NORMAL, Ill. – Illinois State track & field will kick off the 2019-20 season on Friday, Dec. 6 at the EIU Early Bird in Charleston, Illinois and the GVSU Holiday Open in Allendale, Michigan. The EIU Early Bird will begin at 2 p.m., while the GVSU Holiday Open will have a 2:45 p.m. start time.
Most of the ISU squad will be competing in Charleston, while a couple members of the distance group will race at the GVSU Holiday Open. Friday's meet at EIU marks the first time since the 2017-18 season that the Redbirds will begin the season at the EIU Early Bird.
SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
Illinois State is one of four teams that will compete at the EIU Early Bird on Friday. Other competitors include Eastern Illinois, Western Illinois and Missouri Valley Conference foe, Bradley.
FRESH FACES
The Redbirds added 31 newcomers, including 19 on the men's side, prior to the start of the 2019-20 season. They all will look to make an immediate impact on the team.
"We have a really big group of newcomers on the men's side," said Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Jeff Bovee. "A big part of how well our program does will rely on how well they transition."
Key event groups that the newcomers have provided depth to include hurdles, jumps and throws on the men's side and sprints, jumps, distance and throws on the women's side. The Redbirds will have 21 student-athletes competing for the first time as a member of the Redbird track & field team.
RELYING ON THE RETURNERS
While ISU has a large group of newcomers, it also has a group of 19 seniors and 67 members from last year's team returning to the 2019-20 squad.
The Redbird women return 34 student-athletes and 12 seniors as they look to win their fourth Valley indoor title in the last five years. Seniors Ariana Cranston (pole vault) and Hattie Plumb (800m) and junior Kristin Higgins (high jump) highlight the returners for the women, with the trio looking to defend their 2019 MVC indoor titles.
Additionally, the ISU women's team has nine student-athletes who earned a total of 10 All-MVC honors at last year's MVC Indoor Championship returning this season. The 'Birds had one women's relay team (4x400) earn All-Conference honors last year.
On the men's side, Illinois State has seven seniors and 33 student-athletes overall returning to the 2019-20 team. The 'Birds have four MVC indoor individual champions and an MVC champion DMR team that has all four members returning from a year ago. Senior Jordan Wilkerson (heptathlon), junior Ryan Ashenbremer (pole vault), senior Jack Anstey (mile) and senior Kimathi Johnson (800m) all look to win back-to-back titles in their respective events.
ISU has seven returning student-athletes who earned All-MVC honors at last year's indoor championship meet, including the three pole vaulters who swept the event a year ago. The DMR and the 4x400-meter relay both earned All-Valley honors at the 2019 indoor championship meet.
HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF
The Redbirds' sweep of the Valley team titles in 2018 and 2019 marked the first time in program history that Illinois State recorded a back-to-back sweep. The 'Birds will look to continue making history in the 2019-20 season as they go for their third-straight team title sweep at the MVC Indoor Championships.
If both Illinois State teams take home Valley indoor titles in 2020, it will mark the first time in MVC history that a program has swept the team titles three years in a row. A victory at the MVC Championships would give each team its 12th indoor conference title overall.
Bovee has led the women's and men's track & field programs to a combined five indoor conference titles and two outdoor conference titles since taking over at the start of the 2014-15 season. He has also led the cross country program to two team titles. The women currently lead the Missouri Valley with 11 indoor team titles, while the men, who also have 11 indoor team titles, are third behind Southern Illinois and UNI.
PRE-SEASON PREDICTIONS
For the second-straight year the Illinois State women received all 10 first-place votes for 100 points in the MVC indoor pre-season poll. Southern Illinois and Indiana State both finished with 83 points in a tie for second place, followed by UNI in third with 72 points. Missouri State (fourth) and Loyola-Chicago (fifth) rounded out the top five on the women's pre-season poll with 58 points and 53 points, respectively.
The Redbirds received five of the possible nine first-place votes on the men's side for 76 points, just edging UNI who garnered four first-place votes for 74 points. Indiana State (64 points), Southern Illinois (54 points) and Bradley (42 points) complete the top-five men's teams in the pre-season poll.
LAST TIME AT THE EIU EARLY BIRD
The last time the 'Birds opened the season at the EIU Early Bird both the men's and women's teams finished second, and two school records fell. D'Jenne Egharevba and Jaylan McConico both ran their way into the ISU track & field record book in their sophomore season debuts. Egharevba broke the 60-meter dash record while McConico shattered the 60-meter hurdles record.
ON THIS DAY IN REDBIRD TRACK & FIELD HISTORY: DEC. 6
On Dec. 6, 1987, the Redbirds hosted the Illinois State Invitational inside Horton Field House. The home meet was the second indoor meet for the 'Birds and first indoor meet of the season on their home track.
UP NEXT
Following Friday's meets, the Redbirds won't return to action until Friday, Jan. 17 when they host the annual Coughlan-Malloy Cup with Indiana State.
For all the latest news on Redbird track & field and cross country, follow @redbird_trackxc on Twitter and Instagram and visit GoRedbirds.com.
GoRedbirds.com and the Illinois State Redbirds App: Your sources for Illinois State tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
