GNAC championships return to The Podium in Spokane Monday and Tuesday...

With the USATF Indoor Championships in the rearview mirror, the collegians keep Championship Week rolling, as the Great Northwest Athletic Conference title meet returns to The Podium in Spokane for a third straight year starting Monday morning with the men's heptathlon and women's pentathlon at 9 am, and finishing day one with the men's distance medley at 6:05 pm.

Day 2 of the championships begin at 8:30 am, and finishes before 3 pm.

Western Washington, Central Washington, Saint Martin's and Seattle Pacific all aim to knock off Western Oregon, and in the process, aim for qualifying marks for the NCAA Division II championships in Pittsburg, Kansas on March 8-9.

The Wolves are the reigning team champion, becoming just the second school since the event was founded in 2004 to claim both the women’s and men’s team titles at the same meet, matching a feat Alaska Anchorage achieved in 2016.

WOMENS PREVIEW

On paper, the battle for the team title comes down to Central Washington and Western Washington, with Central's strength coming in the sprints and field events, and Western's in the distance races from 800 meters up.

That said, there are also several sub-plots.

In the 60 and 200 meters, Central's E'lexis Hollis (photo courtesy CWU Athletics), the defending 60 queen, battles defending 200 champion Marie-Eloise Leclair of Simon Fraser.

Hollis and Leclair are tied for third on the NCAA Division II descending order list at 7.38.

Leclair leads NCAA D2 in the 200 at 23.60, while Hollis has only run the event once this season, a 29.19 at the Lauren McCluskey meet in Moscow, Idaho.

The Vikings have two of the conference's top 800 meter runners led by Marian Ledesma at 2:10.13 entering the event. WWU’s Emmy Kroontje (2:12.70) is also in the conversation for an NCAA berth, but will need to be in the low 2:10s at conference to have a realistic shot.

The mile could see a battle between NCAA cross country qualifier and GNAC leader Cassidy Walchak-Sloan of Saint Martin's (4:52.83) and the Western trio of Sophie Wright (4:52.96), Ila Davis (4:55.00) and Mia Crocker (4:59.97), as they are four of the five runners who've broken 5 minutes this season.

In the 3000, which comes after the mile on Tuesday, Davis goes against conference leader Annika Esvelt of Seattle Pacific and Walchak-Sloan, as well as her WWU teammate Ashley Reeck.

With conference leader Esvelt opting only to run the 3000 at conference, Reeck is the favorite in the 5000.

Lauryn Chandler became the second woman in Central Washington history to win a GNAC title in the 60-meter hurdles, claiming the 2023 crown with a time of 8.57 seconds. She enters the meet as the favorite to repeat, with her top mark of 8.75 seconds coming at the season opening Spokane Invitational in December.

In the relays, Central Washington and Simon Fraser have combined to win the last five 4x400 meter relays, and the Wildcats hold the conference’s top time of 3:53.94. Western Washington will figure to compete for its second title in the event and first since 2010, after clocking the GNAC’s second-fastest time of the season at 3:54.77. The Vikings will also look to defend last year’s distance medley relay crown, but will get a stern test from Simon Fraser.

No GNAC women’s athlete has ever won all three jump titles at a single championship, but CWU freshman Emy Ntekpere will have a chance at the feat as she enters her first GNAC championship with a conference-leading high jump of 5-8.5 (1.74m), conference-leading triple jump of 38-8.25 (11.79m) and the second-best long jump at 18-7.75 (5.68m). 

In the second meet of her collegiate career, CWU freshman Lauryn McGough became the first GNAC pole vaulter to clear 13 feet, as she posted a monster mark of 13-3.5 (4.05m) on January 12 at The Podium.

Western's Katie Potts ranks second in the GNAC in the shot put at 45-4.25 (13.82m), while Saint Martin's Jocelyn Saribay leads the conference in the weight throw at 53-6.25 (16.31m). Saribay looks to become SMU's first conference champion in a throwing event indoors.

MEN'S PREVIEW

Western's Kevin McDermott (photo courtesy Western Washington Athletics) looks to become the first runner in conference championship history to win the mile, 3000, and 5000 in a single meet since 2013, when Micah Chelimo of Alaska Anchorage pulled it off.

The 2022 GNAC indoor champion in the 5000 meters, McDermott will look for his second title in that event as his entry time of 13:50.77 was third fastest in GNAC history and ranks seventh nationally. McDermott also has the GNAC’s top times in the mile (4:02.13) and 3,000 meters (7:59.27), which rank 13th and ninth nationally and are both fourth all-time for GNAC indoor track.

While he has struggled with injuries, a healthy Cole Nash of Alaska Anchorage could yield an exciting men’s 5000 meters, although his top time this season of 14:28.84 sits well back of McDermott’s. In the 3000, Simon Fraser standout Ephrem Mekonnen (8:08.40) and McDermott’s teammate Sten Brakstad (8:17.67) could make things interesting.

The dark horse in all three races is Central Washington's cross country All-American Johan Correa.  

Western Washington’s Hunter Flick holds the GNAC record in the 60-meter hurdles (8.07 seconds) and has the conference’s top mark of 8.11 entering the meet. He will attempt to dethrone reigning conference champion Justin Conklin of Western Oregon, whose time of 8.34 seconds ranks third this winter. 

The Vikings will look to make it four different winners in four years in the 4x400 meter relay, as that title has changed hands in each of the last three conference meets. WWU enters the meet with the top seed time of 3:17.69 which came on Feb. 9 at the UW Husky Classic. 

Central Washington’s Drew Klein put together the seventh-best heptathlon score in GNAC history on Jan. 19, racking up 5198 points at the Lauren McCluskey Memorial in Moscow. Klein is also the pre-meet favorite in the pole vault, with his provisional mark of 15-9.75 (4.82m) leading all GNAC athletes.

Seattle Pacific's Mason Hrcek (15-5.75/4.72m) and Kainoa Lee (15-0/4.57m) are the only other two vaulters in the conference over 15 feet.

In what has been a successful winter for CWU’s men’s field athletes, sophomore Isaiah Webster is fresh off a GNAC-best long jump of 23-2.75 (7.08m). Manny Melo (2012) is the only Wildcat to claim the GNAC indoor long jump title, but the ‘Cats have a good chance for a second as Klein is third in the conference (22-5.75/6.85m) and Christopher Hines is fourth (22-4.25/6.81m).

Central's Wyatt Franklin at 48-8.25 (14.84m) and Western's Noah Turner at 48-3.25 (14.71m) are the top two shot putters in the conference, while the Viking duo of Angelo Ramos at 57-2 (17.42m) and Miller Campbell at 55-5 (16.89m) are second and third in the weight throw going into the championships.

Media partner RunnerSpace.com ($) will stream both days of the GNAC.  The link to live results and the time schedule is available here.

NOTE: The Great Northwest Athletic Conference contributed to this report.

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