SPOKANE, Wash. – Eastern Oregon University returned to action on Friday at the Whitworth Peace meet in Spokane, Wash. The Mountaineers had a solid day posting a combined total of seven "A" and "B" Standard marks throughout the day between the men and women. Eastern Oregon will hit the track again next week on Saturday and Sunday at the Larry Byerly Lewis and Clark Invite in Portland Oregon.
WOMEN
EOU had a great day on the women's side with 12 top-five finishes and six "A" or "B" Standard marks.
On the track the Mounties got off to a strong start in the sprints.
Yahaira Chavarria-Mondragon led the way with a fourth-place finish in the 100-meter sprint. The senior finished with a time of 12.57 seconds which puts her at No. 11 all time in the EOU record books.
That performance was followed up with two strong performances by
Morgan Bayes in the 100 and 400-meter hurdles. The graduate student finished fourth in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 15.27 seconds. She then came back and posted a time of 1:03.40 in the 400-meter hurdles which was good for third place and a "B" Standard. The Adrian, Oregon native was just a tenth of a second off of an "A" Standard.
Stretching things out,
Michelle Herbes took a top-five finish in the 800-meter race setting a new PR while finishing fourth with a time of 2:14.02. Herbes' time ranks fourth all-time and earned her a spot at the NAIA National Championships as an "A" Standard mark.
Wrapping up performances on the track for the lady Mounties were a couple of second-place finishes in the relays. In the 4x100-meter relay the team of Chavarria-Mondragon,
Sydney Peck,
Sade Williams, and
Katie Brown narrowly missed a "B" Standard finishing with a time of 48.97 seconds. Then in the 4x400-meter relay
Morgan Bayes,
Sydney Peck,
Lauryn Mitchell, and
Michelle Herbes took second with a time of 4:01:09
Eastern had just as much success in the field events where
Maggie Ledbetter had a standout day. The graduate student finished in the top three of the shot put (first), discus (third), and hammer throw (third). Ledbetter won the shot put with an "A" Standard mark of 14.03 meters. She then added two "B" Standard marks in the discus and hammer with throws of 42.57 meters and 50.31 meters respectively.
Over in the javelin
Allie Best earned a "B" Standard Mark with a throw of 39.32 meters. Best finished fifth overall in the event.
As for the jumps, it was freshman
Elizabeth Grandle who led the way. Grandle finished fourth in the high jump while moving into No. 20 all-time in the EOU record books thanks to a jump clearing 1.57 meters.
MEN
In total the men had nine top-five finishes on the day highlighted by an "A" Standard mark in the shot put by
Tanner Nett.
On the track Eastern did well in the hurdles.
Israel Miles got the Mounties started with a fourth-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles. Miles' time of 15.18 seconds moved him into a tie at No. 15 all time in program history for the event.
Bryson Spears followed that up with a second-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles. Spears finished with a time of 56.59 which ranks inside the top 20 all-time in program history.
Moving on to the mid-distance races,
Hunter Nichols made some noise in the 800-meter run and 1500-meter run narrowly missing "B" Standards in both events. The Heppner product took fifth in the 800 with a time of 1:53.87. He then jumped a couple spots in the 1500 taking third with a time of 3:55.89.
The Mounties also earned a couple of top-five finishes in the relays. The team of
DJ Wilson,
James Connally,
Bryce Peters, and
Cody Milmine earned a second-place finish in the 4x100 meter relay. Connally along with a fresh set of teammates including
Israel Miles,
Jonathan Wind and
Hunter Nichols then earned a fourth-place finish in the 4x400 meter relay.
Eastern added three more top-five finishes in the field events highlighted by a big throw in the shot put courtesy of Indoor All-American,
Tanner Nett.
Nett finished second overall with a throw of 16.08 meters which was good for an "A" Standard. The throw was a PR for the sophomore and moved him into fourth all-time in program history.
Also moving into the record books for the Mounties was
Calvin Lewis who finished fifth in the pole vault. The freshman moved into the top-25 with a mark of 4.24 meters to lead all Mounties.
Rounding out top placers for EOU on the day was
Tyler Jones in the high jump. Jones finished third overall clearing 1.97 meters in the event.