Can former Oregon Ducks shine at USATF Indoor meet? What to know and how to watch
It's championship meet weekend in Albuquerque with several former Oregon Ducks attempting to extend their indoor track and field season a little longer.
The U.S. Track & Field Indoor Championship meet is Friday and Saturday at the Albuquerque Convention Center and the top-two finishers in each event will qualify for the World Athletics Indoor Championships being held March 1-3 in Glasgow, Scotland.
Former Ducks Sam Prakel and Alaysha Johnson are the defending champions in their respective events, Cooper Teare and Cole Hocker are both entered in a pair of races, and Jasmine Todd and Cole Walsh will be looking to overcome long odds to earn a trip to Scotland.
The meet goes from 2-7:30 p.m. Friday and noon-3 Saturday.
Prakel was the 2023 champion in the men's 3,000 and 1,500 meters, winning the longer distance outright and getting the 1,500 title by default after a runner-up finish when winner Josh Thompson was disqualified for interference earlier in the race.
Prakel qualified for both races again but scratched from the 3,000 and is now only entered in Saturday's 1,500.
Thompson, who is a member of the Eugene-based Bowerman Track Club coached by Oregon's Jerry Schumacher, is also entered in the 1,500.
Cooper Teare and Cole Hocker will twice go head to head
As are Teare and Hocker. The former Duck standouts have reunited as training partners in Virginia under Ben Thomas, their former distance coach at Oregon. Both are entered in the 3,000 on Friday as well.
Hocker won U.S. indoor titles in the 1,500 and 3,000 in 2022. He's coming off an outdoor season that included a third-place finish at the 2023 USATF Outdoor Championships at Hayward Field, and a seventh-place finish at the World Athletics Outdoor Championships in Budapest.
Hocker finished third in the 2-mile race during the Millrose Games in New York last Sunday in a personal-record 8 minutes, 5.70 seconds.
This is the first USATF Indoor Championship meet for Teare, who ran 3:53.41 to finish eighth in the mile during the Millrose Games in what was his first race at that distance this season.
Teare has already had an impressive winter. He won the USA Cross Country Championships on Jan. 14, finishing in 29:06.5 for a 5-second victory over runner-up Anthony Rotich. That qualified him for the World Athletics Cross Country Championships taking place on March 30 in Belgrade, Serbia.
Alaysha Johnson to defend 60 hurdles title
Johnson is the returning U.S. indoor champion in the women's 60 hurdles and the runner-up in 2022. She competed at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade in 2022 and placed 11th. The 60 hurdle semifinals and final are both scheduled for Friday.
Todd is also no stranger to international competition. The two-time World Outdoor Championships qualifier is competing in her first U.S. Indoor meet since 2020. Todd is entered in the women's long jump on Friday.
Walsh is entered in the men's pole vault on Friday. He has had back-to-back ninth-place finishes at the U.S. Indoor meet.
Former Ducks Matt Wisner and Grant Grosvenor are entered in the men's 800, with the semifinals scheduled for Friday and the final on Saturday.
Eugene's Jenn Randall is entered in the women's 3,000 on Friday.
How to watch the U.S. Track & Field Indoor Championship
Friday: Each event will air live on USATF.TV+ (Subscription required)
Saturday: Live on NBC from 1-3 p.m.
Links
Follow Chris Hansen on Twitter @chansen_RG or email at chansen@registerguard.com. For more sports coverage, visit registerguard.com. Want more stories like this? Subscribe to get unlimited access and support local journalism.
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: How to watch former Ducks at U.S. Track & Field Indoor Championship
