Seniors Katie Mahoney and Kaytlyn Coleman, as well as freshman Larry Still, recorded Big Sky Conference individual championships to highlight performances by the Eastern Washington University track and field teams at the Big Sky Conference Championships Friday (May 13) in Greeley, Colo.
 
Coleman, the prohibitive favorite in the hammer after recording a pair of 200-foot throws and winning five Big Sky athlete of the week honors during the regular season, had the three best throws on the day and her five legal throws ranked in the top six. But none were bigger than her final throw of 203-1, which ranks fifth in league history and broke her own school record of 200-7.
 
Mahoney won the 3,000-meter steeplechase, winning her first title after scoring 31 points at previous Big Sky outdoor meets. Her 41 points now ranks fourth in school history, and if she can pick up two points in the 800 in Saturday's final, she will move into third. Paula Gil-Echevarria also earned All-Big Sky Conference honors with her second-straight third-place finish, and 2014 champion Catie Arrigoni placed 12th.
 
Still was victorious in the pole vault with a winning height of 17-0 3/4, a school record that gave him both the indoor and outdoor titles as a freshman. Matt Sullivan of Idaho also cleared 17-0 3/4 – both on their third attempts at that height -- but Still won the title by virtue of clearing 16-8 3/4 on his first attempt at that height while it took Sullivan three attempts to make.
 
The all-conference honors won by Mahoney and Gil-Echevarria continues the legacy established the last four years by EWU's outstanding corp of distance runners. Mahoney, Sarah Reiter, Gil-Echevarria, Arrigoni, and Berenice Penaloza have now combined for ten All-Big Sky Conference honors (top three finish) in the last four years in a trio of distance events. In EWU's first 25 years as a member of the Big Sky Conference, Eastern had just five all-league performers in those same events (steeplechase, 5,000 and 10,000).
 
Also earning All-Big Sky honors for the Eagles Friday with a top-three finish was senior Joey Payne, who had a throw of 217-3 in the javelin to finish as the runner-up for the second time in his career.
 
After Friday's competition, Eastern's women are in third place in the standings with 37 points, with Montana leading the way with 60 points. The Eagle men are sixth with 23 points, and the leader is Northern Arizona with 54 points.
 
Hosted by Northern Colorado University on its campus at Nottingham Field, the meet concludes Saturday (May 14). Field events begin at 9 a.m. Pacific Time and running events start at 11 a.m.
 
A year ago when Eastern hosted the meet at Roos Field, both the men's and women's teams placed fifth. Earlier this season at the Big Sky Indoor Championships, the women's team finished a best-ever third with a school-record point total of 79 1/2 points.
 
Eastern's all-time best finish outdoors for the women came in 2011 with a third-place finish, and in 2010 the Eagles set a school record with 102 points. The men have placed third on two occasions previously (2009 and 2012), and scored a record 88 points in 2012.
 
After the Big Sky Championships, some of Eastern's top athletes will compete at the NCAA Championships Preliminary Round May 26-28 in Lawrence, Kan.  Advancers from that meet compete in the NCAA Championships June 8-11 in Eugene, Ore.
 
Women's Top Performers  . . .

• After heartbreak during the indoor season, senior Kaytlyn Coleman left no doubt in the hammer outdoors. Her first throw of the day was 196-6, which would have been enough for the title. But with nothing to lose, she uncorked a throw of 203-1 on her final attempt to break her own school record by 1 1/2 feet and now rank fifth all-time in the Big Sky. She became the fourth Big Sky hammer throw champion in school history. Entering the competition, she had the league's top hammer throw this season of 200-7, a mark ranked 21st this week in NCAA Division I. Coleman, who placed fifth in the BSC as a junior in the hammer, will also compete in Saturday's shot put competition and enters with the league's fourth-best mark (47-7 1/4). She has won a league-record total of five Big Sky Conference Athlete of the Week honors this season, to go along with three during the indoor campaign. She had a heart-breaking runner-up finish in the weight throw during the indoor championships when North Dakota's Molli Detloff, on her last throw of the day, tied Coleman, then won the title because a better next-best throw. Coleman is a 2011 graduate of Kennewick (Wash.) High School and was a six-time NAIA All-American at Lewis-Clark State College before transferring to Eastern.

