On April 4 and 5, Eastern split up their track and field team in order to compete at the Stanford Invitational and the Montana State Open.

“I’d say we did pretty good. Our throwers did really well,” junior sprinter Brad Michael said. “The weather for the first day didn’t permit a lot of events.” The Eagles earned 10 more qualifying marks for the Big Sky Conference.

On April 4, cross-country runners sophomore Sarah Reiter and junior Berenice Penaloza participated in the San Francisco State Distance Carnival. Reiter came in second place with a time of 35:56.49, and Penaloza came in seventh place with a time of 36:43.57 in the 10,000-meter race.

With each of their finishing times, Reiter and Penaloza will qualify for the 10,000 and 5,000-meter race at the Big Sky Championships. With her recent success, Penaloza plans on keeping up with her game plan.

“Honestly, to go to conference is a big thing,” Penaloza said. “Last year I was [in] ninth place. So if I make like top seven [or] top five, that’s already helping a lot for the team. This year, to score is my goal.”

At the Stanford Invitational, cross-country runner junior Katie Mahoney finished with a time of 10:28.95 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase event. Mahoney also qualified for an opportunity to compete at the Big Sky meet.

Michael had a time of 48.09 in the 400-meter relay to qualify for the Big Sky Championships. Freshmen jumper Trenton Osborn was also one of many Eagles to qualify for the Big Sky competition. Osborn had a distance of 22-9 1/4 in the long jump event.

Michael was content with his performance over the weekend, “I was happy with it, because it was the first 400 that I’ve done since conference indoor,” Michael said. “It’s been a few weeks, I kind of came in not really knowing where I was at coming out of spring break, taking a week off from training.”

Freshman cross-country runner Paula Gil-Echevarria finished with a time of 4:36.99 in the 1,500-meter race. On April 5 at the Montana State Open, junior cross-country runner Catie Arrigoni had an impressive time of 17:47.33 to rank eighth all-time in school history.

The throwers also had good performances over the span of the weekend. Sophomore thrower Morgan Romey dominated at the shot put event with a toss of 46-4. Sophomore thrower Kelsie Forcier had a personal record of 170-5 in the hammer throw event.

With so much going on at both events in Mont. and Calif., Penaloza and Michael both explain what they do to avoid any distractions. “I do get nervous, just getting enough rest the night before helps a lot,” Penaloza said. “Even before a race, we don’t really wait around. We stay in the hotel the longer we can to kill time.”

Michael blocks out his competition in order to perform on the track. “Just focus on yourself and not think about other people’s times what they’ve done and their accomplishments,” Michael said. “

Junior thrower Emma Murillo had a toss of 143-8 in the discus event. Another thrower to have impressive marks was senior thrower Jon Buchanan, who had a personal record toss of 55-5 ¾ in the shot put event. Junior thrower Jordan Arakawa came in second place in the hammer throw event with a toss of 212-1.

Javelin throwers freshman Samantha Baker and sophomore Kacie Seims both were close to getting qualifying marks but could not get it. Baker has a throw of 134-4, and Seims finished with a throw of 133-10.

Eastern also had a couple of sprinters who could not get qualifying marks in a specific event. Both Michael and freshman Austin Upmeyer came up short to qualify for the Big Sky championships in the 200-meter. Michael finished with a time of 22.12, and Upmeyer had a time of 22.14.

Sophomore sprinter Leiran Cornish ran an impressive time of 57.94 in the 400-meter race to earn first place. Sophomore sprinter Kyle Caviezel came in third place in the 100-meter race over the weekend to earn a personal record time of 11.09. Freshman hurdler Jozie Kimes finished with a time of 1:04.11 in the 400-meter hurdle race.

Junior Pole Vaulter Nick Stearns finished with a height of 15-3 ½ just shy of the qualifying mark of 15-5. Overall, Eastern has 25 Big Sky qualifying records for the season. The men have nine qualifying records, and the women have 16 qualifying records.

The EWU track and field team will be back in action at home at the Pelluer Eagle and Griz Dual on April 12.