Eastern's Maggie Nelson ups her heptathlon school record at Big Sky Champs...
POCATELLO, Idaho--Eastern Washington's Maggie Nelson (EWU Athletics photo) broke the school record in the heptathlon for the second time this season in placing third at the Big Sky Combined Events championship meet at Davis Field on the campus of Idaho State University.
Nelson upped her school record and personal best to 5173 points, eclipsing the mark she set in Spokane in March.
She finished third in the long jump with a leap of 18-3.25 (5.57m), then won the javelin with a throw of 154-2 (46.99m), before running a personal best of 2:27.15.
"Nelson couldn't have started things any better for us. In the final heptathlon of her career Nelson set a new school record and made it onto the medal stand with a third place finish. I am so proud of her. She had an outstanding day in all three of the day two heptathlon events, including a personal a record in the 800-meter and close to personal record performances in long jump and javelin," said EWU head women's coach Marcia Mecklenburg.
În the decathlon, Eastern's Quintin Porterfield finished fifth with 6388 points, while Race Treat took seventh with 6227 points.
The Big Sky track & field championships get underway Friday with the women's hammer at 9 am, and the first running event at 12:30pm is the men's 3000 steeple finals.
Day 2 results of the Big Sky Combined Events championship are available here.
DEFENDING WAC JAVELIN CHAMP NICOLE WHTTERN OF SEATTLE UNIVERSITY FINISHES SEVENTH...
In Seattle, defending women's javelin champ Nicole Whittern (Paul Merca photo) of Seattle University finished seventh as the Western Athletic Conference championship opened at Husky Track on the campus of the University of Washington.
Whttern threw a best of 133-3 (40.62m), as conference leader Seri Geisler of Stephen F. Austin won the competition with a first round throw of 167-9 (51.15m).
The cold and windy conditions at Husky Track were not conducive to good marks in the javelin.
In qualifying action, Ellie Postma of the host Redhawks had the sixth fastest time in the women's 1500, running 4:45.36, as three other SeattleU runners advanced to Saturday's finals.
The meet resumes Friday at 1 pm.
Day 1 results of the Western Athletic Conference championships are available here.
PAC 12S BEGIN FRIDAY IN TRACKTOWN...
Washington and Washington State heads down to Eugene for the Pac-12 Conference track & field championships Friday through Sunday, as Hayward Field begins a stretch of meets that includes the Nike Prefontaine Classic, the NCAA track & field championships, the USA Track & Field Championships, and the World Athletics Championships.
Both Husky squads are looking to replicate their identical third place finishes from last year's meet at USC, while the Cougars look to finish in the top half of the conference.
Washington has four athletes with top-10 national times or marks, including two of the country's five best in the 5,000. Brian Fay's 13:16.52 from the Brian Clay Invitational in mid-April is No. 1 in the NCAA and No. 10 on the Pac-12's all-time top-10 performers' list. Teammate Kieran Lumb ran 13:23.26 at the same meet, which is No. 5 nationally. Luke Houser is eighth in the 1,500 (3:37.51) and Roan Allen is ninth in the javelin (246-2/75.04m).
For Washington State, Bellingham native Colton Johnsen is the conference leader in the 3000 steeplechase at 8:39.38. while Jacob Englar leads the Pac-12 in the pole vault at 17-5.5 (5.32m).
The Husky women have a quartet of top national times and are led by Pac-12 800 leader Carley Thomas (2:03.58). In the 1,500, Anna Gibson has the No. 8 performance in the country (4:13.31), Haley Herberg is 10th in the 5,000 (15:31.14) and Ida Eikeng is second in the heptathlon (5,916).
The Huskies' Elijah Mason in the discus and Makenna Barton in the pole vault are two of the 2021 Pac-12 individual champs returning to defend their titles.
Mason finds himself in one of the toughest events in the conference, as four men have thrown over 204 feet (62.17m) this season, a mark that in any other year, would most likely win the Pac-12 title.
In contrast, Barton has struggled through an injury riddled late indoor season, and has only started competing since April.
The Pac-12 Network will televise the championships all three days.
paulmerca.blogspot.com will be on hand in Eugene for the Pac-12 championships.
NOTE: The sports information office of Idaho State, Eastern Washington, Seattle University, University of Washington, Washington State, and the Pac-12 Conference contributed to this report.
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