Washington's 2018 track season kicks off on Saturday as the Huskies host the UW Indoor Preview, the first of five big collegiate meets set for the Dempsey. First up in a look at the separate event groups is the sprinters, hurdlers, and relays, led for the second season by assistant coach Eric Metcalf, with volunteer assistant Mark Macdonald assisting with the hurdlers. The group features five individuals who have reached Pac-12 sprint finals in their careers, and UW looks to continue building on its relay success that saw both 4x4's place in the top-four at Pac-12s last year, with the women's 4x400m making school history by reaching the NCAA Championships for the first time.

Sprints/Hurdles/Relays
 
Returning 2017 Conference Scorers and NCAA qualifiers
 
Men
Eric Simpson, 110m Hurdles (6th at Pac-12s)
Jacopo Spanò, 200m (6th at Pac-12s; 5th at MPSFs; 28th at NCAA Prelims)
Michael Thomas, 400m (7th at Pac-12s)
4x100m Relay: Jordan Lucas, Khalil Winfrey, Spanò (6th at Pac-12s)
4x400m Relay: Spanò, Thomas, Croson (3rd at Pac-12s; 7th at MPSFs; 21st at NCAA Prelims)
 
Women
Darhian Mills, 400m Hurdles (4th at Pac-12s; 18th at NCAA Prelims)
4x400m Relay: Imani Apostol, Mills (4th at Pac-12s; 4th at MPSFs; 22nd at NCAA Outdoors)
 
Assistant Coach Eric Metcalf
 
In your second year now as an assistant, did you see a difference in fall training?
I think it changed for the athletes because they knew what to expect coming in. They knew how to prepare in the offseason before they got here. So coming in I could look and see that everybody was pretty fit and ready to go. With that in mind, I feel like they're ahead of where they were last year at this point, so I'm looking forward to good things.
 
What events do you anticipate being particular strengths this season?
On the women's side, definitely the returning 400 runners and the 400 hurdlers gives us a chance to have a good 4x4 again. So I'm really looking forward to that, especially with Raquel (Tjernagel) coming in and hopefully getting her back to where she once was. So I'm looking forward to seeing what they can do not only as individuals but as a group.
 
The men's short sprinters are looking good, with a few young guys coming in who I think could help us a lot. We'll just see, really you never know until they get on the track but I think we have the guys that can go out there and do some things and challenge in the Pac-12.
 
Are there any returners that you think could be on the verge of reaching a new level?
I think Khalil Winfrey could. He came in as a freshman and didn't really know what to expect because high school track is so much different. But the experience last year, getting faster, and then being able to compete at U.S. Juniors and seeing what it's like to compete against the best in the country just added fuel to his fire. He's trying to do everything right this year and taking care of himself more and I'm looking forward to seeing him run fast.
 
How would you describe the leadership of senior guys like Jacopo and Michael Thomas?
I love those guys because they come in here with work on their minds. They don't think about anything else besides how can they get better. I think with that in mind the younger guys and girls get to see that they mean business and they're trying to get better. They were happy with what they did last year but they're always trying to achieve more. They're not the guys who say a lot, but they come in day after day, on time, do the work, with hopes of getting better and I just love that about them.
 
How have the freshmen looked so far?
I'm very excited because everyone can do a lot of different things and that's what's going to help our team. On the women's side, we have Iman (Brown) and Jelani (Heath) who can run, but they also can jump, so that helps us a great deal. Olivia (Ribera) runs the 1 and 2 of course. Then the guys have Evan (Mafilas) who is good at the 2 and the 4, and Kemuel (Santana) who can run the 1 and the 2 but also runs a good 4x4, so you get people who can do a lot of things and it does nothing but make your team better.
 
And she's a junior but I'm really excited to see Raquel. In high school she ran 52 (for the 400m) and 23 (in the 200m) and 11.5 (in the 100m), so I'm just hoping we can get her back to that and past that. She feels good in a good environment closer to home. It can weigh on people when they're far away from home and things aren't going well, but now she's feeling good and I'm feeling like she can do big things here.
 
Volunteer Assistant Coach Mark Macdonald (Hurdles Coach)
 
The big strength looks to be the women's 400m hurdlers again this year, with Darhian's success and Carly rejoining that group.
All three of those third-year girls (Darhian Mills, Carly Lester, Morganne Hill) are on this upswing which is good. They've all been through the struggles that college athletes face. Morganne redshirted last year, Darhian redshirted her first year, and Carly with taking a shot at the multis, so it's good to see that they keep trying and you can see that it's going to pay off.
 
Darhian, after last year, I think she got a lot of confidence. By making it as far as she did I think that has motivated to even work harder. She's a different person this year than last year, because last year was all about just getting back into things. This year she believes in herself a lot more, she's just doing great things, so it could be a really big year for her.
 
Carly has got to be one of the most improved athletes I've seen. She's doing so great right now. I don't mean this as an insult, but she looks how she's supposed to look after how good she was in high school. She's doing so great in her training and she's excited. She's someone who could go from running over 60 (seconds in the 400m hurdles) to making it to NCAAs. I see it, it's in her, she should do that.
 
Hanna Tarleton is also healthy now and someone doing well also. If you can run under 60 or even low 60 you can make the Pac-12 final. That's within her capability, so we could have four women looking to be in that final.
 
Will those three be factors in the high hurdles as well?
Hopefully they can all run under 14 seconds and maybe one or two get down to the 13.6 or 13.5 range. Hannah Rusnak, a freshman multi athlete, will also be a significant factor in the hurdles. She's really good. Even from her first practice I was like, 'Dang, who's this?' She looks very good. Indoors, mostly we work on the first three or four hurdles, and she looks amazing, but she keeps reminding me that's her best part. So we'll have to see and work on the middle section, but she's definitely going to be fun to watch in the hurdles.
 
How is Eric Simpson doing heading into his senior year?
Last year Eric made the Pac-12 final for the second year, but he never put together a full race. Either the first half was good, or the second half was good, or he'd hit something. But he's such a great competitor. To make the Pac-12 final two years in a row is great. Hopefully he can just get a little bit better, get into those low 14's, make it to Regionals and win the Dual meet. He's a great leader for the hurdle group too.
 
How are the men's 400 hurdles looking?
Oscar Herrera is way better. He should have a good year. He's a good runner and good at the event, but he wasn't very strong last year. He's a lot stronger now. Part of it last year, too, was maybe he was intimidated by the conference or didn't believe he belonged. But being in his second season and getting a lot stronger, he should be really good.
 
Then our freshman, Aiden Basco, is so good, and we need him, but he's got a hamstring thing holding him back right now so we'll see what he's able to do this year. He hurt it as a sophomore in high school and missed his whole sophomore year, so we don't want it to become something long term.