0The Big Sky Outdoor Championships began on May 13 at Roos Field as the Big Sky crowned its champions in the Men’s Decathlon and Women’s Heptathlon after two days and 12 different events.

Idaho State University’s Logan Henderson won the decathlon with 6,904 points, while Montana State University’s Carley McCutchen took first in the heptathlon, scoring 5,273 points. Jozie Kimes was the only EWU athlete to compete in either event, finishing 10th in the heptathlon with a score of 4,448.

Henderson finished strong in the decathlon, winning the javelin and the 1,500-meter run to close out the meet. His javelin toss of 160-07 was 13 feet longer than the second place finisher, and his time of 4:15.75 in the 1,500-meter run was nearly 17 seconds faster than his teammate Dyllan James, who finished second in the event.

Henderson never finished worse than seventh in an event in the ten-person field and finished in the top five in nine of the 10 events; although, he admitted that he did not get off to the start he would have liked.

“I didn’t have my best performance overall, so I was just kind of trying to keep going after each event and just try to move forward because each event ended up less than what I would have hoped for,” said Henderson. “I had really good performances in the javelin and the 1,500-meters, which was enough to put me on top. It was a kind of cool experience being behind the whole time. It was just exciting to compete and end up with the win.”

Gallery • 2 Photos

Photo contributed by Runner Space

Montana State University's Carley McCutcheon took first in the heptathlon, scoring 5,273 points.

McCutchen’s path to the hardware was nearly opposite of Anderson’s, as she won two of the four events on the first day of the championships. She won the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.95 seconds and the 200-meter dash in 25.30 seconds.

On day two, McCutchen finished in the top three in every event and nearly won her third event of the championships, finishing second in the 800-meter run by one-tenth of a second. McCutchen narrowly finished second in the long jump and finished in third in the javelin throw.

McCutchen won with ease in this year’s championship, after finishing second by just ten points in last year’s conference championships to Lindsey Hall of the University of Montana. Teammate Danielle Muri finished second behind McCutchen, scoring 5,052 points.

The windy conditions were a problem for the athletes, and McCutchen said the key for her to do well was to focus on one event at a time.

“The windy conditions made it really hard to compete at the ideal level I wanted to, so it was just getting through everything,” said McCutchen. “Being mentally tough was a huge battle, making sure I didn’t get fatigued or mentally out of it.”

The best performances for Kimes—Eastern’s only athlete in either event—came on the first day of the competition. She finished sixth in the 100-meter hurdles and seventh in the high jump. Her 5-2 1/4 jump was a season best, as was her 200-meter dash in which she placed 15th with a time of 27.53 seconds.

Kimes placed highest in the javelin on day two, where she finished ninth with a throw of 99-06. Kimes scored 737 points and finished 11th in the 800-meter run, the highest scoring event of the day for the junior.