Athletes On The Bubble Of NCAA Qualifying Get Opportunity At MPSF Indoor Championships In Spokane

By Keenan Gray of DyeStat

John Nepolitan photo

Cal State Northridge’s Trey Knight, one of 10 collegiate athletes on The Bowerman men’s mid-season indoor watch list, will be aiming for a second consecutive men’s weight throw title at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Indoor Championships during the two-day competition Friday and Saturday at The Podium Powered by STCU in Spokane.

Knight ranks No. 1 in the NCAA this season with a mark of 81 feet, 7.25 inches (24.87m) thrown at his season opener on Jan. 24 at the Nevada Invitational and Multis in Reno. This weekend’s competition in Spokane will be just his second of the season.

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Knight swept both the shot put and weight throw at last year’s MPSF Indoor Championships, throwing 55-70 (16.94m) to win the shot put contest by four centimeters, then obliterated the weight throw field with a 77-20 (23.52m) heave to win by almost five and a half meters.

Knight, formerly at the University of Southern California before transferring to CSU Northridge during the 2024 academic year, finished second in the weight throw at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Boston last season.

Knight concluded his 2024 season with an All-American finish in the hammer throw at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, earning sixth, and was a U.S. Olympic Trials finalist, also in the hammer throw, placing ninth.

The MPSF Indoor Championships will feature 14 schools from states up and down the west coast and Hawaii, including Pac-12 schools Washington State and Oregon State.

Washington State’s Evans Kurui is entered in both the men’s 3,000 and 5,000 meter races, coming off a record-breaking weekend at the Husky Classic on Feb. 14, where he set a new school record for the Cougars in the 5,000, running an NCAA No. 10 time of 13:17.16 to break John Ngeno’s 49 year-old-record by nearly 17 seconds.

Kurui is slated to race Portland’s Matt Strangio in the 3,000, who ran an NCAA No. 12 time of 7:40.09 at the Husky Classic.

Portland will also feature three more distance standouts in Estanis Ruiz in the men’s 800 meters and mile, Mark Milner in the men’s mile and Fleur Templier in the women’s 3,000 meters.

WSU’s Mason Lawyer and Tatum Moku are both positioned in the NCAA top 16 in their respective events but will look improve their efforts to safely secure a berth to the NCAA Indoor Championships, taking place on March 14-15 from Virginia Beach.

Lawyer is entered in the men’s 60 meter, having run an NCAA No. 16 time of 6.57 seconds. He will also run in the 200 meter, where he sits 28th in the country at 20.85 seconds.

Moku, 15th in the women’s pole vault, is aiming for her fourth win in Spokane this season after winning pole vault contests in three other meets at The Podium.

WSU has another pair of athletes just outside the top 16 looking to improve their rankings before the national meet: AJ McGloflin (men’s high jump, 31st) and Eli Lawrence (men’s triple jump, 38th).

Oregon State’s Dede Norman and Jayla Hooper are on the brink of the top 16 in their respective events, with Norman ranked 20th in the women’s high jump and Hooper ranked 28th in the women’s weight throw.

Cal State Fullerton’s Jahzara Davis enters the women’s 60 meter hurdles ranked 22nd in the country, needing three one-hundredths to make the top 16 for nationals.