Kimes sets EWU pentathlon school record in winning at Candy Cane VIII...

CHENEY—Eastern Washington’s Jozie Kimes (above/photo courtesy EWU Athletics) kicked off the 2016 indoor track & field season by setting a new school record in the pentathlon at the Candy Cane VIII, contested at the Jim Thorpe Fieldhouse on the campus of Eastern Washington University.

Kimes, who was tenth in the heptathlon at last year’s Big Sky championship meet, eclipsed her previous personal best of 3359 points set at last year’s Candy Cane meet, and also broke the EWU school record of 3360 set by Christie Kight in 2002.

Kimes started the day by winning the 55 hurdles in 8.60 (886 points), and the high jump with a clearance of 5-5.25/1.66m (806).  She finished second in the shot with a toss of 32-7/9.93m (525), the long jump with a leap of 16-9.75/5.12m (592), and the 800m in 2:28.05 (718).

The Eagles’ Kendra Hamm finished second with a final score of 3256 points, highlighted by winning the long jump with a leap of 17-0.5/5.19m, worth 612 points.

In the men’s heptathlon, Eastern’s Aaron Pullin is the first day leader with a score of 2812 points, winning three of the first four events—the 55 in 6.62 (851), long jump in 21-5.25/6.53m (704), and the shot put in 39-5/12.01m (607), and finished second in the high jump at 6-0.5/1.84m (661).

The heptathlon concludes Saturday beginning at 9am, while the field events in the regular portion of the meet starts an hour later.  Running events get underway at 12:30pm, featuring dual meet scoring between the Eagles and the University of Montana.

Eastern’s recap is available here, while the time schedule for the Candy Cane Invitational is available here.

NOTE:  The sports information office at Eastern Washington University contributed to this report.