Luckenbach country

Throwers at Eastern Washington University, traditionally, have been multiple personalities.

One event is never enough.

Women’s coach Marcia Mecklenburg, who oversees their care, often has them dashing from ring-to-ring-to-ring – and even runway. One Eagle, Mike Oien, scored in all four throwing events in the 2002 Big Sky Conference meet. At last year’s Pelluer Invitational, Carolee Gutierrez won all four.

So what’s with Nicole Luckenbach?

All the Eagles got out of the sophomore from Mill Creek, Wash., at Friday’s Pelluer was a meet record and NCAA regional qualifying mark in the hammer. Then she slipped into a black dress and headed off to her evening job at the Big Easy in Spokane.

“I need the hours,” she laughed.

Luckenbach’s winning throw of 178 feet, 4 inches added 9 inches to the 6-year-old meet record held by another Eagle, Jaime Martin, though naturally she was more excited about topping the qualifying standard, “something I’ve wanted all year,” she said. It’s also a 24-foot improvement on her best mark from last spring, when she was being redshirted and evolved into a hammer specialist – not exactly of her choosing.

“I would like to throw the discus,” she said. “I used to throw discus and shot, but my coach pulled me out because I wasn’t doing so well.”

Explained Mecklenburg with a smile, “I’m not as patient as I used to be.

“This allows her to focus on the event she’s best at and it’s been good for her, because she’s really improved this year. She has a chance to do some great things in the hammer.”

All in all, the 37th Pelluer at Woodward Field was fairly typical – some strong performances in the afternoon when the sun made a rare 2008 appearance, some wholesale scratches from race fields when temperatures dipped in the evening and few adjustments to the record book, which already features some of the best names in Inland Northwest track.

Aside from Luckenbach’s throw, Idaho’s K.C. Dahlgren added her name to that list with a 12-91/2 win in the women’s pole vault – equaling the 2006 record by teammate Melinda Owen, who skipped the meet.

That was one of several notable efforts in the men’s and women’s jumps, which were swept by athletes from Idaho and Washington State.

The big winner was Shadle Park graduate Catie Schuetzle of WSU, who put together best wind-legal double in the long and triple jumps in Pelluer history with leaps of 19-2 and 40-0. But the best event was probably the men’s triple jump, won by Idaho’s David Holmon in a personal-best 51-1 – missing the meet record by less than 3 inches.

In the process, he edged out an old rival, WSU’s Moreno Zapata, whose wind-aided 50-6 led into the finals.

“We go back all the way to high school – sophomore year,” Holmon said. “It’s fun. I’ve lost to him quite a few times, but we really push each other.”

A hard training week kept Idaho teammate Russ Winger from a full assault on the discus record. The 199-6 he threw a week ago at Stanford was 4 inches beyond the Pelluer mark, but he settled for 191-4 Friday. In the other throws, Whitworth’s Jeff Kintner got a pair of NCAA Division III qualifying marks, including a 52-2 win in the shot.

“WSU’s hurdlers had a strong showing at the Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner Kersee Invitational at UCLA.

In the men’s and women’s intermediate hurdles, Barry Leavitt (50.83) and Veronica Elseroad-Wall (1:00.73) scored lifetime bests and regional-qualifying marks in impressive victories. Robert Williams (14.17) and Jeshua Anderson (14.24) had season bests in the highs.

Other wins for the Cougars came in the women’s 1,500 by Isley Gonzalez (4:34.02) and the men’s decathlon by Kyle Schauble (6,785 points).