Eastern Women In Second

There’s a strange name among the contenders at the Big Sky Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships at Pocatello, Idaho.

Eastern Washington’s women, who have never finished higher than fourth, rode strong efforts in the shot put and long jump to stand second behind Northern Arizona after the first day of competition at Idaho State’s Holt Arena.

Leading the way was shot putter Mandi Fish, who has improved by nearly 2 feet in each successive meet this winter and Monday reached 45 feet, 1-3/4 inches - third best in school history. She finished second and teammate Maria Manley took fourth, giving the Eagles 13 of their 29 first-day points. NAU has 41.

EWU also got a 3-4 finish in the long jump from Cristi Horning (18-10-3/4) and Celeste Stutheit (18-9).

Eastern’s men are seventh behind first-day leader Weber State, their 14 points coming on a second by Kevin Whitson in the 35-pound weight throw (60-3-3/4) and a fourth by Andre Ervin in the high jump (6-10-3/4).

Johnnie Williams set one of two EWU records Friday with a 6.75 clocking in the men’s 60-meter preliminaries. The women’s distance medley relay team sliced nearly 10 seconds off the school record with a time of 12:17.44.

Whitworth’s Nakanishi honored

Whitworth guard Julian Nakanishi was honored as the Northwest Conference men’s basketball athlete of the week.

Nakanishi had 34 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists and three steals as the Pirates knocked off the NWC’s top two teams, Linfield and Willamette.