Kennewick’s Kaytlyn Coleman named EWU’s top female athlete
A quartet of Mid-Columbia athletes were honored Wednesday at Eastern Washington University’s eighth annual “EeeWoos” Awards Show.
Kennewick’s Kaytlyn Coleman took home Female Athlete of the Year after being named the Most Outstanding Performer at the Big Sky Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
Former Davis High School star Cooper Kupp, the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Player of the Year, took home male honors.
Coleman won the hammer throw and placed second in the shot put at the Big Sky Outdoor Championships. She broke her own school record in the hammer with at 203 feet, 1 inch, and her shot put mark of 48-4 3/4 ranks fourth in school history. She won a league-record five Big Sky Conference Athlete of the Week honors this spring, to go along with three during the indoor campaign when she was the runner-up for the league’s weight throw title.
Cross country and track and field member Katie Mahoney (Richland) won the Career Achievement Award.
Mahoney won the steeplechase title and was fourth in the 800 with a school-record time of 2 minutes, 10.96 seconds at the Big Sky Outdoor Championships. She set three outdoor school records, including the 1,500 and the steeplechase with a time of 10:10.33 that ranks ninth all-time in the Big Sky. She also set records in the mile and distance medley relay during an indoor season that saw her finish third in the league and earn All-Big Sky honors in both events.
Basketball standout Hayley Hodgins (Chiawana) was named the Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
En route to becoming EWU’s all-time leading scorer, Hodgins was a unanimous All-Big Sky Conference selection after earning first team honors for the second consecutive season. She also received fourth-team All-Mid Major accolades from College Sports Madness and was on the Big Sky All-Tournament team. She scored a school-record 680 points as a senior (fourth all-time in Big Sky history), while her average of 21.3 points per game ranked second all-time at EWU. She set a single-season Eastern record with 88 made 3-pointers, a mark that ranks second in Big Sky history.
Richland’s Larry Still was named the men’s Freshman of the Year after dominating the pole vault during the indoor and outdoor seasons.
Still is Eastern’s first two-time Big Sky Conference pole vault champion after winning both the indoor and outdoor titles. His 17-0 3/4 effort at the outdoor meet broke the previous school record of 16-8 3/4. Indoors, Still had a school-record vault of 17-0 3/4 to earn Athlete of the Meet accolades.
Coleman, Mahoney and Still all competed at last week’s NCAA West preliminaries in Lawrence, Kan., but none placed in the top 12 to advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene.
Mahoney was 16th in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 10:18.05. Coleman threw 194-8 in the hammer (20th) and Still cleared 16-4 in the pole vault (32nd).
The EWU women’s soccer team added a pair of accolades to its record-setting 2015 season, as it was named the Team of the Year and head coach Chad Bodnar (Pasco) was named Coach of the Year.
The Eagles broke numerous team records on the pitch. The team set single-season records for overall victories (12), Big Sky Conference wins (6), longest winning streak (8) and most goals (34). EWU finished the year 12-4-3 overall, and 6-2-2 in the Big Sky to place third in the conference standings.
This story was originally published June 2, 2016 at 6:16 PM with the headline "Kennewick’s Kaytlyn Coleman named EWU’s top female athlete."