Candy Cane XII Meet Schedule & Other Information

The 2019-20 indoor track and field season gets underway this week for Eastern Washington University when the Eagles host the Candy Cane XII Meet on Friday and Saturday (Dec. 6-7) at Thorpe Fieldhouse in Cheney, Wash.
 
The women's pentathlon competition gets the meet started on Friday at noon Pacific time, with the men's heptathlon beginning at 12:15. The women's competition will conclude that day, with the final three events for the men starting on Saturday at 8:30 a.m.
 
The regular portion of the meet begins Friday at 5 p.m. with some field events, as well as the preliminaries of the 55 meters and 55-meter hurdles at 6:30 p.m. The remainder of the meet begins at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, with running events beginning at 1 p.m.
 
Besides EWU, several local colleges will also have individuals taking part, but there will be no team scoring. The meet is also open to other competitors as well, including students and school staff/faculty at EWU. Meet information and a complete time schedule is available via: https://goeags.com/sports/track-and-field
 
"We are looking forward to the Candy Cane," said Eastern head women's coach Marcia Mecklenburg. "It is a fun meet for the athletes to compete in, and it is a home meet so family and friends can easily come and watch. It has been a good fall for training for us. Now we get a chance to see how that training has paid off with some early season indoor marks."
 
"Team depth will be a team strength both indoors and outdoors," said Eastern men's coach Stan Kerr. "The guys know they can do something special this year in both conference championships."
 
Following this week's competition, Eastern will resume its indoor schedule at the University of Idaho on Jan. 10-11.
 
 

More on the 2019-20 EWU Track & Field Teams

 
A year ago, the Eastern men's team finished fourth indoors at the Big Sky Conference Championships and then went on to a sixth-place finish outdoors. The women finished ninth and seventh, respectively, and both teams are hoping to improve upon those performances this season. The indoor championships take place Feb. 27-29 in Pocatello, Idaho, and the outdoor meet May 13-16 in Ogden, Utah.
 
Eastern's men had several key competitors redshirt a year ago, and are ready to challenge the school's best-ever team performances. Indoors, the men finished third in 2012, and the Eagles were fourth outdoors in 2018, just one place from highs of third on four occasions.
 
Eight men's competitors return in 2018 who have previously earned All-Big Sky Conference honors with top-three finishes at conference championship meets. Among them are defending long jump and triple jump champion Keshun McGee, who went on to compete in both events at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships.
 
Bailey Aiello finished third in both pole vault competitions last year, and Joe Gauthier was third in the 60 meters at the 2019 indoor championships. Parker Bowden, who redshirted last season, was second in the 60-meter hurdles in 2018. Also that season, Aaron Pullin was third in the pole vault.
 
McGee won both the long jump and triple jump outdoors last season, and Bobby Say was third in the triple jump. In addition, Gauthier was third in the 100 and Killion McGinnis was third in the high jump. In 2018, Tim Beard was third in the hammer throw.
 
The women had their best-ever finishes in 2016 of third both indoors and outdoors, and return a trio of All-Big Sky performers. Included is Samantha Raines, who was second in the pole vault at last year's indoor championships.
 
Madison Doepker is a three-time all-league performer outdoors, finishing first in the javelin and third in the hammer last year, and third in the javelin in 2018. Raines is the defending champion in the pole vault outdoors, and teammate Katrina Terry was third.
 
 

More Comments from Head Coach Stan Kerr

 
On Multi-Events: "Adding to our firepower this year and making his debut in an Eagle uniform is Grant Shurtliff. Grant will be unattached for the Candy Cane, but will be contending for the conference title in the heptathlon indoors and decathlon outdoors. Grant will have great accompaniments in the multis with Aaron Pullin and Quintin Porterfield. All three of those guys will double-back in individual events, which adds significantly to our team depth."
 
On Sprints & Hurdles: "I'm excited about the depth of our 400-meter crew. Liam Bracken, Camden Phelps, Grant Hannan, Jayce Freeman and Kody Vigesaa give us one of the strongest groups of quarter-milers we've had in years. Great summer and fall training regimens are going to translate to high-level performances for Parker Bowden in the hurdles and Joe Gauthier and Dawson Lack in the short dashes. They are a hard-working and very driven group of competitors in practice every day. Cole Harrison and Miguel Punsalen are right on the heels of these guys and will be pushing them in every competition."
 
