Can both Western Washington squads retain their grip on the GNAC indoor titles?
While Seattle Pacific and Western Washington had a skeleton crew competing at the Husky Classic, both Central Washington and Saint Martin's opted to skip the meet altogether to prepare for Monday and Tuesday's Great Northwest Athletic Conference indoor championship meet at The Podium in Spokane.
After a long run in the Boise area, Spokane Sports has hosted the meet for the past five years. Its efforts in hosting meets of this caliber has been rewarded, as the GNAC and The Podium will host the 2028 NCAA Division II indoor championships.
The four Washington schools have the 2028 NCAA championship meet in the back of their minds. The focus is on what happens the next two days.
Monday's competition begins with the combined events starting at 9 am with the men's heptathlon 60, followed by the women's 60 hurdles 15 minutes later.
The bulk of Monday's competition starts at 2:15 pm and lasts until approximately 6:45 pm.
Tuesday's action begins with day two of the men's heptathlon at 8:30, with the main portion of the championships beginning at 11 am with the women's mile and ending with the men's 4 x 400 relay at 2:45 pm.
Western Washington enters the meet as the two-time defending team champion on both the women’s and men’s sides. The Vikings claimed both the men’s and women’s GNAC Cross Country Championships team titles last fall, extending their streak of team titles to 16 total across the sports of outdoor track & field, indoor track & field and cross country dating back to the spring of 2023.
Simon Fraser may pose the most imminent threat to the Vikings’ title streak on both the women’s and men’s side, featuring a majority of the seed-time favorites across both track and field events ahead of the meet.
WOMEN'S PREVIEW
Western Washington, currently ranked number 17 in D2, is the favorite to repeat as team champions, despite having number 6 Simon Fraser and number 14 Central Washington in hot pursuit.
The Vikings are projected to win based on their depth in the lower seeds, while both the Red Leaves and the Wildcats are dependent on their top end talent.
With Central Washington's E'Lexis Hollis now graduated, Simon Fraser's Emma Cannan is the one to watch in the sprints.
She currently leads the NCAA D2 descending order lists in the 200 and 400 at 23.19 and 52.48. Cannan has the third fastest 60 time in GNAC history at 7.40, which is seventh.
Central's Ashlyn Nielsen (7.56 60m) and Elise Hopper (24.07 200m/55.17 400m) are perhaps the two best athletes who can knock off Cannan.
Western Washington's Bec Bennett is the defending GNAC champion in the 400, but is number 2 on the descending order list behind Cannan at 53.47.
Western's Emmy Kroontje (above/Paul Merca photo) was one of the few Vikings who did compete over the weekend at the Husky Classic, running 2:08.70 to take the conference lead. She's also number two in the conference in the mile at 4:52.52.
Maya Ewing of Seattle Pacific is the reigning gold medalist in the 5,000-meters and is projected as the favorite to repeat with a conference-leading seed time of 17:08.93 minutes.
Ewing's teammate Hannah Chang returns as the defending GNAC 60H champion.
One huge battle could come at the end of the meet when Western and Central meet in the 4 x 400 relay.
The Viking quartet of Bennett, Kennedy Cook, Jayda Darroch and Casie Kleine combined to run the third-fastest time in conference indoor history at 3:42.58.
Central Washington meanwhile posted the 10th-fastest all-time indoor time with Nielsen, Hopper, Carly Huber and Donna Marie Harris posting 3:46.37.
On the field, NCAA D2 indoor and outdoor triple jump champ and outdoor high jump champ Emy Ntekpere of Central Washington is the one to watch. Ntekpere enters the meet ranked tied for second nationally with a high jump of 5-10.5 (1.79m) and third nationally with a triple jump of 41-1.75 (12.54m).
Jessica Polkinghorn of Western Washington appears poised to defend last year’s indoor shot put gold medal, as she enters the meet with the ninth-best throw in Division II this winter. Polkinghorn’s PR toss of 49-10 (15.19m) was fourth-best in conference indoor history.
Teammate Kathryn Chapin meanwhile hit the ninth-best throw all time at 47-1.75 (14.37m), with last year’s silver medalist sitting second on the indoor performance list. Chapin also landed the eighth-farthest weight throw in GNAC history at 56-8.5 (17.28m), pitting her as the favorite in that event. The sophomore will be in search of her first indoor podium finish in the weight throw.
MEN'S PREVIEW
In the 60 dash, Jacob Hall of Simon Fraser enters the meet as the top seed at 6.75, as well as the big dog in the 200 at 21.32.
Central Washington freshman Colton Magruder (6.75) and fellow frosh Tawaf Aboudou (6.80) of Seattle Pacific are the ones Hall must contend with.
In the middle distances, the performances of Western Washington's Nathan Reseigh at 1:51.52 in the 800, as well as Eli Williams (4:07.70) and George Fernandez (4:09.02) in the mile and probably the distance medley relay will be key to the Vikings' chances of defending the team title.
The men’s 60-meter hurdles competition carries intrigue, with all three medalists from last year’s championship returning to the field. Central Washington’s David Brown – who took silver in 2025 – holds the top mark so far this year with his 8.03 standing as second-fastest in GNAC history. Reigning champion Andrew Bell of Seattle Pacific – who owns the conference record at 8.01 – and last year’s bronze medalist Corbin Herron of Western Washington are each set to toe the line again.
The Viking men’s relay unit has had an impressive 2026 season so far, breaking the GNAC indoor record in the 4x400 meters with two separate lineups. Most recently, the quartet of Lucas Brenek, Evin Ford, Maurice Woodring and Jackson Moffitt got the job done in 3:11.38 seconds
Central Washington’s Cal’von Baker, the reigning indoor champion in the high jump, projects as a contender both to defend his title and to compete for a medal in the triple jump. His marks of 6-4.75 (1.95m) in the high jump and 46-11.75 (14.32m) in the triple jump rank him third and fourth, respectively on the GNAC performance list.
Saint Martin’s senior Ryan Doidge has soared to the top of the conference in the pole vault, where he has already posted a tie for the fourth-best height in GNAC indoor history clearing 16-2.75 (4.95m). After earning the silver medal indoors and placing fourth outdoors last year, Doidge is the heavy favorite to collect his first-ever GNAC gold medal this week.
Freshman Tawaf Aboudou of Seattle Pacific enters the championship meet ranked third in the GNAC in the triple jump at 47-9.25 (14.56m) and second in the long jump at 23-6 (7.16m)
Western Washington has a firm grip on the throws portion of the competition, with athletes occupying three of the top-four spots in the shot put and the top-two spots in the weight throw.
Freshman Connor Inman had the seventh-best shot put in GNAC indoor history at 54-10 (16.71 meters) while reigning champion Noah Turner notched the ninth-best all-time throw at 54-1.75 (16.50m). Calvin Gutierrez meanwhile launched the second-best weight throw in conference history at 62-1 (18.92m), putting him as the heavy favorite for his first-ever GNAC indoor medal.
Media partner RunnerSpace.com ($) will stream both days of the GNAC championships.
NOTE: The Great Northwest Athletic Conference and the sports information offices of Central Washington, Seattle Pacific, Saint Martin's and Western Washington contributed to this report.
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