GREELEY, Colo. — The Eastern Washington Eagles wrapped up their 2023 track and field conference season on Saturday, May 13 in Greeley, Colo., securing eight more all-conference top-3 finishes to bring their medal total up to 10 on the week, including one gold and four silvers. As a team, both men and women finished 7th in the standings.
"Today was a good send off for our seniors," said EWU Director of Track and Field Erin Tucker. "Both (men and women) scored more points than we did last year. We will get better every year and everyone knows what the mission is!"
Eastern's dominance of the pole vault continued as they placed two on the podium on both the women's and men's sides.
Hally Ruff and Savannah Schultz finished atop the field, needing a jump off to put Ruff in 1st and Schultz in 2nd as both cleared 4.13 meters. The mark is a new personal best for Ruff and ranks 5th in EWU history. The duo finished 1st (Schultz) and 3rd (Ruff) at the 2023 Big Sky Indoor Championships in February, and Ruff took home bronze at last year's outdoor conference championships.
For the men, Zach Klobutcher and Brayden Freitag finished 2nd and 3rd, respectively, after going 1st and 3rd indoors. Klobutcher cleared 5.14 meters while Freitag went 5.04. It is the second-straight silver for Klobutcher as he finished 2nd in 2022 as well.
"Hats off to Hally and Savannah going one-two while Zach and Brayden took home two-three," Tucker continued. "I know (pole vault coach) Eric Allison is proud of all four and we get to keep going on to the NCAA first round."
Combined between men and women, EWU has now won 30 conference outdoor pole vault medals since 2012, including nine champions.
Elsewhere on the women's side, a day after Carissa Stovall earned silver in the women's shot put, teammate
Kaitlyn Paller came away with bronze in the women's hammer throw, reaching 54.21 meters for a new personal best in her final collegiate competition. It's the third-straight year in which an Eagle has finished 2nd in the women's hammer after
Vernice Keyes did it in 2022 and 2021.
"Our women's throwers carried this team this weekend scoring over 30 points as a group. Majesty (Tutson) has done an amazing job with them for sure."
Liam Bracken moved up to 2nd on EWU's all-time performance list in the men's 400 meters with a bronze medal run of 46.90. Brad Wall holds the Eagle record at 46.67, set in 2010.
Bobby Say took silver in the triple jump at 15.84 meters, a new personal best that slots him 4th in program history. He also contributed points to the team score with a 5th-place finish in the long jump. Say won the triple jump indoors in February and finished 3rd outdoors in 2019.
"'Big Jump Bob' battled a lot these last few weeks with some injuries. It was an electric competition with both guys hitting their best mark in their last jump. (Coach Jonina Brinson) did a great job with him and the multis."
Cody Teevens secured the Eagles' first medal in the decathlon in over 20 years on Thursday, finishing 3rd.
Ryan Rieckmann rounded out the men's top-3 finishers on Saturday with a bronze in the men's javelin at 63.97 meters.
"I am really happy to see Ryan get 3rd. Last year at this time he was injured. He's a competitor and I am excited to see what he does going forward!"
"I want to give a special shout out to our women's 'steeplers,'" Tucker added. "All three went after it and to almost have all three score was huge. Going fifth and sixth was outstanding because they were not ranked top-8 going in. Fantastic job Kaylin and Lilly, that was amazing! I am proud of what (coach Sam Read) has done with our distance runners all year long."
Kaylin Sheley and Lilly Fetzer secured a combined 7 points for the Eagle women with 5th- and 6th-place finishes in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Freshman Nattie Ruzauskas narrowly missed points, finishing 9th.
"We had many great performances and PR's this weekend and we will continue getting better. The future is bright and I like where we are going!"
2023 Big Sky Outdoor Championships Team Standings
Women
- Northern Arizona - 192
- Montana State - 114
- Weber State - 88
- Idaho State - 87
- Sacramento State - 78
- Montana - 72
- Eastern Washington - 70
- Idaho - 64
- Northern Colorado - 39
- Portland State - 15
Men
- Northern Arizona - 220.5
- Montana State - 106
- Idaho - 103.5
- Weber State - 93
- Idaho State - 89
- Montana - 65.5
- Eastern Washington - 50
- Sacramento State - 40.5
- Northern Colorado - 38
- Portland State - 9
EWU 2023 Outdoor Big Sky All-Conference (Top-3 Finish)
Women's pole vault
Women's shot put
Women's hammer throw
Men's 400 meters
Men's pole vault
Men's triple jump
Men's javelin
Men's decathlon
For full meet results, click here.
The NCAA West Regional Championships take place on May 24-27 in Sacramento, Calif. Qualifications and entries for that meet have not yet been finalized.
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