Eastern Washington’s Parker Bowden hurdles his way into history during Big Sky championship weekend

Parker Bowden had been leaving hints.

An Eastern Washington school-record 14.03-second time in the 110-meter-high hurdles in March, a 13.89 in April, followed by a 13.87 later that month.

Saturday, during the Big Sky Conference Track and Field Championships in Ogden, Utah, it was time for the senior from Central Valley to break out. He blew away those times en route to becoming the first Eagle to capture the league championship in the event and was named the Men’s Outstanding Performer of the Meet.

Bowden ran a school-record 13.74 in the preliminaries on Friday, an indication the best may be yet to come. And it was. He ran 13.58 Saturday, a meet record and the second-fastest time all-time in the conference that ranks him 14th in NCAA Division I in 2021.

He was one of two Eastern men and three Eagles overall to win an individual championship. Junior Joe Gauthier led a 1-2-6 Eagles finish in the men’s 100 (10.50) and junior Katrina Terry led a 1-2-7-8 finish in the women’s pole vault (13 feet, 1 inch). The Eagles men also won the 4x100 relay with Gauthier, David Gaik, Dawson Lack (Medical Lake) and Jonah Mathews.

Eastern earned 11 All-Big Sky first-team honors for top-three finishes, eight by the men.

The Eagles finished fifth in the men’s team competition and 10th in the women’s. The Idaho men were third and the women fifth. Northern Arizona won both titles.

Idaho had two individual winners. Senior Zack Short captured the men’s shot put (63-3¾) for his fifth conference championship in the event and second outdoors, and sophomore Tayler LyDay won the women’s triple jump (41-1¾). The Vandals men also won the 4x400 relay (3:13.41) with Deyondre Davis, Lorenz Herrmann, Spencer Barrera (Mt. Spokane) and Alex Ayers (Lake City).

The Vandals men also had two second-place finishes and three thirds and the women two thirds to earn 12 All-Big Sky first-team honors.

Pac-12

John Dressel, a former Mt. Spokane standout and grad student at Colorado, capped his Pac-12 Conference career by being the Buffaloes’ leading men’s scorer off a second-place finish in the 10k with a PR of 28:42.17 and a sixth in the 5k (13:40.36) for 11 points.

“Final year, final Pac-12, excellent for John,” said Colorado coach Mark Wetmore.

Washington State had three men produce runner-up finishes: Senior Paul Ryan (Logos HS of Moscow) in the 1,500 (3:40.62); junior John Kolb in the discus (183-1); and senior Mitch Jacobson in the high jump (7-1½). Junior Charisma Taylor was third in the triple jump (43-10½) to lead the women.

The Cougars had 29 others (13 women, 16 men) with top-10 finishes.

WSU finished sixth behind champion Oregon in the men’s team competition. The women were 11th behind champion USC.

NWC

Grad student Nick McGill earned five first-team all-conference honors, including a repeat victory in the decathlon and first-place finish in the javelin, to lead the showing by Whitworth in the Northwest Conference track and field championships last week in Forest Grove, Oregon.

The Pirates men won five individual events and the 4x100 relay, captured 15 first-team all-conference honors for top-three finishes and landed nine on the second team for placing fourth through eight. Whitworth finished second as a team behind George Fox, which won a fourth straight NWC title.

Keara Simpson (Lake City HS and North Idaho College) had two-thirds of the Pirates’ victories to lead the Whitworth women. She won the shot put with a career-best 40 feet, 7¾ inches and discus (141-7) as the Pirates earned six first-team all-conference awards and placed seventh on the second-team. Amelia Hewson won the 100 hurdles (15.05).

Whitworth was third as a team behind George Fox, which also won a fourth straight women’s championship.

Besides McGill, who compiled a career-best 6,838 points in winning the decathlon in the multi-events championships the previous week and throwing the javelin 195-10, Whitworth’s other men’s winners were Kolby Blackler (Mead), 110 hurdles (14.86 seconds); Travis Herrera (Ferris), 400 hurdles (54.54); and Reed Hurst, shot put (47.10).

The winning 4x100 relay team consisted of Samson Irish-Lodge, Blackler, Logan Wright and Riley Flanagan, who timed 42.50.