On Jumps & Pole Vault: "Keshun McGee and Bobby Say give us one of the best 1-2 punches in the jumps in the Big Sky Conference. Both have big goals and will be a joy to watch compete all year. We've added to our pole vault depth with the addition of two talented freshmen, Zach Klobutcher and Brayden Freitag. Before Zach and Brayden are done with their careers, they'll score a ton of points."
 
On Throws: "Our throwers are still a pretty young group but picked up a lot of experience last year and are ready to have a breakthrough season. Garrett Peoples and Colton Kautz are set to compete at a much higher level all year."
 
On Distance Runners: "Leading our youthful distance crew will be Isaac Barville. Isaac will face stellar competition in the 1500 meters indoors, but is poised to have his best season ever. Carter Ledwith also faces a rugged distance force in racing against our Big Sky competitors. He's coming off a PR in the 10K he posted late in the XC season and will enter the indoor season ready to race."
 
 

2019-20 EWU Indoor Track & Field Schedule

 
Friday - Dec. 6, 2019 - EWU Candy Cane XII - Cheney, Wash.

• Women's Pentathlon Noon/Men's Heptathlon 12:15 pm/Field Events 5 pm

Saturday - Dec. 7, 2019 - EWU Candy Cane XII - Cheney, Wash.

• Men's Heptathlon 8:30 am, Field Events 9 am/Running Events 1 pm

Fri/Sat - Jan. 10-11, 2020 - Lauren McCluskey Open - Moscow, Idaho
Fri/Sat - Jan. 17-18, 2020 - Univ. of Washington Preview - Seattle, Wash.
Thursday - Jan. 23, 2020 - Idaho Open - Moscow, Idaho
Fri/Sat - Jan. 31-Feb. 1, 2020 - UW Invitational (plus multi events) - Seattle, Wash.
Friday - Feb. 7, 2020 - Idaho Division I Challenge - Moscow, Idaho
Saturday - Feb. 15, 2020 - Bronco Challenge - Boise, Idaho
Thur/Fri/Sat - Feb. 27-29, 2020 - Big Sky Track & Field Indoor Championships - Pocatello, Idaho
Fri/Sat - March 13-14, 2020 - NCAA Division I Indoor Championships - Albuquerque, N.M.
 
 
 

Returning NCAA Championships Participants

 
Keshun McGee – (2019 Outdoors: 18th in Triple Jump/51-9, No Place in Long Jump/No Mark)

 
 

Returning Men's All-Big Sky Athletes

 
(Top 3 finish at the Big Sky Championships)
 
Bailey Aiello – (2019 Outdoors: 3rd in pole vault/15-9 3/4; 2019 Indoors: 3rd in the pole vault/15-4 1/4)

Tim Beard – (2018 Outdoors: 3rd in hammer/190-4)
 
Parker Bowden – (2018 Indoors: 2nd in 60-meter hurdles/8.00)

Joe Gauthier – (2019 Outdoors: 3rd in 100/10.54; 2019 Indoors: 3rd in the 60-meters/6.83) 

Keshun McGee – (2019 Indoors: 1st in long jump/25-4 1/2, 1st in triple jump/50-11; 2019 Indoors: 1st in long jump/25-6, 1st in triple jump/51-5; 2018 Outdoors: 1st in long jump/24-10 1/2, 2nd in triple jump 51-6 1/4; 2017 Indoors: 1st in long jump/25-0, 2nd in triple jump/51-1)
 
Killion McGinnis – (2019 Outdoors: 3rd in high jump/6-8 1/4)
 
Aaron Pullin – (2018 Indoors: 3rd in pole vault/15-8 1/2)
 
Bobby Say – (2019 Indoors: 3rd in triple jump/48-3 1/2)
 
 

Returning Women's All-Big Sky Athletes

 
(Top 3 finish at the Big Sky Championships)
 
Madison Doepker – (2019 Outdoors: 1st in javelin/154-8; 3rd in hammer/193-2; 2018 Outdoors: 3rd in the javelin/147-11)

Samantha Raines – (2019 Outdoors: 1st in pole vault/13-4 1/2; 2019 Indoors: 2nd in the pole vault/13-2 1/2)
 
Katrina Terry – (2019 Outdoors: 3rd in pole vault/12-6 3/4)