SPOKANE, Wash. – In what was the final regular season indoor meet of the year for Eastern Oregon Track & Field, the Mountaineers made it count. EOU hit three NAIA qualifying marks and a pair of individual event wins. Eastern also saw its top-10 all-time list get rewritten yet again.
Picking up wins for the Mounties was sprinter
Cody Milmine and pole vaulter
Darrian Walker. Milmine was the event winner in the 60-meter dash. Hitting NAIA qualifying marks was
Hunter Nichols in the 800-meter run,
Cristian Mendoza in the 3,000-meter run and the men's Distance Medley Relay squad.
For Milmine he ran the 60 in a time of 6.88 in the finals after running a 6.93 in prelims. His time seeded him at second, but the junior was once again too fast to keep up with as he won .04 seconds. He also finished fifth in the 200-meter dash, running 22.28.
Walker won the pole vault with a height clearance of 15-3 ½. He took down a field of mostly NCAA athletes as he cleared the bar on his first attempt, while three others needed more than one attempt.
Nichols had a top-10 finish in the 800, but what was important is that his time of 1:53.91 was an NAIA A qualifying time to punch his ticket to Indoor Nationals. Nichols ultimately finished ninth in the race. His time is also fourth best in program history now.
Mendoza ran a 8:39.94 in the 3,000 to place 15th and just barely hit the NAIA B qualifying time by .02 seconds.
In the DMR the quartet of
Jonathan Wind,
TJ Davis,
Hunter Nichols, and
Travis Running put together a combined time of 10:16.99. The group's efforts helped them finish second overall and it was an NAIA B qualifying time. They are currently ranked 20th in the NAIA with their time and missed the A qualifying mark by just 1.37 seconds. The time for the four is now 10th fastest in program history.
On the women's side,
Morgan Bayes etched her name into the EOU record books in a pair of events. She ran the ninth fastest time in indoor history in the 60 with an 8.03 in prelims. In the 60-meter hurdles, she clocked a 9.43 which is now the sixth fastest time in program history.
Michelle Herbes also joined in on the all-time top-10 day with the sixth fastest time in the 800. The senior ran a 2:19.47 in the race and placed 11th en route to adding her name yet again to the record books.
The women's 4x800 meter relay squad also added to the record books running the fourth fastest time ever in program history. The group of
Lauryn Mitchell,
Emma Hollon,
Madelyn Nichols, and
Katie Jo Gebhardt ran a 9:58.44 to enter the top-five of EOU indoor history.
Kenna Woodward rounded out the top-10 efforts for Eastern in the weight throw. She hit a mark of 48-11 ½ on her final throw to now rank eighth all-time in the event for indoor season. Her mark also earned her a fifth place finish.
Also putting together solid performances were
Tyler Jones and
Allexander Kosel in the jumps. Jones was third in high jump, clearing 6-5. Kosel finished fourth in the long jump with a leap of 21-10 ¼.
Maggie Ledbetter picked up a pair of top five finishes in the throwing events. She placed second in shot put, heaving the rock a distance of 44-0 ¾. She was fourth in the weight throw with a mark of 49-7 ¼.
The Mountaineers will now await their postseason fate and see who will qualify for this year's NAIA Indoor National Championships. The 2022 NAIA Indoor National Meet will be held in Brookings, South Dakota March 3-5. The host site will be Dakota State University.
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