CHENEY, Wash. — It's postseason time and Eastern Washington Track and Field will not have to travel far to compete. The 2024 Indoor Big Sky Track and Field Championships will be held at The Podium in Spokane, starting Thursday and concluding on Saturday. Women's Basketball hosts rematches against tough conference foes. Men's Basketball will be on the road for two games, looking to secure the Big Sky regular season title. Women's Tennis stays at home and close to home with two matches, while Men's Tennis resumes its schedule.
Track and Field — Big Sky Indoor Championships (Thursday Feb. 22 through Saturday, Feb. 24 at The Podium Powered by STCU in Spokane)
EWU, in partnership with the conference and Spokane Sports, serves as host this season for the Big Sky Indoor Track and Field Championships, Thursday through Saturday at The Podium in downtown Spokane. Multi events get started on Thursday followed by a full event schedule on Friday and Saturday, with finals on both days.
Check out our 2024 Big Sky Indoor Championships landing page for more information, including a full meet schedule, participant manual and rosters for all ten programs.
Several EWU student-athletes have high hopes for the weekend, with marks at or near the top of the conference performance list headed into the weekend. Kristian Phennicie enters with the best time in the men's 60-meter dash and senior Madelyn Knight holds the best mark in the women's 60-meter hurdles.
Caitlin Simmons ("Egypt") enters the postseason with high expectations after setting two school records in her last competition, annihilating the EWU books in the women's long jump and triple jump. She heads into the weekend ranked first in the Big Sky in both events.
Others to keep a watchful eye on for a podium placement include sophomore Grace Bruno in the women's high jump (2nd in the Big Sky heading in), Zach Klobutcher and Lucas Couron in the men's pole vault (2nd and 3rd) and Savannah Schultz in the women's pole vault (3rd).
The Eags pulled in six medals at last year's Indoor Championships, hosted by the University of Idaho in Moscow, including three gold, two silver and one bronze.
Women's Basketball (21-5, 11-2 Big Sky) — vs. Northern Arizona (Thursday, Feb. 22 at 6 p.m. Pacific Time), vs. Northern Colorado (Saturday, Feb. 24 at 2 p.m.) - Get Tickets - Watch on ESPN+.
Eastern Washington will be at Reese Court this week for two big-time games. The Eagles face Northern Arizona on Thursday in a rematch of the top teams in the conference. EWU and NAU are currently tied on the conference standings with an 11-2 record, but the 'Jacks hold the tiebreaker after winning 89-81 in overtime against Eastern last month. Following Thursday's game, the Eagles host Northern Colorado on Saturday. The Bears are fifth in the standings with a 7-6 record.
Eastern extended its winning streak last week to five games with a pair of road wins. In Pocatello, EWU rallied to a 59-56 win over Idaho State after trailing by three after the third quarter. The team was led by
Jamie Loera and
Aaliyah Alexander who each scored 15 points. The Eagles followed the win with a
commanding 74-54 win over Weber State. Loera again was the high scorer with 21 points, along with dishing out eight assists. The victories gave EWU 21 on the season, matching the program record for single-season wins.
The defense continues to impress for Eastern, ranking first in the Big Sky with 56.2 points allowed per game. The Eagles plus-14.0 scoring margin is also the top mark in the conference. EWU holds its opponents to 36.6 shooting overall and 29.8 from three-point range, ranking first and second in the Big Sky respectively.
Alexander and Loera create a two-pronged scoring attack, averaging 15.7 and 13.0 points this season. The two rank second and seventh respectively on the conference scoring leaderboard. Loera holds the second best assist average at 5.4 per game, while leading with 2.3 steals per game. To fully round out as a player, Loera leads the team and is tied for 11th in the Big Sky with 5.8 rebounds per game.
Men's Basketball (15-8, 9-1 Big Sky) — at Northern Arizona (Thursday, Feb. 22 at 5 p.m. PT / 6 p.m. MT), at Northern Colorado (Saturday, Feb. 24 at 5 p.m. PT / 6 p.m. MT).
The Eagles look to rebound from their first home loss of the season with two road games at NAU and UNC this week. They continue to control their own destiny in the conference and could lock up at least a share of the regular season title as early as Saturday. Wins in both games, including a win at Northern Colorado which would give the Eagles the season sweep over the Bears, would clinch the program's second-straight regular season championship and 6th in program history.
Forward Ethan Price is also chasing a milestone as the junior big man is inching closer to 1,000 career points, looking to become the 25th player in EWU history to reach the mark, most recently G Steele Venters last year. Price enters the week with 983 points.
EWU has just five more games remaining in the regular season.
Women's Tennis (1-7, 0-0) — vs. Montana State (Saturday, Feb. 24 at 11 a.m.), at Gonzaga (Sunday, Feb. 25 at 3 p.m.)
Eastern Washington hosts its conference opener at the Jim Thorpe Fieldhouse this Saturday as the Montana State Bobcats come to Cheney. Eastern then travels up to Spokane to face Gonzaga on Sunday at the Stevens Center.
This past week, the Eagles were in Missoula, Mont. for two matches against Montana and Utah State. Against the Grizzlies, EWU won its first match of the season, 5-2, getting the doubles point and four single-match wins.
Scout Mathews won her singles matchup (6-4, 6-3) against Olivia Oossterbaan, then partnered with
Isabella Foshee to defeat Oosterbaan and Maria Goheen, 7-5, in doubles. Foshee won her singles contest against Ivayla Mitkova (6-0, 6-3).
The next day, EWU fell to Utah State, 5-2, despite battling tough in singles and doubles.
Jennifer Kida earned a win in singles (6-4, 6-1) and in doubles with
Anait Arutiunian (6-3).
Men's Tennis (0-5, 0-0) — at Portland (Saturday, Feb. 24 at 1 p.m. Pacific Time), at Portland State (Sunday, Feb. 25 at 10 a.m.)
EWU is back in action this week with two road matches. The team begins at Portland on Saturday and stays in the city to play Portland State on Sunday for the first conference match of the season.
It's been two weeks since the Eagles were on the courts in Boise, where the team went 0-2. Eastern fell to Cal Poly, 1-6, and Boise State 0-7 in the two non-conference contests. Sophomore Caden Kammerer won his singles match, playing at No. 2, against the Mustangs' Colter Smith, in a 7-5, 6-3 victory.
ABOUT EASTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS
Eastern Washington University Athletics sponsors 14 intercollegiate sports, six for men and eight for women, both as learning opportunities for its most athletically talented students and as an enhancement to student and community life. Eastern is affiliated with Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and is a member of the Big Sky Conference, an association of 10 regional schools with comparable enrollments and academic goals.
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