SPOKANE, Wash. — The Eastern Washington Track and Field team battled through wet conditions at Boppel Track at the Whitworth Pine Bowl on Friday, securing 20 podium finishes including nine firsts.
"Regardless of good weather or bad weather I love how this team gets after it," said EWU Director of Track and Field
Erin Tucker. "There was great energy all day today and I am happy with the direction we are going in."
Highlighting the day was Madelyn Knight, who won the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.36, just 0.02 seconds off her personal best despite the difficult conditions, then won the 400-meter hurdles and was part of the women's 4x400 relay.
"Shout out to Madi for the double wait triple win today," Tucker added. "She ended the day handing the baton off in first for her third win of the day, in the four-by-four."
Also finishing first on the women's side was Hayden McAuliff in the 400 meters, Kaylin Sheley in the 1500, Lilly Fetzer in the 3000-meter steeplechase, Hally Ruff in the pole vault and the Eagles' 4x400 relay team.
Liam Bracken headlined the Eagle men with a 47.50 in the 400 meters, just 0.1 seconds behind his best and a new facility record, again despite the wet running surface. Brayden Freitag secured a second win for the men as the Eagles continued their dominance in the pole vault.
EWU Top 3 Finishes (at Whitworth Peace Meet)
- Women's 100m — Samiah Kuntz, 3rd (12.30)
- Women's 400m — Hayden McAuliff, 1st (57.79)
- Women's 1500m — Kaylin Sheley, 1st (4:40.89)
- Women's 5000m — Ellie Linnenburger, 2nd (17:53.53)
- Women's 100m hurdles — Madelyn Knight, 1st (14.36)
- Women's 400m hurdles — Madelyn Knight, 1st (1:02.01)
- Women's 3000m steeplechase — Lilly Fetzer, 1st (11:12.57)
- Women's 4x400m relay — Madelyn Knight, Sydney Thweatt, Hayden McAuliff, Faith Kennedy; 1st (3:56.44)
- Women's pole vault — Hally Ruff, 1st (3.91m, 12' 10")
- Women's shot put — Carissa Stovall, 2nd (13.83m, 45' 4.5")
- Women's javelin — Lucy Kelly, 3rd (41.60m, 136' 6")
- Men's 400m — Liam Bracken, 1st (47.50)
- Men's 400m — Camden Phelps, 2nd (48.85)
- Men's 3000m steeplechase — Cameron Stuard, 3rd (9:25.59)
- Men's 4x400m relay — Camden Phelps, Liam Bracken, Logan Allen, Alec Kness; 2nd (3:19.14)
- Men's pole vault — Brayden Freitag, 1st (4.84m, 15' 10.5")
- Men's pole vault — Corbin Luce, 3rd (4.39m, 14' 4.75")
- Men's long jump — Bobby Say, 2nd (7.21m, 23' 8")
- Men's shot put — Bradley Fillis, 3rd (16.08m, 52' 9.25")
- Men's javelin — Ryan Rieckmann, 2nd (59.93m, 196' 7")
The Eagles will head south to California for a series of highly anticipated meets next week, April 13-15. Part of the team will compete at the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate (Thursday) and Beach Invitational (Fri-Sat) at Long Beach State University, while others will compete at the Bryan Clay Invitational hosted by nearby Azusa Pacific University.
"(It will be a) short week of training as we leave on Wednesday and compete Thursday, Friday, and Saturday," Tucker noted. "We are all excited and we are looking forward to some better competition in a warmer climate... We are ready to post some conference-leading performances and lock in some NCAA first round spots."
The trip to California will be the first of four remaining weekends of competition for the Eagles before the 2023 Big Sky Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Greeley, Colo. from May 10-13.
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