 

• Senior Katie Mahoney added her first Big Sky title to an already illustrious outdoor season with three school records, and an equally illustrious career. Her title in the steeplechase in a time of 10:33.19 gives her a total of 41 career points scored to rank fourth in school history for total points scored at the league championships. She also has finishes of second, third, fourth (twice) fifth and sixth in her career, and is just two points from moving into third in school history She finished third in the steeplechase in 2014 and second in 2013, and earlier this year recorded the ninth-fastest time in league history with a school-record 10:10.33 clocking. It was the school's second steeplechase title in EWU history. She is ranked 24th in NCAA Division, but right ahead of her is Weber State's Ellie Child with a 10:09.68 clocking this year to lead the league and rank 23rd nationally. Child was second in Greeley to Mahoney, who took an early lead, was passed by Child and then regained the lead with 1 1/2 laps left. Mahoney also broke school records this season in the 1,500 (4:22.92) and 800 (2:11.13) this season. She had a time of 211:64 in the 800 preliminaries in Greeley, and will run in the finals on Saturday. She entered with the sixth-best time in the league this season, but just 2.39 seconds separates the league's top six performances. Mahoney is a 2011 graduate of Richland (Wash.) High School.

 

• Junior Paula Gil-Echevarria had her second-straight third-place finish in the steeplechase, finishing with a time of 10:45.78. Senior Catie Arrigoni, who won that event in 2014, finished 12th with a time of 11:25.77. Arrigoni also was the 5,000 runner-up in 2014. Gil-Echevarria came to Greeley with the league's third-best steeplechase time (10:25.82) to rank 62nd nationally.

 

• Berenice Penaloza came through at the end of Friday's events with a third place medal in the 10,000 meters with a time of 36:53.62. She has a chance to cap off her senior season in Saturday's finals for the 5,000 meters race.  

 
 
Men's Top Performers  . . .

• Freshman Larry Still was victorious indoors in his first league championship event, and made it two-in-a-row in Greeley. His 17-0 3/4 effort broke the previous school record of 16-8 3/4 set by Nick Stearns in 2014. Indoors, Still had a school-record vault of 17-0 3/4 to earn Athlete of the Meet accolades at the Big Sky Championships. He is Eastern's first two-time Big Sky pole vault champion – Todd Freitag won the event outdoors in 1988 and Mike Erickson was victorious indoors in 2005.
• Senior Joey Payne had his second career runner-up finish, throwing 217-3 on his last throw to finish behind Montana's Jensen Lillquist (223-1). Eastern's Joey Day finished 10^th. Payne, who was the 2013 Big Sky runner-up in the javelin, had a throw of 219-3 earlier this season to rank fifth all-time at Eastern.
• Sophomore Aaron Cunningham finished fourth in the shot put with a throw of 53-7 1/2 after entering entered with a season-best mark of 56-8 1/2 to rank second in the league behind Northern Arizona's Shawn Collins (58-2). Cunningham's mark ranks sixth in EWU history, and indoors he placed third at the league championships. Cunningham also ranks eighth in the league in the discus with a mark of 161-8 and will compete in that event on Saturday.

 

• Sophomore Jeremy VanAssche won his heat of the 100 meters and advanced in the 200 meters preliminaries to Saturday's finals. His time of 21.04 in the 200 meters was good for fourth place and just .01 off from a school record. Earlier this seson he recorded the fastest 100-meter time in school history (10.31) this season after winning the league's 60-meter title indoors. Although wind-aided, his mark is tops in the league and 28th in NCAA Division I this season, and his wind-aided time of 21.21 in the 200 is second in the league this season and fourth all-time in school history. He also runs the anchor leg on EWU's 4x100 relay team, whose 41.24 clocking this season ranks fourth in the league in 2016 and is the fifth-fastest in EWU history. When he ran his 10.31 time at the Oregon State High Performance meet on April 30, VanAssche finished as the top collegian in the 100 and was third overall to break his own record of 10.36 set as a freshman. He finished behind Ultimate Speed Athletics performers Arthur Delaney (10.11) and Joe Morris (10.14), but was two places ahead of Ryan Bailey (10.48), who competed in that event for the USA at the 2012 Olympics in London. VanAssche is a 2014 graduate of Eastmont High School in East Wenatchee, Wash.

