GNAC championships begin Monday in Ellensburg...
It's an unusual day to start an outdoor championship meet, but nonetheless, the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship meet starts Monday at the Recreation Sports Complex on the campus of Central Washington University.
From a team standpoint, both Western Washington squads are on paper the favorites.
Last year, the Viking men won their twelfth conference title and sixth in a row dating back to the 2019 outdoor campaign, while the women's team won their third straight crown.
Western's women may find their path to a fourth straight conference title a little bit easier, as Central Washington's Emy Ntekpere, who last year won the heptathlon, as well as the high, long and triple jumps en route to winning the NCAA D2 titles in the high and triple jumps, is not entered in the meet, and is most likely redshirting.
But, the Wildcats do have some firepower with the likes of sprinter Elise Hopper (CWU Athletics photo), who is entered in the 100, 200 and 400, and both relays.
They also have Ellie DeGroot and Carley Huber in the 400 hurdles plus relays, as well as Azariah Miller, Tehya Moore, and Samantha Delay in the triple jump. All are ranked in the top five in the conference entering the championships.
From a pure competitive standpoint, two races to watch on the women's side are the 400 meters and the 400 hurdles.
In the 400 meters, it will be a battle between Central's Hopper and Western's Bec Bennett. Bennett, the defending champion and NCAA scorer indoors, had her GNAC record taken by Hopper at the Bryan Clay Invitational, when Hopper ran 53.04.
The 400 hurdles has Western's Ari Nguyen going against Central's Ellie DeGroot and Carley Huber, with Alaska Anchorage's Liv Heite in the mix.
Heite is also entered in the 100 hurdles, where she'll face defending champion Hannah Chang of Seattle Pacific.
Others to watch in the women's competition include Seattle Pacific's Maya Ewing in the steeple, Western's Sydney Mohlman in the pole vault, along with Viking throwers Azadeh Teague (discus), Kathryn Chapin (hammer) and Jessica Polkinghorn (javelin). Freshman Janess Blackburn of Saint Martin's could press Teague in the discus.
On the men's side, Western does not have as much depth or front end firepower in the distance races as they have had in the past, but what they do have should be enough to give them plenty of points despite not having a conference leader in the 800, 1500, 5000, 10000 and steeplechase.
Some battles and individuals to watch include Nolan Mickenham of Western against GNAC indoor 60 champ Colton Magruder in both the 100 and 200; Northwest Nazarene's Grady Mylander and Brody Kemble against Western's Jonah Billings in both the 5000 and 10000; Maurice Woodring of Western Washington in the 400 hurdles; Alaska Anchorage's John Peckham against Western's Jared Alderfer, Eli Williams and George Fernandez in the steeple; Western Washington against Simon Fraser in the 4 x 100 relay; Seattle Pacific's Tawaf Aboudou against Saint Martin's Makhi Odoms in the long jump; Noah Turner of Western Washington against Jacob Behrman of Western Oregon in the shot put; and Calvin Gutierrez of Western Washington in the hammer.
The first track event gets underway at 3 pm, while the first field event begins at 10 am.
NOTE: The GNAC and the sports information offices of Saint Martin's, Seattle Pacific, Western Washington, and Central Washington contributed to this report.
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