Courtesy of Brian Beard

Men’s track and field jumper and sprinter Kane Demers ’26 is thriving as the indoor season comes to a close and the outdoor season fast approaches.

Last weekend at the Maine State Championships, Demers won the long jump with a distance of 6.85m and the triple jump with 13.94m. On top of his field event accomplishments, he won and broke the meet record for the 60 hurdles in 8.47 seconds and set the state and facility record in the 200m dash with a time of 22.09 seconds. These victories led him to be named field MVP for the meet.

Demers was prepared to pace himself at the meet, as he was set to participate in four different events.

“During the long jump, it was more about how I do my best and score as many points for the team as I can, while also managing my body and making sure that I’m not overexerting myself,” Demers said.

Demers also had to balance the chaos of such a busy meet.

“Oftentimes, what will happen is, I’ll be in the middle of jumping and have to go run another event, and you’ve got to be able to multitask and change the way that you think about [the different events] it. But there also is crossover. In any case, I’m trying to run as fast as I can, whether I’m on the track or on the runway,” Demers said.

Demers’s preparation also changes from event to event. While he only has one chance to win a race, Demers gets several opportunities with his jumps.

“Each [jump], you learn to tweak something, or you learn, ‘Okay, that one, I think I did better in this area, but the next one I’m gonna change this one,’” Demers said.

While Demers believes his most consistent event is the long jump, he feels that the 200m is where he shines. The triple jump is his most challenging event.

“Exertion-wise, the 200m is the one I feel the most tired after. But I think technically, the triple jump is probably the most difficult,” Demers said.

Demers is extremely proud of his facility record for the 200m.

“It’s also an honor to do it wearing my home jersey and doing it at the home track. I take pride in getting to wear that jersey,” Demers said.

Although he is now solely focused on track and field, Demers originally played soccer and basketball in high school. He said it is a common experience for athletes to begin track and field as conditioning for their other sports.

“In ninth grade, I started taking [track and field] a little bit more seriously, and I started doing more events. But it originally was something that was meant to help me with other sports,” Demers said.

Demers ultimately decided to focus on track and field at Bowdoin not just for the sport itself but also because of the community within it.

“I knew there would be more people that I would get along with and more support [on the track and field team]. I knew that when I went to college, where you’re flying [out of] the nest a little bit, at least, I would have a team. And so it was about that community that I found in track,” Demers said.

Along with the community Demers hoped to find on the team, he feels his coaches have provided a tremendous amount of support. Demers appreciates how both Assistant Coach Marques Houston and Head Coach LJ Que have supported him since the recruitment process and fostered the familial environment for which he yearned.

“I immediately felt like [Coach LJ] could be my mom at Bowdoin. I’m from New Mexico, which is pretty far away. When I chose Bowdoin, it was definitely in my head that she was this support,” Demers said.

In addition to his Bowdoin family, Demers also appreciates the support of his biological family.

“For Maine State, my dad made the trip up here from New Mexico to watch, and that really means the world to me that I’m able to have [my family]. They’ve given me a level of support that I feel comfortable giving my all to this [sport], because I know they’re always going to be behind me no matter what,” Demers said.

Over the rest of his track and field career, Demers hopes not only to continue his success but also to leave a legacy.

“I definitely want to be remembered as somebody who worked hard and was an example for what it was like to succeed and also be a good teammate at the same time. I also just want to be as supportive a human as I can and always show up for all the people around me that are always supporting me,” Demers said.

Demers is looking forward to continuing to work closely with his team as the Polar Bears transition into the spring season.

“We are a unit,” Demers said. “We really support each other—that’s fostered by us as a group, really investing in each other. For the rest of the season, I would say we continue doing that, investing in each other, supporting each other, showing up.”