 
 
Looking Ahead to Saturday . . .

• A total of five Eagles advanced from preliminaries on Friday to Saturday's finals. They include VanAssche in the 100 and 200 meter dashes and junior Logan Stahl in the 800 meters for the men. For the women, sophomore Rebecca Tarbert in the 100, Mahoney for the 800, and sophomore Leanne Asper in the 400 hurdles.

 

• Junior Sarah Reiter will be one of the favorites in the 5,000 on Saturday. She set a school record in the 5,000 this season (16:27.33) and although she did compete in the 10,000 in Greeley, her time of 33:46.71 was less than a second away from the school record of 33:46.1 set by Kari McKay in 1992. Reiter, who placed 46th at last fall's NCAA Cross Country Championships, was third in the 10k in 2014 and the runner-up last season. Idaho's Kinsey Gomez has recorded league-best times this season in the 5,000 (16:11.17) and 10,000 (33:23.50), with Reiter third. Reiter's 10K time ranks 19th nationally and eighth on the Big Sky's all-time leaders list.

 

• Eastern could score lots of points in the women's pole vault on Saturday, with Erin Clark, Macey Weitz, Anandae Clark and Elizabeth Prouty all ranking among the 12 competitors who have cleared 12-1 1/2 or better this season. Anandae Clark was the runner-up at the indoor championships in 2015.

 

• Eastern's men's 4x100 relay team had a time of 41.24 seconds earlier this season to rank fourth in the conference and fifth all-time in school history. The squad expected to compete in Greeley includes Jonah Mathews, Jose Garcia, Chez Jackson and Jeremy VanAssche.

 
Comments from Head Women's Coach Marcia Mecklenburg . . .
 
"We had some amazing performances today. Katie Mahoney and Paula Gil-Echevarria's first and third place finishes in the steeple was a great morale boost for the team.  Katie's 800 race with only an hour recovery after that steeple was pretty gutsy.  We needed her to make it to the final in that 800 and she did."
 
"Kaytlyn Coleman hit a big throw in the hammer, breaking her school record. That was a memory-making moment for her and for her teammates who were able to watch the throw."
 
"Berenice Penaloza's third place podium finish in the 10,000 was a great way to end day three. And what a race! With just a little over a lap to go she passed a Weber runner to move into third and never looked back!  Berenice has worked so hard over the last five years. To be able to medal as a senior in our distance-rich conference is a great way to go out."
 
"D'onna Robinson got her first points ever at Big Sky's with a seventh place finish in the discus. She came in ranked 14^th, so I couldn't have asked for a better finish for her."
 
"We have our work cut out for us tomorrow but I am excited for the athletes that will be competing on day four."
 
Comments from Head Men's Coach Stan Kerr . . .
 
On Larry Still: "Congratulations to Coach Eric Alison in a great coaching job by guiding Larry Still to his second conference championship in the pole vault.  The vault competition was equal parts excitement and tension as Larry and Matt Sullivan from Idaho battled back and forth until Larry was announced as the official winner.  The vault future at EWU is bright because Larry is a freshmen and will be improving with each competition."
 
On Shot Put and Javelin: "Aaron Cunningham's fourth place points in the shot put and Joey Payne's final javelin throw that moved him into second place were a thrill to watch. We always let our team know that special performances happen at the championships and that the marks this year continue to make that fact ring true."
 
On Logan Stahl and VanAssche: "This is a fast conference. Logan Stahl advancing in the 800 and Jeremy VanAssche moving on the 100 and 200, both needed times that would have won the conference not that many years ago. Jeremy's 200 time was blazing, and only .01 off the school record."
 
