Yared Nuguse and Woody Kincaid will headline two loaded heats in the men’s 5000m while Josette Andrews will chase the Olympic qualifying standard in the fast heat of the women’s 5000m at the BU John Thomas Terrier Classic on Friday and Saturday in Boston.

On the men’s side, there will be two exceptionally fast heats leading off the 5000m slate.

Running first in the Scarlet Heat will be On Athletic Club teammates Nuguse, Joe Klecker, Mario Garcia Romo, Georgie Beamish and Morgan McDonald as well as Olin Hacker from NAZ Elite and Edwin Kurgat of Under Armour Dark Sky. 

The White Heat will follow with Kincaid, the U.S. Indoor record holder at the distance, facing World Championships finalist Abdihamid Nur, Aidan Wildschutt of NAZ Elite, Ky Robinson of Stanford, Nico Young from Northern Arizona, and Morgan Beadlescomb and Sam Prakel of adidas

The Scarlet Heat will be paced by A.J. Ernst and Travis Mahoney, while the White Heat will be paced by Brian Barazza and Charles Philibert-Thiboutot. Both heats are shooting for 7:50-7:52 pace through the first 3000 meters.

The women’s 5000m Olympic Standard Invite will be all about hitting the 14:52 qualifying mark for Paris. The focus will likely be on Andrews, who will be racing her first indoor 5000m race in four years. Last May, Andrews ran 14:43.36 outdoors in May, the No. 7 time on the U.S. all-time list, but her performance came before the Olympic qualifying window opened so it does not count.

Andrews will be paced in the race by her OAC teammate Alicia Monson, who hit the standard at last year’s Diamond League Meeting in London, where she ran 14:19.45. Those two should have company near the front of the race with Ethiopians Fantaye Belayneh (14:44.51 PB), Aynadis Mebratu (14:45.70 PB) and Senayet Getachew (14:46.25 PB) in the field. The target pace is 8:55-8:56 through 3000m.

Others to watch in the women’s 5000m race include Rachel Smith, who is returning from a maternity leave after giving birth to her first daughter for her first 5000m race in three years; and steeplechaser Courtney Wayment of On as she looks to get under her PB of 15:15.46.

In the women's 800m, Stanford teammates Roisin Willis and Juliette Whitaker will square off against a field that includes six women seeded under 2:01, including Harvard freshman Sophia Gorriaran, who is also the top seed in the women's 500m at 1:10. They will be paced through 400m with a target time of 58.5.

For complete meet entries, click here.