POCATELLO, Idaho. – Eastern Washington wrapped up the 2026 Big Sky Indoor Track & Field Championships with three medals, highlighted by
Maddy Shekhawat's gold in the 60m hurdles.
Judith Koumedzina led the women with two medals, earning silver in the 200m and bronze in the 60m. The women's team tied for sixth with 38 points, while the men placed ninth with 25. The Eagles also recorded two school records and 18 personal bests (10 women, eight men).
"The second conference meet of the year is in the books," Director of Track & Field/Cross Country
Erin Tucker said. "We had a mixed bag this weekend with a ton of PRs and top-10 entries and a few mishaps. The women are hungry because they know there is more in the tank, and the men were not full strength this indoor season, but we will be outdoors and we will be a different team."
Day 3
Shekhawat secured Eastern's first gold of the meet and successfully defended his title, winning the 60m hurdles in 7.73 after also claiming the event in 2025. "Maddy puts more pressure on himself than I ever could," Tucker said. "That's what makes coaching him fun. To see him defend his title was worth it, two conference championships in two years is a great consolation prize. We will be at the NCAA Outdoor Championships this spring."
The 4x400 relay of Simpson, South, Kinteh, and Breier closed the men's running events with a ninth-place 3:19.78. In field action, Migani placed fifth in the triple jump at 14.95m (49-0.75), moving to No. 6 all-time, while
Nic Cunningham added a point with an eighth-place finish.
Koda Woodard led the shot putters at 15.69m (51-5.50), placing 12th. Tucker noted the throws group's momentum: "Good PRs and grit from the men's throwers this weekend — they're hungry to get outside and throw the discus, hammer, and javelin."
Koumedzina opened the women's finals with bronze in the 60m (7.42) and followed with silver in the 200m (23.77) for her second medal. "Her name is
Judith Koumedzina," Tucker said. "She had herself a conference championship, she didn't lose a head-to-head 60m all weekend and jumped to No. 2 all-time in school history. Next year we'll be hunting for No. 1."
Grady scored five points with a fourth-place 8.44 in the 60m hurdles, just 0.10 off the podium. "One spot from the podium hurts and she's more focused than ever going into outdoor," Tucker said. "That won't happen again, we add the 400 hurdles outdoors."
The 4x400 relay of Middleton, Grady, Thweatt, and Meyer placed fifth in 3:47.99, the No. 3 time in school history. "It was great watching the women's 4x4 run the third-fastest time without our school-record holder in the open 400," Tucker added. "Those four ran with guts and killed it. We're coming for that outdoor record."
In the triple jump,
Manthita Wague finished fifth with a PR 12.27m (40-3.25) to move to No. 2 all-time, while
Azaria Purdy placed eighth.
Zoe Dunn moved to sixth all-time in the triple jump with a leap of 11.91 (39-1). In the pole vault, Suzie Woodall was fifth at 3.73m (12-2.75) and
Breauna Erickson seventh. "As I've said many times before, this is what we do, we pole vault at Eastern," Tucker said. "Not what we wanted today, but we will fly high outdoors."
"All in all we had a good meet, and we wanted to have a great meet," Tucker said. "We're working every day to be great, and outdoor season is going to be exciting."
Day 2
Shekhawat advanced comfortably to the 60m hurdles final, winning his heat and posting the top qualifying time of 7.75.
Erick Simpson led the Eagles in the 400m, placing 10th in 48.58 and narrowly missing the final, while three additional Eagles posted personal bests.
Henry Nelson was 11th in the 800m at 1:52.97, just outside the final. Shekhawat also ran a PR 21.67 in the 200m (12th), moving to No. 8 all-time at EWU. The distance medley relay of
Grady Fournier, Simpson, Nelson, and
Conner Wirth finished ninth in 10:38.69.
In the field,
Javen Livas recorded a PR 17.82m (58-5.75) in the weight throw (13th).
Merci Migani scored in the long jump, placing sixth at 7.28m (23-10.75), and Alex Blech cleared 5.10m (16-8.75) for fourth in the pole vault to add team points. "Alex is a young guy folks are going to have to watch out for," Tucker said. "He just missed the podium, and I anticipate that won't happen outdoors."
On the women's side,
Jordyn Grady matched the school record in the 60m hurdles (8.37), winning her heat and qualifying third overall for the final.
Diana Fernandez broke her own school record in the 400m with a 55.43 (11th), while
Melia Middleton's 56.22 moved her to No. 3 all-time at EWU. In the 60m,
Judith Koumedzina (7.42 PR) and
Gilana Wollman (7.53 PR) advanced to the final, moving to No. 2 and No. 4 all-time, respectively.
Rhiannon Davies ran 2:14.73 in the 800m to move to No. 8 all-time at EWU (14th). Koumedzina also advanced in the 200m with a 24.08 (5th overall). The DMR quartet of
Nattie Ruzauskas,
Lexi Meyer,
Sara Sanders, and Davies placed seventh in 12:09.41, No. 7 all-time. In the long jump,
Shai Gray placed eighth at 5.87m (19-3.25), moving to No. 6 all-time, with Wollman ninth at 5.83m (19-1.50) and ninth all-time. Tucker praised the jumps group's scoring impact: "Our women's long and triple jump group, the Flight Crew, got some much-needed points. Everyone thought once the Jump Queen graduated we'd be done, but Coach Jo's crew got after it. Wait until outdoor, Flight Crew wants more."
Multis
Ella Seelhoff and
Pry'nce Millman opened the championships in the combined events. Seelhoff placed 13th in the pentathlon with 2,667 points. She began with an eighth-place 60m hurdles time of 9.08 and added a personal best in the shot put at 9.82m (32-2.75). A no-height in the high jump proved costly in the standings.
On the men's side, Millman sat sixth after four heptathlon events on day one. He was runner-up in the long jump at 6.92m (22-8.50) and threw a personal best 11.12m (36-5.75) in the shot put. On day two, he ran 9.11 in the 60m hurdles (11th), matched his pole vault PR at 4.10m (13-5.25) to place fourth, and closed with a 3:05.94 in the 1000m (10th). Millman finished seventh overall with 4,722 points to score Eastern's first points of the meet.
EWU 2024 Big Sky Indoor Championship Podium Finishes
Men's Final Team Scores
1) Northern Arizona – 200
2) Montana State – 91
3) Montana – 75
4) Weber State – 69.5
5) Idaho State – 65.5
6) Sacramento State – 59
7) Idaho – 39
8) Northern Colorado – 36
9) Eastern Washington – 25
10) Portland State – 2
Women's Final Team Scores
1) Northern Arizona – 164.5
2) Montana State – 135
3) Montana – 91
4) Idaho – 86.5
5) Weber State – 42.8
6) Eastern Washington – 38
6) Sacramento State. – 38
8) Northern Colorado – 32
9) Idaho State – 31.5
10) Portland State - 4
New EWU All-Time Top Ten
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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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