WEEKEND WRAPUP: WWU again sweeps GNAC track & field championships; Cougs & Zags at Pac-12 Open...
BELLINGHAM--It was a show of power for the Western Washington University men's and women's track teams, as the Vikings rolled to the team titles at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference track and field championships that concluded Saturday at Civic Stadium.
Competing in front of a home crowd, Western Washington’s men broke the conference record for points in a championship, racking up 302.5 points across the two-day meet. That topped the previous mark of 289 points, achieved by the Vikings at the 2021 GNAC Championships. Runner-up Western Oregon scored 116 points and third-place Central Washington finished with 105 points. It was the Vikings’ twelfth men’s team title and sixth in a row dating back to the 2019 outdoor campaign.
Seattle Pacific was seventh with 25 points, and Saint Martin's finished eighth with 16.5 points.
WWU emerged with 229 points to hold off second-place Central Washington by 25 points. Western Oregon’s women took third with 101 points.
Seattle Pacific tied for fourth with 68 points, and Saint Martin's was ninth with 15 points.
Beginning with a sweep of the 2023 women’s and men’s outdoor team titles, Western Washington has since claimed 14 consecutive team titles across the sports of cross country, indoor track and field and outdoor track and field. The 14 consecutive team titles are the most ever since the league was founded in 2001-02.
The four individual women's meet awards presented after the meet all went to Washington athletes.
Emy Ntekpere of Central Washington (Jeff Evans/WWU Athletics photo) became the first woman in GNAC history to claim four individual event titles at a single conference championship meet. After winning the heptathlon, high jump and long jump, Ntekpere completed the feat by winning the triple jump title on Saturday with a mark of 41-1.75 (12.54m). She was named the field event athlete of the meet, and was the women's overall high point scorer with 40 points.
E'lexis Hollis of Central Washington was the track athlete of the meet after winning the 100 in 11.33, and the 200 in 23.61. She also ran the third leg on the winning 4 x 100 relay team with Elise Hopper, Zoe Gonzales, and anchor Ashlyn Nielsen that set a meet record of 45.16.
Ila Davis, the steeplechase champ on Friday, was presented the women's most outstanding performance of the meet in recognition of her four consecutive career conference titles in the same event.
Central Washington's Josh Boast was the men's co-high point scorer with Alaska-Anchorage's Joshua Caleb with 24, finishing second in the decathlon and 400 hurdles, taking third in the triple jump, and contributing to Central's fifth place finish in the 4 x 400 relay.
MEET HIGHLIGHTS...
Lauryn McGough of Central Washington made history at Saturday’s meet, becoming the first woman since the league was formed to win both the javelin and pole vault titles at the same meet. The sophomore standout threw 144-1 (43.92m) in the javelin to take the crown. The conference record holder in the pole vault easily claimed that gold medal as well, as she cleared 12-5.25 (3.79m).
Western Washington’s Kevin McDermott won his 10th and 11th-career GNAC titles (including cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field), topping the field in the 1500 meters with a time of 3:47.48 and the 5000 meters in 14:24.94.
Hannah Chang of Seattle Pacific successfully defended her title in the 100-meter hurdles. Chang came across the line with a winning time of 13.85, after setting the meet record of 13.76 in Friday's semis, five minutes after Alaska Anchorage's Liv Heite broke the previous meet record of 13.82 by Seattle Pacific's Danielle Ayers-Stamper in 2005 in the first semifinal by running 13.81.
SPU senior Annika Esvelt raced to her second straight win in the 5,000 meters, crushing the field by nearly 23 full seconds with a time of 16:32.51. That mark broke Caroline Kurgat’s (UAA) GNAC meet record of 16:35.10 set in 2019.
Western Washington junior Jill Philbin emerged with a gold medal in an airtight women’s 1,500 meters, with four runners leading the pack inside of 200 meters to go. Philbin made a late move to the front and never let up, winning with a personal-best time of 4:30.76.
Mia Crocker of Western Washington left no doubt in the women’s 800 meters, posting a winning time of 2:10.62 to give the Vikings their third-straight winner in that event.
Maurice Woodring of WWU, who broke the GNAC record in the 400-meter hurdles earlier this spring, cruised to the win in that event on Saturday. His meet-record time of 52.41 topped the previous mark of 51.77 recorded by WWU’s Cordell Cummings in 2019.
CWU’s Carley Huber used a late kick to win gold in the 400-meter hurdles, as she clocked a personal-best time of 60.13 to out-stride UAA’s Heite off the final hurdle.
David Brown made it back-to-back 110-meter hurdle champions for the Wildcats, as he followed in the footsteps of 2024 winner Aiden Wise. Brown had control from the start, soaring over the high hurdles to a time of 14.32.
Western Washington junior Gabe Menicke took home the title in the triple jump, with a mark of 47-11.25 (14.61m).
To top off the meet, the Vikings capped their team title sweeps with exciting finishes in the 4x400 meter relays to close out the meet. WWU’s men broke the conference meet record with a time of 3:10.00, with the squad of Brian Le, Evin Ford, Maurice Woodring and Isaac Ford.
The Viking women’s quartet of Kennedy Cook, Annabelle Heiman, Caitlyn Cheney and Bec Bennett also broke the meet record, with a time of 3:41.98 in the final event of the night. Central Washington took the silver medal in 3:45.23 and Seattle Pacific made the podium with a time of 3:53.57.
With the results of other meets around the country being compiled, the teams will await Tuesday's announcement of qualifiers for the NCAA Division II championships in Colorado May 22-24. The top 22 individuals, along with the top 16 relay teams and combined events performers go to the nationals in Pueblo, Colorado.
COUGS AND ZAGS TUNE UP FOR NCAA REGIONALS IN CORVALLIS AT PAC-12 OPEN...
The Pac-12 as fans knew it doesn't exist, but it didn't stop the two remaining conference holdovers, Washington State and Oregon State from competing in the Pac-12 Open meet at the Whyte Track & Field Complex hosted by Oregon State Saturday.
The Cougs captured 20 wins on the day, while Gonzaga, who will join the reconstituted Pac-12, earned a victory in the 10000.
The top marks of the day for Washington State on the track came from Mason Lawyer, who ran a wind-aided (+2.7) 20.48 to win the 200, along with Rosemary Longisa's 2:05.63 to win the women's 800.
The WSU men's 4 x 100 relay team of Grant Buckmiller, Bryson Stubblefield, Parker Duskin, and Mason Lawyer ran 39.59, just off their season best of 39.50.
NCAA qualifier Tatum Moku cleared 14-6.75 (4.44m) to win the pole vault over Cougar redshirt Eva Lowder, who's competing unattached. She took a shot at her own school record of 14-9 (4.50m), attempting 15-0.25 (4.58m).
Samy Anderson got the Zags' lone win of the day, taking the 10000 in 29:49.63.
With the Cougars and Zags not having a conference championship, they will wait until after next weekend's meets to see who advances to the NCAA West Regional meet in College Station, Texas.
NIJJAR RUNS AT WORLD RELAYS IN CHINA...
Washington State graduate Jasneet Nijjar ran on Canada's 4 x 400 relay team at the World Athletics Relays in Guangzhou, China over the weekend.
Nijjar ran the first leg on their team, running a split of 52.87, as the Canadians finished fourth in their heat in 3:27.28, advancing to Sunday's final.
She was subbed out for the finals, where Canada finished seventh.
NOTE: The Great Northwest Athletic Conference, World Athletics, the sports information offices of Western Washington, Seattle Pacific, Gonzaga, Washington State, and Central Washington contributed to this report.
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