Knight leads Eastern Washington at Whitworth

SPOKANE — Eastern Washington University track and field athletes split up for competition last week — some going east while others went north.

Those going north participated in the Eagles first multi-event — heptathlon and decathlon — competition of the season, the Whitworth Invitational & Multi-Event Meet, taking place Thursday and Friday, March 25 – 26. Eastern found itself facing five schools at Whitworth – the host Pirates along with Washington State University, Spokane Community College, Lewis-Clark State College and Warner Pacific College.

Madelyn Knight led the Eagles by winning the heptathlon with a total of 4,622 points, landing in the fifth spot on Eastern’s all-time top-10 list for the event. The sophomore won three of the seven events and placed second in two others.

“Madelyn did a very good job in her first heptathlon as an Eagle,” multi-event coach Dave Nielsen said. “She had a solid performance in all of her events but is still a bit short of what we know she can do.” 

Knight began with a win in the 110-meter hurdles in 15.14 seconds, followed by a second place in the high jump at 5 feet, 2 1/4 inches and second in the shot put with a throw of 31-11 1/2. She ended day one with another win in the 200 meters in 26.21, started day two with her third win — taking the long jump in 17-2 — and wrapping up with third in the javelin with a toss of 96-1 and second in the 800 in 2:28.63.

Chris Homen placed the highest for the Eagle men in multi-event competition, placing sixth in the decathlon with 5,462 points. His best performance of the event came in the 110-meter hurdles where he placed third in 16.10.

“Chris is a freshman, and like Madi Knight, he’s a first timer for multi-event competition,” Nielsen said. “Despite being a rookie to the decathlon, he recorded four personal best performances out of the ten events.”

Other top-10 finishes for the Eagles came from Oluwadamilol Adekanbi and Camden Phelps. Adekanbi was second in the men’s 200 in 22.07 and fourth in the 100 in 10.78. Phelps was third in the 400 in 51.75.

Megan Pitzman, Kaylin Sheley, Jenni Bissell and Lilly Fetzer went 2-5 in the women’s steeplechase with Alyssa Oates seventh in the high jump.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].