Spokane Set To Play Host To Top American Stars At USATF Indoor

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Here are a list of 10 storylines heading into this weekend's USATF Indoor Championships Presented by BD at The Podium in Spokane. The meet will run over two days, Saturday and Sunday. The 2021 championships, scheduled for Albuquerque, N.M., were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The meet will determine the selection of the U.S. team that is due to compete at the World Indoor Championships, March 18-20, in Belgrade, Serbia. The top two finishers in each event are eligible to make the team. 

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First National Championship Meet Hosted at The Podium

The new facility in Spokane, Wash. has been operating to rave reviews since opening to its first meet last December. The state-of-the-art facility with a 200-meter banked hydraulic track is the only one of its kind on the West Coast. 

And the building has already seen some highlights, topped by the women's Distance Medley Relay world best achieved by the Union Athletics Club (Ella Donaghu, Raevyn Rogers, Sinclaire Johnson and Shannon Osika) on Feb. 11. 

Spokane has never hosted a U.S. Indoor Championship, but was the site of the 1977 NCAA Cross Country Championships and also USATF Cross Country Championship events in 2008, 2010 and 2018. 

Men's Hurdles are Loaded

While some of the most prominent U.S. Olympians from last summer are skipping the indoor season in order to prepare for the World Athletics Championships on home soil this summer, there are some events -- particularly field events -- that are getting full participation. 

On the track, one that stands out is the men's 60-meter hurdles, which includes Olympians Grant Holloway, Devon Allen and Daniel Roberts. 

Holloway, who earned the Olympic silver medal last summer in Tokyo in the 110-meter hurdles final, has not lost a 60-meter hurdles race since he was in high school. He is the world record holder in the event (7.29 seconds). 

Over the past week, Holloway competed in two meets in Europe. He ran a season's best 7.35 seconds Feb. 17 in France. 

Women's 1,500m is Also Loaded

All three U.S. Olympians from last summer, Elle Purrier-St. Pierre, Cory McGee and Heather MacLean, are entered in the women's 1,500.

Purrier-St. Pierre won her second consecutive Women's Wanamaker Mile title at the 114th Millrose Games in late January and she split 4:02.13 for 1,500 meters in that race. 

After winning the U.S. Trials last year in the 1,500 meters, she advanced to the Olympic final in Tokyo and placed 10th. 

In addition to the three Olympians, Dani Jones, Josette Norris, Nikki Hiltz and Osika, the anchor leg on the recent DMR world best, are also entered. 

Cunningham Seeks 10th National Title

High jumper Vashti Cunningham has owned U.S. women's high jumping since she was in high school and won her first national indoor crown in 2016. She went on to win the World title that winter in Portland, Ore. 

Since then, Cunningham finished second at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials but has won every national championship indoors or out since then. 

And at 24, she could become a 10-time national champion with many more opportunities yet to come. 

Cunningham cleared 6-6 (1.98m) in her first competition of 2022, at the American Track League meet Feb. 12 in Louisville, Ky. 

Crouser Watch is Always on

Two-time Olympic shot put champion Ryan Crouser has been tinkering with his training this winter, but it's all designed to take him places no shot-putter has ever been before. 

Crouser's dominance in the event feels pretty secure after a barrage of monster throws in 2020 and 2021, including world indoor and outdoor records. 

Any time he steps into the ring it's a must-watch moment. Even when his throw was mis-measured and announced as a world record at the 114th Millrose Games, you had to at least ponder that it could be a real mark. After all, he's one of the few athletes in the world that can provoke that suspension of disbelief. 

Joe Kovacs, the 2019 world champion, has not competed this winter.

Hocker and Teare Reunited Again in 1,500m

A year ago, Cole Hocker and Cooper Teare were running in tandem in order to bank big points for the University of Oregon at the NCAA Division 1 Indoor Championships. 

As new pros, they are still a two-man act. At the 114th Millrose Games, they were bearing down on a 1-2 finish in the 3,000 meters before Geordie Beamish came up and snagged it away from them. 

Then, in Chicago, they teamed up to chase after the U.S. indoor mile record and came up just a little bit short and yet both ran 3:50s.  

In Spokane, there is a good chance that those two could again be within arm's reach as they come off the final curve. And perhaps this buddy movie includes a roadtrip to Serbia. To get there, they will have to beat a field that includes veterans Sam Prakel, Craig Engels and Johnny Gregorek.

Olympic Champ Nageotte, HS Standout Moll Twins in Women's PV

Reigning Olympic champion Katie Nageotte is coming in off a third-place finish in the women's pole vault in France, where last week she jumped 15-9 (4.80m) for a season's best, despite still not competing from a full approach.

Nageotte will be challenged by Sandi Morris, the reigning champion from 2020, and Olivia Gruver as she tries to win the title and get back to 16 feet. 

A pair of prep standouts from Capital High in Washington, Hana Moll and Amanda Moll, are entered in the competition as well and will be competing in their home state. The Northwest Pole Vault Club representatives are both chipping away at the national high school record and Hana has taken attempts at it in three meets already this winter. 

In the right circumstances and with a big jump, Moll could surpass Chloe Cunliffe as the indoor record holder, and needs 14-9.50 (4.51m) to do it. 

Coleman Looks to Reclaim U.S. Sprint Title

In early 2020, Christian Coleman zoomed off with the U.S. Indoor 60-meter dash title in 6.37 seconds. That race came three months after an infamous missed drug test that caused him all kinds of problems after the the pandemic kicked in. Coleman appealed a two-year doping violation suspension and it was reduced to one year, but he still missed a chance to compete in the Tokyo Games. 

Now that he's back, Coleman will look to reassert himself as a the dominant sprinter in the country. The 60 is where he thrives and he is the world record holder at 6.34 seconds. 

The new track record isn't an easy one to break, with Oregon's Micah Williams speeding to 6.49 in January. 

But Coleman will be there looking to regain his form and he'll be pressed by Marvin Bracy, Brandon Carnes, Michael Rodgers and Ronnie Baker. 

Sant-Price Leads Women's 60 Field

Marybeth Sant-Price, who made her U.S. Indoors debut in 2013 as a high school star from Colorado, has come a long way in the past nine years. But she has arrived this winter as the U.S. leader and equal to No. 2 in the world in the 60 dash at 7.04 seconds and seems to be in the right head space to compete for a U.S. title against Mikiah Brisco, Kiara Parker, Kayla White, and others. 

DYESTAT DISCUSSIONS WITH MARYBETH SANT-PRICE

Brazier's Road to Redemption Continues

Donavan Brazier's inability to overcome injury and make last year's Olympic team was one of several shocking developments that happened prior to and during the Trials last summer in Eugene. 

Brazier's status as one of the world's great 800-meter runners was suddenly dealt a severe setback. 

But he appears to be back and this weekend could be a big one as he competes for the U.S. indoor title along with Olympian Bryce Hoppel, new 1,000-meter American record breaker Shane Streich, Erik Sowinski and Craig Engels.