The Nighthawks traveled to Spokane, WA this weekend to compete in the Spokane Invitational for their first meet of the indoor season. It was the athletes' first time competing since the spring season, and they were ready to dust off their competition shoes and toe the line.

Hunter Braseth had a great 300m race. Crossing the line in 35.25 seconds, he secured a sixth place finish in the stacked field. 

Freshman Ian Stockett surprised the field with his sixth place finish in the men's mile, crossing the line in 4:21.12 minutes. 

"Overall, it was an awesome experience: my first ever collegiate track meet," said Stockett.

"Going into the race, I knew there were two sub-four milers racing. I knew that I wouldn't get out with the lead pack, but I eventually realized that my pace would put me in last for the whole first half! I was surprised at how fast everyone else started out, I think they went through the 800m mark at 2:04 and I went through at 2:10. 

"Ultimately, I just stayed patient and waited to make a move. The last three laps were visibly slower for all of the runners, so that was my chance to strike," said Stockett.

"I ended up getting sixth place. The competition was great; there were some pretty fast milers in that race.

"Next race, I'm looking forward to trying a little more aggressive strategy in the mile or the same strategy in the 5k. I'd like to run 14:50 minutes in the 5k and 4:16 minutes in the mile by the end of the indoor season," added Stockett.

On the women's side, Katie Baniaga's 200m performance was a great indicator for the season ahead of her. She crossed the line in 26.41–already inching close to her PR.

"The meet went pretty well overall," said Baniaga.

"I had a rough 60m due to some technical errors I made with my blocks. However, I didn't want to let that ruin the rest of my day, so I just shrugged it off since I had my 200m to redeem myself.

"I had a great 200m opener, which surprised me since I wasn't expecting to run the time that I did. It may not have been my PR, but being able to open with a 26.4 makes me super excited for what I can do in later meets.

"I'm really looking forward to future training so that I can work on finishing strong in the last 50m of my 200m," Baniaga added.

Senior Destany Herbert's performance in the shot put was nothing short of incredible. The thrower's 14.14m effort in the shot put broke the previous record by 19 centimeters.

"I had my heart set on breaking the record this meet," Herbert began. 

"Previously, I had tied the record. I knew I could break it since all my throws have been consistently around 14 meters in practice. 

"My events overall went well; I was a little sad with my weight performance, but my teammates reminded me that it's just the first meet and I can only go up from here. Then, I had the most consistent shot series of my life, so that was super exciting. 

"The thing I'm most excited for is to see how well I do and to travel with my team. With all the time we spend together as a team, I feel like they are my family, and one of my favorite things about any meet is getting to spend more time with them," added Herbert.

The Nighthawks will take a break for the holiday season, resuming their indoor competition on January 12 in Pocatello, Idaho for the Snake River Open.