Huskies Host UW Invitational Plus Mile City Mayhem

Friday, January 26

Seattle, WA

3:00 PM

University of Washington

UW Invitational

January 25, 2024 | Track & Field

By: UW Athletic Communications

2024 UW Invitational and Mile City
Jan. 26-27 | Dempsey Indoor

UW Invitational Meet Information
HEAT SHEETS | Final Schedule | Meet Information | Accepted Entries
Live Stream on Runnerspace | Live Results

Mile City Meet Information
Mile City Women's Heat Sheets | Mile City Men's Heat Sheets | Final Schedule | Meet Information
Mile City Men's Accepted Entries | Mile City Women's Accepted Entries | Mile City Explained
Live Stream on Runnerspace | Live Results

SEATTLE – Seattle temporarily changes its name on Saturday, as "Mile City" sweeps through the Dempsey Indoor for the first time. Held in conjunction with the UW Invitational, this special event will see over 600 men and women, from youth to masters athletes, beginners to professionals and the best in the NCAA, run five-plus laps around the Dempsey.

As explained by Husky assistant coach Chris Kwiatkowski, the impetus behind putting on this new event was "trying to put together a really good field at the high-performance, elite end, and get a fast mile going, but more importantly provide a setting for the community around Seattle, the state of Washington, and hopefully around the nation at some point, to mark on their calendar, the same way they would a road race or another track event. Train for it, get excited for it, come in the setting of the Dempsey Indoor, and try to run a good mile."

"Whether it's a PR that those people are going for, whether it's a time trial, or their first time running a mile on an indoor track, all those things are equally important, and that's the setting we wanted to provide for everybody," said Kwiatkowski.

The Mile City events will kick off on Saturday at 1 p.m. But before that, there's a full day-and-a-half of every other track event imaginable happening as part of the UW Invitational. That meet will start Friday, Jan. 26, at 3 p.m. and go until approximately 7:30. Then the meet picks up on Saturday morning at 9 a.m. and will conclude at 12 noon.

While there will be 37 total heats of the mile, the two fastest men's heats and two fastest women's heats will be slated to go between 3 and 3:30 p.m.

The one field event that will continue through into the Mile City events will be the women's pole vault, featuring an elite field including UW's All-Americans Nastassja Campbell and Sara Borton, World Championships finalist Hana Moll in her first Dempsey competition as a Dawg, and 2016 Rio Olympics Gold Medalist Katerina Stefanidi.

The Dempsey has built a reputation over more than 20 years as the place to break four minutes in the mile in the U.S. and one of the best venues in the world. There have been 273 sub-four miles in the building since it opened in 2002, by 187 different men. That facility history combined with Washington's recent success in the distance, including a trio of returning NCAA Champions in Joe Waskom, Luke Houser, and Nathan Green, and Sophie O'Sullivan, the 3rd-fastest 1500m runner in NCAA history, made "Mile City" into a reality.

O'Sullivan will make her season debut in the top section of the women's mile, in a heat that includes the 2023 USA 1,500-meter Champion and the American Record-holder in the mile Nikki Hiltz. It also includes pros Grace Barnett (4:29 mile PR), Polish Olympian Alicja Konieczek (4:35 mile PR), Jenn Randall (4:30 mile PR), and Skylyn Webb (4:06 1500m PR). Huskies in the top heat along with O'Sullivan include Haley Herberg, Chloe Foerster, and recent addition to the squad Wilma Nielsen in her Husky debut.

Waskom, Green, and Houser will all be in the top men's mile heat on Saturday afternoon, along with teammates Eric Gibson, Leo Daschbach, Ronan McMahon-Staggs. Former Husky Sam Ellis, now competing professionally, is in the top heat. Pros include Brannon Kidder, who has more sub-four miles in the Dempsey than any other man with six. Pros Eric Avila (3:55 mile PR) and John Gay (3:58 mile PR) will also push the pace. In the second-fastest heat of the men's mile, 2016 Rio Olympics Gold Medalist Matthew Centrowitz, a 3:49 miler, will mix it up.

Husky Entries By Event Group

Women's Sprints: Kapiolani Coleman (60/400), Danielle Hunter (60/200), Sophia McHenry (60/200), Rhonda Newton (400), Elle Rutherford (400), Anna Terrell (400)

Women's Distance: Perri Bockrath (Mile/3000), Ella Borsheim (Mile), Alyssia Brown (800), Julia David-Smith (Mile), Chloe Foerster (Mile), Samantha Friborg (Mile-unattached), Haley Herberg (Mile), Tori Herman (Mile/3000), Saskia Lloyd (5000), Sophie O'Sullivan (Mile), Marlena Preigh (800), Naomi Smith (5000), Carley Thomas (800), India Weir (Mile), Josephine Welin (Mile/3000)

Women's Jumps: Sara Borton (Pole Vault), Nastassja Campbell (Pole Vault), Camille Duckett (Long Jump), Delaney Ezeji-Okoye (Pole Vault), Sarah Ferguson (Pole Vault), Lauren Heggen (Triple Jump), Amanda Moll (Pole Vault), Hana Moll (Pole Vault), Ava Washburn (Long Jump/Triple Jump), Avril Wilson (Pole Vault)

Women's Throws: Beatrice Asomaning (Weight), Yvonne Colson (Weight), Kaia Tupu-South (Shot Put)

Men's Sprints: Jonathan Birchman (400), Jonathan Frazier (400/60 Hurdles), Daniel Gaik (400), Boden Hanley (400), Matthew Wilkinson (400)

Men's Distances: Sam Affolder (Mile/3000), Isaac Briggs (Mile-unattached), Cruize Corvin (Mile/3000-unattached), James Crabtree (Mile/3000), Leo Daschbach (Mile), Jamar Distel (Mile/3000), Eric Gibson (Mile), Tyrone Gorze (Mile/3000-unattached), Nathan Green (Mile), Luke Houser (Mile), Evan Jenkins (Mile/3000), Ronan McMahon-Staggs (Mile), Will Schneider (Mile-unattached), Joe Waskom (Mile)

Men's Jumps: James Akinlosotu (Long Jump/Triple Jump), Prestin Artis (Long Jump), Mathis Bresko (Pole Vault), Roman Hutchinson (Long Jump/Triple Jump), Leland Lieberg (High Jump), Tim Luebbert (Long Jump), Max Manson (Pole Vault), Simon Park (Pole Vault), Trevontay Smith (Triple Jump)

Men's Multis: Bruno Comin Pescador (60/60 Hurdles/High Jump/Shot Put), Jami Schlueter (60/60 Hurdles/High Jump/Shot Put)