ELLENSBURG, Wash.- The Central Washington University indoor track and field team travels east this Friday, Jan. 19, to compete in the 16th Annual WSU Open. Hosted by Washington State, the event will take place in Pullman, Wash. at the WSU Indoor Practice Facility.
 
"This will be the first meet for a good number of our athletes," CWU head coach Kevin Adkisson explained. "The majority of both the men and women's squads will be going to Pullman. We are ready to go and I hope we will be able to put up some decent marks. Some of our veteran athletes are looking to build upon some marks they have already established this year, but it will be nice to see how our younger athletes compete for the first time this indoor season."
 
Many of the distance runners will compete for the first time this season after coming off a solid season of cross country. Leading the Wildcats in the longer distances will be junior Alexa Shindruk. Shindruk earned All-Region accolades at the NCAA Division II West Region Cross Country Championships after crossing the finish line in a time of 21:40.7 to earn 18th overall. Joining Shindruk in the distance events will be true freshman Nicole Soleim and sophomores Miranda Nelson and Delaney Clem.
 
Headlining CWU's multievent athletes will be seniors Kodiak Landis and Ali Anderson. Landis and Anderson have already garnered conference recognition for their performances at the EWU Candy Cane Open earlier this season. Landis recorded a school-record performance for the men's team at Eastern Washington, breaking his own pole vault school record by two inches to claim the GNAC men's field athlete of the week award. Anderson earned the women's honor after earning first in the pentathlon. Anderson recorded a total of 3,480 points and won the 800-meter with a time of 2:19.18. A provisional qualifying mark, Anderson's performance also ranks first on the CWU all-time list in the event.
 
The CWU hurdles bring a mix of youth and experience to the track this year. Returning for the Wildcats is junior Mariyah Vongsaveng and senior Trevaughn Scott. Both athletes opened their 2018 campaigns last week at the UW Indoor Preview. Vongsaveng just missed qualifying for the finals in the 60-meter hurdles, claiming ninth overall (8.81 seconds). Scott represented the Wildcats in the 400 and 200, finishing eighth and 24th, respectively. Scott will return to his bread and butter, the 60-meter hurdles, this week in Pullman.
 
The WSU Indoor Practice Facility features a full NCAA 200-meter track, triple jump pits, pole vault lanes, shot and disc arc, and a 60-sprint track.
 
Check back to WildcatSports.com following the meet for results and a recap of the day's action.
 
-CWU-