On 4x100 Relay: "The 4x100 relay is a great position to get on the podium as a top-three finisher. Relays are a love-hate affair. You love them, but they can twist you in a heartbeat. They are excited and confident, and I'm excited to watch them run in a great competitive race."
 
Men's Finishers/Entries . . . 
 
Results from Athletes Competing Friday . . .
(finals) Javelin – Joey Payne – 2nd, 217-3
(finals) Javelin – Joey Day – 10th, 180-1
(finals) Shot Put – Aaron Cunningham – 4th, 53-7 1/2
(finals) Shot Put – Aaron Obert - 11th, 49-9 3/4
 (finals) 3,000 Steeplechase – Steaven Zachman – 9th, 9:45.04
(finals) 3,000 Steeplechase – Aaron Brenton – 13th, 9:54.36
(finals) 3,000 Steeplechase – Zeb Klemke – 20th, 10:52.37
(finals) 10,000 Meters – Isaac Kitzan – 16^th, 33:03.38
(finals) Pole Vault – Larry Still – 1st, 17-0 3/4
(prelims) 400 Meters – Austin Upmeyer – 49.09 (did not advance)
(prelims) 400 Meters – Nick Anthony – 51.26 (did not advance)
(prelims) 100 Meters – Jeremy VanAssche – 10.48 (advanced)
(prelims) 100 Meters – Jonah Mathews – 10.87 (did not advance)
(prelims) 100 Meters – Chez Jackson – 10.93 (did not advance)
(prelims) 800 Meters –  Logan Stahl – 1:54.31 (advanced)
(prelims) 200 Meters – Jeremy VanAssche – 21.04 (advanced)
(prelims) 200 Meters – Austin Upmeyer – 21.71 (did not advance)
(prelims) 200 Meters –  Jonah Mathews – DNS

Athletes Competing Saturday (plus advancers from Friday prelims) . . .
(finals) – 4x100 Relay – Jonah Mathews, Jose Garcia, Chez Jackson, Jeremy VanAssche
(finals) 5,000 Meters – Aaron Brenton
(finals) – 4x400 Relay – Nick Anthony, Austin Upmeyer, Chez Jackson, Logan Stahl
(finals) Discus – Aaron Cunningham
(finals) High Jump – Chez Jackson
(finals) High Jump – Forrest Wallace
 
Women's Finishers/Entries . . . 
 
Athletes Competing Friday . . .
(finals) Hammer Throw – Kaytlyn Coleman – CHAMPION, 203-1
(finals) Hammer Throw – Samantha Lester – 12th, 167-10
(finals) Hammer Throw – D'onna Robinson  - NM (no legal throws)
(finals) 3,000 Steeplechase – Katie Mahoney – 1st, 10:33.19
(finals) 3,000 Steeplechase – Paula Gil-Echevarria – 3rd, 10:45.78
(finals) 3,000 Steeplechase – Catie Arrigoni -12th, 11:25.77
(finals) Discus -- Samantha Lester – 11^th, 131-09
(finals) Discus – D'onna Robinson – 7^th, 146-02
(finals) Long Jump – Kendra Hamm – 17^th, 17-07
(finals) High Jump – Tierra White – 15th, 5-3
(finals) High Jump – Kaitlyn Grunst – 17th, 5-1
(finals) High Jump – Jozie Kimes – NM (no-heighted)
(prelims) 100 Meters – Rebecca Tarbert – 11.99 (advanced)
(prelims) 800 Meters – Katie Mahoney – 2:11:64 (advanced)
(prelims) 400 Hurdles – Leanne Asper – 1:01.29 (advanced)
(prelims) 400 Hurdles – Paige Hammock – 1:05.98 (did not advance)
(prelims) 200 Meters – Rebecca Tarbert – 24.82 (did not advance)
(prelims) 200 Meters – Erika Lombardo – 25.14 (did not advance)
(finals) 10,000 Meters – Berenice Penaloza – 3^rd, 36:53.62
(finals) 10,000 Meters – Kari Scharnhorst – 11^th, 40:15.11

