Two former Viking track athletes make U.S. Bobsled Team

Former Western Washington University track and field athletics Alex Harrison and Michelle Howe were among 23 athletes selected to represent the United States Bobsled Team on the 2014-15 World Cup and Intercontinental Cup tours.

The selection puts both in the running to earn spots on the team that the U.S. will send to compete in the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.

Howe, a Lakewood High School graduate, majored in exercise science at WWU, before graduating in 2012. She went on to earn a master's degree at East Tennessee State University where she is currently working on her Ph.D. She held the indoor 60-meter hurdles record at WWU until it was broken in 2013.

Harrison, also a 2012 WWU graduate, was a decathlete for the Vikings. He set school records in the javelin, since broken, and in the decathlon with 6,772 points. Harrison graduated from Edmonds-Woodway High School.

The World Cup season began last weekend, and Harrison started strong riding with Olympic champion driver Steven Holcomb to place second in the four-man competition and winning gold as Holcomb's brakeman during the second day of the two-man competition.

Howe also had a good showing, pairing with driver Jamie Greubel Poser to finish second in the women's competition on the first day and with Brittany Reinbolt to place fourth on Day 2.

The intercontinental competition gets underway this weekend at Lillehammer, Norway.