ELLENSBURG, Wash. (March 18) — Hoping for some better weather in its second weekend of the outdoor track and field season, the Central Washington University track and field squad returns to action Saturday at the Eastern Oregon University (EOU) Team Challenge. It will be held at Kennison Field at Hermiston  (Ore.) High School, with the first events scheduled for noon. 
 
"It's a fairly low-key meet, which is nice since because it's still early season as far as outdoor," said CWU head track and field coach Kevin Adkisson. "It's more of a workout-type meet as we're building into the outdoor season. Hopefully, we'll continue to see some good things."
 
Last week, amid wind and rain at the Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) Invitational in Parkland, the Wildcats came away with 10 event victories, along with numerous additional top-three finishes. CWU swept to victories in both the men's and women's team categories by comfortable margins.
 
Along with Central and the host Mountaineers, the other participating schools at EOU will be the College of Idaho, Northwest Nazarene, Oregon Tech and Treasure Valley Community College. 
 
"There's, probably, a slightly higher competitive level this week," Adkisson noted. "But we would still like to get a fair number of event winners."
 
At PLU, Dani Eggleston broke the CWU school record in the 5,000 meters. Her mark of 17:11.79 was also good enough to meet the NCAA Division II national provisional outdoor qualifying standard. She will compete in the steeplechase Saturday.  
 
"That's another event where she should hit the provisional first time out, if she's anywhere near her PR [personal record]," Adkisson speculated. "That's well under the provisional."
 
Sprinter Kent McKinney Jr. will also run in the 100-meter dash for the first time this season. He was a dual event winner at PLU, as part of the victorious CWU relay teams in the 4x100 and 4x400 meter events.
 
"He ran good legs on both," Adkisson recalled. "The 4x400, for him, is still a stretch. He's learning but he ran solid."
 
Pole vaulter McKenna Emmert will also look to get back on track following what proved to be a challenging performance at PLU.
 
"Last week, she had a little trouble with the conditions and she ended up no-heighting," Adkisson said. "If she goes out and has a good meet, she could hit a provisional mark for nationals."
 
In addition, newly crowned NCAA Division II indoor All-America triple jumper Luke Plummer will make his season outdoor debut Saturday.
 
"He wasn't too beat up from nationals," Adkisson noted. "He wants to go, especially to get a long jump in, which is something he hasn't done since the indoor conference meet. It's been nearly a month now since he's competed in the long jump. It'll be nice to see if he can pop one out there."
 
Overall, CWU will field a somewhat smaller squad at the EOU Team Challenge, though as many as 50 Wildcats could complete.
 
"This weekend and the following weekend are always more sparsely attended meets because of finals and spring break," Adkisson pointed out.  "What we tell our team is that we don't want them taking both weekends off. We've just kicked off the outdoor season and we want to maintain some momentum, if not build on it."
 
This will also be one of the first meets of the season for most of the CWU hammer and javelin throwers, though it will actually be their second opportunity to compete, following a meet Thursday and Friday at Whitworth University in Spokane.
 
"That's the better competition for them," Adkisson pointed out. "It would be great to see a few more provisional marks, especially with people like Kevin Stanley and Armando Tafoya getting in their first throws of the year. If things are going well, they've got a chance to hit one right out of the gate."