MPSF Championships Meet Info

Friday, February 24

Seattle, Wash.

12:00 PM

University of Washington

MPSF Indoor Championships

February 23, 2017 | Track & Field

By: UW Athletic Communications

MPSF Championships
February 24-25, 2017 - Dempsey Indoor

Flotrack Live Link - Live Results

Heat Sheets - Event Schedule - MPSF Meet Home Page

Admission: $10 general admission; kids age 10 and under are free; UW students with Husky Card are free. Pass list and Dempsey VIP credential pick-up will be at the Husky Softball Stadium ticket booth.

Parking: Parking is south of Husky Stadium (Lot E12) w/ permit or North of the Baseball field (Lot E1). Cars/Vans will be charged in both lots. Do not park in Lots E8 or E9, you will be ticketed. PARKING MAP

SEATTLE – The final weekend of Dempsey action is at hand, as the best of the West Coast's track squads gather in Seattle for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships this Friday and Saturday. This will be the 14th consecutive year that Washington hosts the MPSF meet in the Dempsey, with a field that has expanded once again to a new high of 20 teams, including every Pac-12 program, making for the biggest conference meet in Division I.

Along with conference bragging rights, the prize for many athletes competing this weekend will be one of the top-16 spots nationally in their events, as this is the final weekend to move into qualifying position for the NCAA Indoor Championships, held March 10-11 in College Station, Texas.

Friday begins at 12 noon and runs until approximately 7:40 p.m. The first several hours on Friday will feature finals in the women's weight throw and women's pole vault, and the multi-events. Track races start at 4:30 p.m. on Friday with prelims of the 60m hurdles. Other field event finals held on Friday will include the men's pole vault and weight throw, and men's and women's long jumps. On the track, the men's and women's 5,000-meters, 200-meters, and distance medley relays will be contested, plus prelims for the 60-meter dashes.

Saturday picks back up at 10:30 a.m. Field events on Saturday include both men's and women's shot puts, high jumps, and triple jumps. Finals on the track will begin at 11 a.m. with the women's and men's mile runs, followed by the 60m hurdles finals, the 400-meters, 60-meter dash finals, 800-meters, 3,000-meters, and the 4x400m relays to finish the championships by approximately 3:00 p.m.

The MPSF field grew by one this year, as UC Riverside has joined up for 2017, making for 15 men's teams and 20 women's teams, the largest field in conference history. Every Pac-12 team will be on hand, plus BYU, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Northridge, Hawaii, Long Beach State, Portland, UC Irvine, and UC Riverside. Cal State Fullerton, Hawaii, Oregon State, UC Irvine, and Utah feature women's teams only.

In the current USTFCCCA national rankings, Oregon heads the MPSF squads, as its men are ranked No. 1 nationally and its men are ranked No. 3. The Colorado men are ranked seventh nationally, followed by USC at No. 17, the host Huskies at No. 19, then Stanford at No. 22, and BYU just outside the top-25 at No. 29. Other highly ranked women's teams include No. 5 USC, No. 17 BYU, No. 20 Arizona, No. 22 Colorado, and No. 23 Stanford.

The MPSF meet uses the standard championship point system of 10 points for first, 8 points for second, and 6-5-4-3-2-1 for third through eighth-place.

The Huskies will be looking for points as well as aiming to put more athletes in the top-16 nationally. Currently, five Dawgs would reach NCAAs if the season ended today, with Kennadi Bouyer (60m), Colby Gilbert (3k, 5k), Amy-Eloise Neale (Mile), Chase Smith (Pole Vault) and Elizabeth Quick (Pole Vault) in the qualifying spots.

The Husky sprinters will look to punctuate a fantastic indoor season with a strong showing at MPSFs. On the women's side, Bouyer will take part in a loaded 60-meter dash field where her 7.28 time is seeded just fifth overall despite being 13th nationally. Sarah Stavig will also go in the 60m. Stavig and Cydnicia Wade will run in the 200m, and senior Laura Anuakpado, junior Carolyn Birkenfeld, senior Whitney Diggs, seniro Alexis Ford, and redshirt freshman Imani Apostol will all go in the 400-meters. Sophomore Darhian Mills goes in the 60m hurdles.

In the men's sprints, Lucas Strong and Jacopo Spano, both coming off big PRs, lead UW in the 60-meters and 200-meters. Freshman Khalil Winfrey will also run both sprints. Sophomore Ryan Croson, senior Andrew Brown, and junior Michael Thomas run the 400m, and junior Eric Simpson looks to get into the 60m hurdles final.

In the mid-distances, sophomore Hannah Derby has the top time in the second-fastest 800-meter heat. Sophomore Mikelle Ackerley will also look for a PR. In the mile, Amy-Eloise Neale is the No. 1 seed, and Grace Hodge and Micaela Kostecka will also get their chances. Blake Nelson leads the way for the men in the mile, while Mason Fletcher and Jonathon Cantle are both in the third of four heats of the men's 800m.

In Friday's nights 5k's, senior Kaylee Flanagan will run her final MPSFs, while Emily Hamlin and Josephine Bosserman are slated to go in the 3k on Saturday. Freshman Charlie Barringer will get a shot in the 5k, while on Saturday Colby Gilbert is the No. 1 seed in the men's 3k, joined by Fred Huxham in the top heat. Andrew Gardner, Mahmoud Moussa, and Gavin Parpart are in the second 3k heat.

Senior Pac-12 Champion Elizabeth Quick leads a talented women's vault field, with Pac-12 runner-up Kaitlin Zinsli looking to add some more conference meet points along with Tori Franzen, Annika Dayton, and Candace Ho. Quick will also high jump, along with junior Mayson Douglass. Senior Alanna Coker will be in both the long and triple jumps, with Kate Adler also long jumping.

The men's high jump will include freshman Bryce Fausset, while the pole vault has four Dawgs in the top flight, led by Chase Smith, coming off his 17-11 PR, to go with Blaise Black, and freshmen Zach Shugart and Jacob Bowler, plus Joey Weiler in flight one. Junior Casey Burns is seeded third coming in to the men's triple jump.

Junior Onyie Chibuogwu, after PR'ing four times in the weight at the UW Indoor Open, will look to score some points in the women's weight throw. Carey Campbell will hoist the weight for the men, and freshman Jose Padilla gets his first championship meet experience in the shot put.

Two of UW's best heptathletes in school history will both get rolling on Friday, as Josh Gordon and Cole Jensen battle for conference titles. Gordon was fifth and Jensen was seventh in the heptathlon last year at MPSFs. Sophomore Carly Lester will go in her second career pentathlon on Friday as well.