SPOKANE, Wash. — Two seniors and a transfer star stood out for the Eastern Washington Eagles on Friday's Day 2 of the 2024 Big Sky Indoor Track and Field Championships in Spokane.
Caitlin Simmons,
Zach Klobutcher and
Cody Teevens earned medals as all-conference finishers, highlighted by Simmons' gold in the women's long jump.
Simmons transferred to EWU from Hawaii during the offseason and didn't disappoint in her first conference championship as an Eagle. She cleared 6.04 meters (19' 9.5") to earn gold in just her third competition wearing the red and white. She set Eastern records in both the long jump and triple jump in her second competition, at the 2024 Husky Classic in Seattle on Feb. 9, and will look to double medal in the triple on Saturday.
Klobutcher, who entered the weekend already as the EWU indoor record holder in the pole vault, set a new personal best at 5.24 meters (17' 2.25"), beating his previous mark by over three inches. He finished second to Montana State's Colby Wilson, who set a Big Sky Indoor Championship record at 5.34 meters. It's a healthy rivalry for the two standouts as Klobutcher and Wilson finished 1-2 at last year's indoor championship in Moscow, Idaho, with Klobutcher coming out on top.
Teevens earned bronze with a new personal best in the men's heptathlon (4,969 points) thanks in large part to an enormous increase in his pole vault, beating his previous PR by nearly a full foot. Teevens also set PRs in the 60-meter dash (7.13), 60-meter hurdles (8.45; 9th in EWU history), and long jump (6.56m). His two-day total pushes him from 8th to 4th in EWU history in the heptathlon, narrowly missing the three-man 5,000-point club. Teevens finished third in the outdoor decathlon last year.
Madelyn Knight advanced through the prelims as expected in the highly-anticipated 60-meter hurdles, running a solid 8.43 for the second-fastest time of the day. Her personal best of 8.37 is the best time in the conference this season. The 60-meter hurdles final will be on Saturday at approximately 12:15 p.m.
Other notable EWU performances (rank in EWU indoor history)
- Rusty Lee, 60-meter hurdles, 8.39 (t-7th)
- Dalton Wild, 60 meters, 6.92 (8th)
- Kristian Phennicie, 200 meters, 21.61 (4th)
- Alec Kness, 800 meters, 1:51.78 (5th)
- Faith Martinez, 800 meters, 2:16.23 (7th)
- Corbin Luce, pole vault, 4.94m (9th)
- Lucas Couron, pole vault, 4.94m (9th)
Action continues at The Podium Powered by STCU in Spokane on Saturday, with the first events of the day starting at 10 a.m. Watch live on ESPN+ or get tickets via TicketsWest.
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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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