Athletes Competing Saturday (plus advancers from Friday prelims) . . .
(finals) 4x100 Relay – Paige Hammock, Erika Lombardo, Kendra Hamm, Rebecca Tarbert
(finals) 1500 Meters – Paula Gil-Echevarria
(finals) 5,000 Meters – Sarah Reiter
(finals) 5,000 Meters – Berenice Penaloza
(finals) 4x400 Relay – Erika Lombardo, Paige Hammock, Leanne Asper, Rebecca Tarbert
(finals) Triple Jump – Dominique Butler
(finals) Triple Jump – Jenna Schlosser
(finals) Javelin – Samantha Baker
(finals) Javelin – Bridgette Underwood 
(finals) Shot Put – Kaytlyn Coleman
(finals) Shot Put – Paris Flenoy
(finals) Shot Put – Morgan Romey
(finals) Shot Put – D'onna Robinson
(finals) Pole Vault – Erin Clark
(finals) Pole Vault - Macey Weitz
(finals) Pole Vault - Anandae Clark
(finals) Pole Vault - Elizabeth Prouty
(finals) Pole Vault - Samantha Raines

Results from Wednesday/Thursday Heptathlon Competition . . .
Heptathlon – Kendra Hamm – 6th, 4676 points
Heptathlon – Kendra Hamm – 13th, 4151 points
 
 
Returning Men's All-Big Sky Athletes . . .
 
The following Eagle athletes have earned All-Big Sky Conference honors (top three finish) in previous Big Sky Conference track and field championships (indoors and outdoors):
 
Aaron Cunningham – (2015 Indoors: 3rd in shot put)
Joey Payne - (2013 Outdoors: 2nd in javelin)
***Nick Stearns - (2016 Indoors: 3rd in pole vault; 2014 Outdoors: 2nd in pole vault; 2013 Outdoors: 2nd in pole vault; 2012 Indoors: 3rd in pole vault)
Larry Still – (2016 Indoors: Champion in pole vault)
Jeremy VanAssche – (2016 Indoors: Champion in 60 meters)
 
 
Returning Women's All-Big Sky Athletes . . .
 
The following Eagle athletes have earned All-Big Sky Conference honors (top three finish) in previous Big Sky Conference track and field championships (indoors and outdoors):
 
Catie Arrigoni - (2014 Outdoors: Champion in steeplechase, 2nd in 5,000; 2015 Cross Country: 9th)
***Courtney Bray - (2015 Indoors: 3rd in pole vault; 2014 Outdoors: Champion in pole vault)
Dominique Butler – (2016 Indoors: 2nd in triple jump)
Anandae Clark - (2015 Indoors: 2nd in pole vault)
Kaytlyn Coleman - (2016 Indoors: 2nd in weight throw; 2015 Indoors: 3rd in weight throw)
Paula Gil-Echevarria - (2015 Outdoors: 3rd in 3,000 steeplechase)
Katie Mahoney - (2016 Indoors: 3rd in mile; 2014 Outdoors: 3rd in steeplechase; 2013 Outdoors: 2nd in 3,000 steeplechase)
Sarah Reiter - (2016 Indoors: 3rd in 5,000 meters, 2nd in 3,000 meters; 2015 Outdoors: 2nd in 10,000; 2014 Outdoors: 3rd in 10,000; 2015 Cross Country: 8^th at Big Sky Championships & 46th at NCAA Championships; 2014 Cross Country: Champion)
Rebecca Tarbert – (2016 Indoors: Champion in 60 meters)
Tierra White - (2015 Indoors: Champion in high jump)
4x100 Relay - (2015 Outdoors: 3rd/Paige Hammock, Erika Lombardo, Brooke Monson, Rebecca Tarbert)
Distance Medley Relay - (2016 Indoors: Champion/Paula Gil-Echevarria, Brooke Monson, Leanne Asper, Katie Mahoney; 2015 Indoors: 3rd/Paula Gil-Echevarria, Janessa Day, Katie Mahoney, Katie Lynch)
 
***Redshirting 2016 season.