What To Watch This Weekend In Track And Field: BU Terrier + Dr. Sander Invitational

Track is back!

After a rumble on the roads in Houston and a clash on the grass in Virginia, it feels like this weekend is the true opening of the 2024 indoor track season (or “short track,” if ya nasty). While many collegians have been competing since the holidays wrapped up and some even got an early jump on a NCAA qualifier in December, this weekend marks the start of the 2024 World Indoor Tour Gold Series and a few heavy-hitting U.S. meets where the pros are finally showing up ready to roll.

From Seattle to Kazakhstan, here are a few of the key races to watch for track and field fans over the next two days.

John Thomas Terrier Classic (Fri. 1/26 & Sat. 1/27)

Live results | Schedule

Much has already been made over the decision by Boston University meet organizers to split the fastest entries in the men’s 5000m into two, theoretically equal, sections. The long and short of it: the broader structure of track and field competition doesn’t incentivize head-to-head competition in January and no one entered seems to want anything other than a safe and successful attempt at the 13:05.00 Olympic standard.

Nevertheless, Terrier will once again feature a nonstop onslaught of deep heats and fast times up front in the distance and middle-distance races. This year, the men race on Friday and the women race on Saturday, so don’t get your race times mixed up. We’ll get a peek at studs like Craig Engels and Charles Philibert-Thiboutot in the men’s mile and Stanford standouts Roisin Willis and Juliette Whittaker in the women’s 800m, and of course the traditional guessing game of how many sub-4 miles the men’s competition will yield. Last year’s total? 15.

Key races: Men and Women’s 5000m

We already posted detailed roundups of the men’s and women’s 5000m fields, but there’s no denying that the longest event of the meet will also feature the biggest fireworks. On the men’s side, last year’s stars of the BU meet series – Woody Kincaid and Joe Klecker – won’t be racing head to head, but Klecker will have to take on a few of his OAC teammates including a pair of hard-kicking mile specialists in Yared Nuguse and Mario Garcia Romo. And after an explosive mile performance last weekend, all eyes will be on Northern Arizona University’s Nico Young in the second heat, but he might not even be the top collegian as two-time NCAA champ Ky Robinson of Stanford is also entered. Graham Blanks’ collegiate record may be in jeopardy.

In the women’s race, a trio of speedy Ethiopian adidas runners with sub-14:50 PBs – Fantaye Belayneh, Aynadis Mebratu, and Senayet Getachew – will face off with Americans like OAC’s Josette Andrews, Hoka’s Rachel Smith, and steeplechaser Courtney Wayment as American record holder Alicia Monson paces the group for the 14:52.00 Olympic standard. The NCAA stars might get bumped to the second heat in this one, but cross-country stars like NAU’s Gracelyn Larkin and NC State’s Samantha Bush are slated for a rematch on the oval.

How to watch (requires a Flotrack subscription of $29.99/month or $150/annually)

Dr. Sander Invite Columbia Challenge (Fri. 1/26 & Sat. 1/27)

Live results | Schedule

The most fun gimmick of the Dr. Sander Invite is that the winners of the men’s and women’s mile races get a guaranteed entry into the Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games. Last year’s champs, Drew Hunter and Alicia Monson, aren’t returning to defend, which opens the door for local heroes like Eric Holt or Rob Napolitano to book their tickets to Millrose. In the women’s race, 4:23 miler Helen Schlachtenhaufen headlines the field along with Laurie Barton of the Brooks Beasts. The men’s 800m also features strong international talent and the field events, most notably the men’s long and high jumps and the women’s long jump, feature a strong crop of World qualifiers and former U.S. champs.

Key races: Women’s 800m

We’ll get a fun showdown between 1:58 runners and former teammates Olivia Baker and Allie Wilson. The duo’s outdoor PBs are separated by only 0.04 seconds and they’ve raced head-to-head a whopping 18 times (not counting heats). Wilson has the lifetime advantage of 14-4 head-to-head, but neither athlete may come out with the win if one of the two Union Athletics Club runners in the field, McKenna Keegan or Michaela Meyer, plays spoiler.

How to watch (requires a USATF.TV+ subscription of $12.99/month or $119.88/year from 8:30 a.m. to noon before switching over to Peacock from noon to 2 p.m.)

Washington Indoor Invitational (Fri. 1/26 & Sat. 1/27)

Live results | Schedule

The West Coast pros who didn’t want to deal with the BU time change will be headed to Seattle instead this weekend for the University of Washington’s home meet. The women’s 1000m features a field of strong milers moving down in distance to open up the season, including U.S. 1500m champ Nikki Hiltz and Australian record holder Jessica Hull. Canadian steeplechase Olympian John Gay will throw down with Eric Avila in the men’s 3000m against a talented field of collegians looking for their NCAA qualifiers.

Key races: Men’s Mile

A veritable army of Huskies past, present, and honorary will once again chase some fast times and season debuts as the UW trio of Joe Waskom, Luke Houser, and Nathan Green hit the 300-meter circuit. They’ll be joined (perhaps paced?) by Olympic champ, veteran racer, and UW assistant coach Matthew Centrowitz as well as 3:54 miler Brannon Kidder. This crew already accounts for 3 of the top 10 NCAA marks of all time and a couple of NCAA titles to boot, so expectations are sky-high.

How to watch (requires a RunnerSpace+ subscription of $12.99/month or $119.88/year)

Astana Indoor Meet (Sat. 1/27)

Live results to come | Schedule

The World Athletics Indoor Tour, a seven-race series leading up to the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, kicks off this weekend in Astana, Kazakhstan. This particular meet is only two years old, a testament to World Athletics’s ongoing efforts to live up to the first half of its name, but it features a solid lineup of international stars including all-star track couple Nia Ali and Andre De Grasse in the 60m hurdles and 60m dash and Ethiopian middle-distance studs like Diribe Welteji (women’s 1500m silver medalist, running the 3000m), 1500m specialist Samuel Tefera, and steeplechaser Getnet Wale, who will face off in the men’s 3000m.

Key event: Men’s Pole Vault

The big one to watch here will be the men’s pole vault, featuring indoor and outdoor world record holder Mondo Duplantis in his first competition since last year’s Diamond League final, where he improved his own record to 6.23m. There probably won’t be much motivation for Mondo to take the bar sky-high in his first competition of the year, and the competition, while solid, only features one other 6-meter vaulter, but it’ll be fun to see if the GOAT of his event can pick up right where he left off.

How to watch (requires a Flotrack subscription of $29.99/month or $150/annually)

Get ready for another big year of track and field. Stay up to date on all of it via CITIUS MAG. Be sure to follow us on Instagram, X, Threads, YouTube and across all podcast players.