:31.83 from this meet last year.
Boys 400m
When: 4:36 p.m. PT
Why: This is going to be a battle of some of California's best 400m runners. Cameron Reynolds has the best seed time coming into the meet with a 47.09 from the outdoor track last spring. Indoors he holds a PR of 50.16, which he ran to win this meet last year. His teammate Justin Lowe and Amador Valley High School's Elijah Weetman could challenge him for the win this year. They are seeded at 49.23 and 48.91, respectively.
Cristian Moore's 200m meet record race from 2018 where he ran of 21.94.
Boys and Girls 200m
When: 4:52 p.m. PT and 4:56 p.m. PT
Why: Both the girls and boys 200m races are sure to put on a show. Everyone in the fast heat of the girls 200m is seeded with a time 24.81 or faster, led by
Tahoma Track Club's Aliya Wilson who is seeded with a 24.05. If Wilson is able to run up to her seed time she could crack the top 10 200m times in the nation. Right now Wilson is ranked U.S. No. 42 with her 24.74 performance from the UW Indoor Preview on Jan. 12.
In the boys' race, all five of the athletes in the fast heat have seed times of 21.90 or faster. This group is led by 690's Cristian Moore who's seeded with a time of 21.12. If all of these guys were to run sub 22 seconds they would make the top 50 in the country for the 200m dash. The meet record time is 21.94 set by Moore last year. Annie Hill's 3000m meet record race from 2018 where she ran 9:59.60 to earn the win.
Boys and Girls 3000m
When: 5:00 p.m. PT and 5:15 p.m. PT
Who Girls:
Kelli Hines (Mission Viejo High School, CA), Julia Smith (Speed Unlimited, WA) Who Boys:
Evan Holland (Ashland, OR),
Riley McDowell (Unattached), Jonas Price (Unattached), Ryan Child (Kamiakin High School) Why: In the girls race, the top six athletes are all seeded with times faster than
Annie Hill's
9:59.60 meet record set last year. The top seed is Mission Viejo High School's (CA) Kelli Hines with a 9:46.09. Also seeded with a 9:46.48 is Julia Smith of Speed Unlimited.
The boys race should be just as good, as all the guys entered have seed times sub-9:03.82 and the top four are sub-8:40. Leading the way is NXN Northwest Champion and NXN 16th-place finisher Evan Holland (Ashland, OR). Holland is seeded with an 8:26.44. If he can run that he would break Joe Waskom's meet record time of 8:31.32 from just last year. Also in the mix should be
Riley McDowell who's seeded with an 8:30.69, Jonas Price who's seeded with an 8:34.31 and Ryan Child who's seeded with an 8:36.53. - - -
Other Notable Athletes and Races:
Lucy Huelskamp's meet record mile form 2018.
Girls Mile Finals 1 of 7 -- 4:10 p.m. PT
Lucy Huelskamp (Sunset, OR) - Huelskamp has the best seed time in the field with a 4:52.45. If she's able to run this she would crack into the top 20 times in the nation. Not to mention she's the meet record holder in this event with a 4:58.33 from last year.
Boys 60m Finals -- 3:57 p.m. PT
Calvin Brindle (Speed Unlimited, WA) - Brindle holds the current Washington No. 1 time of 7.10 from the WSU Indoor Open. He's seeded with a 6.90 so it seems like he's shooting to dip under the 7-second barrier for the first time in his career.
Girls 800m Finals 1 of 6 -- 4:42 p.m. PT
Kate Jendrezak (Eastside Catholic High School) - Jendrezak was last year's UW High School Invitational winner with a time of 2:13.40. Outdoors she won the Washington State Meet running her PR of 2:10.99 and she also finished 12th at the Brooks PR Invitational, running 2:12.94. Alisa Lyesina (Oak Bay, BC) - Lyesina is from Canada, but she has several times in the MileSplit database having run at several West Coast meets. She is the favorite to win with a seed time of 2:10.26.
Boys 800m Finals 1 of 7 -- 4:47 p.m. PT
Camron Herron (West Valley High School, AK) - Herron comes into this race with the fastest seed time of 1:52.74. He ran that performance last year outdoor's at the Portland Track Festival. It's by far the fastest time on his resume. If he can run even close to that indoors this weekend he will be one of the top-ranked 800m athletes in the nation. Ethan Reese (Sunset, OR) - Reese could challenge Herron for the win in this race. He's seeded with a
1:53.45 from his outdoor OSAA 6A State Championship title race. He's run 1:53.xx twice in his career and 1:54.96 once.
