EWU track and field competed in Corvallis and Monmouth, Oregon, on May 1-2 which the Eagles left with several seasonal-best records.

“We did very well,” men’s head coach Stan Kerr said. “We had a number of individual and lifetime bests.”

Cross-country coach Chris Zeller also thought the Eagles completed another solid performance. “Overall I think it was a really good meet for us,” Zeller said. “A lot of folks that had already qualified for the Big Sky Conference improved their marks.”

The Eagles started competition in the hammer throw on May 1 in Monmouth, Oregon. Junior thrower Jordan Arakawa won with a toss of 210-4. Senior thrower Zach Nielson came in fifth place with a toss of 197-6. Senior thrower Shaun Lemafa placed ninth with a throwing distance of 171-9, which was a seasonal best for him.

For the women’s hammer throw, junior thrower Olivia Midles finished in first place with a distance of 189-2. Sophomore thrower Kelsie Forcier had a toss of 181-0, good enough for second place. Junior thrower Emma Murillo came in third place while throwing a distance of 179-0. Murillo also had a personal record of 159-11 in the discus event, on May 2, to come in second place.

In the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase, junior distance runner Catie Arrigoni finished with a time of 10:20.75 to place second. Freshman Paula Gil-Echevarria had a time of 10:29.03 to place third. Both times were personal bests for each athlete.

Zeller wants his distance runners to improve on certain techniques as the Big Sky Championships are edging closer. “The one thing they could improve on is just like that last part of the race,” Zeller said. “We’re really good at pacing right now and running pretty even. But we need to find that extra gear in that finishing kick in the race.”

Senior hurdler Steven Warner earned first place in the 110-meter hurdle race with a time of 14.54. Sophomore distance runner Sarah Reiter had a personal best time of 16:49.63 in the 5,000-meter race, good enough for fourth place. In the same race, junior distance runner Berenice Penaloza came in 10th place with a time of 17:27.66.

In the shot put events, senior Jon Buchanan came in fourth place with a throwing distance of 55-4 3/4. Freshman Aaron Cunningham finished in eighth place with a seasonal-best throw of 51-2 3/4. In the women’s shot put, sophomore Morgan Romey placed third and had a toss of 46-11 3/4.

In the women’s pole vault competition, freshman Courtney Bray cleared a height of 12-11 ½. This was good enough for second place. Freshman Anandae Clark came in fourth place in pole vaulting with a mark of 12-1 1/2. Freshman Erin Clark finished with a height of 11-7 3/4, good for fifth place.

In the 400-meter race, junior sprinter Brad Michael ran a time of 48.24 to place third. For the women’s 400-meter race, senior sprinter Angelica Rodriguez finished with a time of 57.06 to come in second place. Freshman sprinter Brooke Monson placed fourth with a time of 57.54.

According to Kerr, the coaching staff overall is having all athletes look ahead at the conference championships. “I think in any event we start looking at what their conference goals are,” Kerr said. “Physically they’re prepared, all the event groups are going to start a tapering process now.”

This tapering process involves the athletes cutting back the workouts they do in practice, but they raise up the intensity level.

In the women’s 200-meter event, senior sprinter Whitney Leavitt finished with a seasonal best time of 25.00 to earn fourth place. In the men’s 200-meter race, freshman sprinter Austin Upmeyer ran a time of 22.25.

The women’s 4×100 relay team finished with a time of 47.44 to come in second place. Nielson came in fourth place in the discus event with a throw of 160-7. Cunningham and freshman Evan Banchero each had personal-best throws. Cunningham had a throwing distance of 156-10, and Banchero had a 156-4 toss.

Sophomore Brooklyn Bellomy cleared a height of 5-3 in the high jump event to tie a personal best.

This was the first time Eastern track and field has competed at the high performance meet in Oregon and Kerr states that it will not be the last time. “We do plan to go back to this meet next year,” Kerr said. “We felt as a coaching staff it’s a very well run meet, very great level of competition, we will repeat with this meet back on our schedule next year.”

The Eagles will compete in Moscow, Idaho, at the Vandal Jamboree on May 9.