Sandpoint alum and Eastern Oregon junior T.J. Davis placed second (first among NAIA participants) in the heptathlon event at the Washington State Invitational in Spokane which earned him Cascade Collegiate Conference Athlete of the week honors.

Davis finished with 5,248 points with first place finishes in shot put, the high jump, and the 1,000-meter race.

He had second place finishes in the 60-meter sprint and the long jump.

His worst performance came in the pole vault where he finished sixth.

Davis’ former coach Dave DeMers was working the event and was not surprised with his marks.

“T.J. could’ve done whatever he wanted to do out of high school,” DeMers said. “He’s a strong kid and he’s coachable. It didn’t surprise me that he had that many points and success.”

DeMers was a bit taken aback by his first place finish in the 1,000-meter race, however.

“The funny thing is I’ve never seen him run a 1,000 meter in high school.” he said. “But I thought his stride and strength was unbelievable and it helped him finish the race strong.”

With the win, Davis is now ranked number one in the NAIA in the heptathlon event.

“TJ had a tremendous two days,” Eastern Oregon track coach Ben Welch said. “He set six personal best times in seven events. He improved his total points scored in a Heptathlon by 502 points.”