Tracking a Program’s Rise

Eastern’s track and field athletes, stars in the classroom, aim to up their game.

Athletes with Eastern’s men’s and women’s track and field teams have long been leaders in the classroom — this year’s women’s team tallied 25 Big Sky All-Academic awards, while the men earned 17. These days they are also asserting themselves in competition.

At the 2024 Big Sky Championships, led by redshirt junior Caitlin “Egypt” Simmons, Eagle athletes braved the April snows in Bozeman to lay the groundwork for what Erin Tucker, director of Eastern track and field, says will be a bright future. 

 Simmons brought home gold and established herself as the Big Sky’s premier women’s jumper after hitting the 6.18-meter mark in her long jump performance. In the triple jump, she came up just short of a second gold after nailing a personal best of 12.88 meters. Her teammate Savannah Schultz joined her on the podium with a third-place finish and a bronze medal.

“Egypt is still the Big Sky jump queen in my book, winning three of the four horizontal jumps and placing second in the fourth, is dominant,” Tucker said after the event. “I know Coach Jo [Brinson] and Egypt wanted to sweep, and that will be the goal next year for sure.”

On the men’s side, senior Cody Teevens earned the Eagles a silver in the decathlon, with a 6,184 total score to secure an All-Conference honor. During the event, Teevens earned wins in the 100 meter and the 110-meter hurdles, adding second-place finishes in the long jump, discus throw and javelin. His teammate Colin Hughes added a win in the 1,500-meter decathlon race.

Overall, the Eagle women finished eighth, while the men secured ninth place. It was a finish, Tucker says, that’s not in any way predictive of where his athletes are headed next spring: “I promise you we are a better team than we finished today, and we will never finish this low again!”