Vikings (again) sweep men's and women's GNAC team titles, but Elise Hopper of Central steals the show...
ELLENSBURG--It took until the meet ending 4 x 400 relay to decide the Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's team title Tuesday afternoon at the Recreation Sports Complex on the campus of Central Washington University.
At the end of the day, Western Washington had enough gas in the tank to squeeze out a 208.5 to 206.5 victory over Central Washington to win its fourth straight conference championship.
For the Wildcats, it wasn't for a lack of trying that they came up two points short in the closest team race in conference history.
Seattle Pacific was seventh with 45 points, while Saint Martin's was ninth with 20 points.
Central Washington senior Elise Hopper (Nathan Herde/GNAC photo), competing in her final meet on her home track, had a hand in the Wildcats' sweeping both relays, in addition to winning both the 200 and the 400 over Western Washington's Bec Bennett.
Hopper and Bennett ran what undoubtedly was the greatest 400 meter race in conference history, as both dipped under Hopper's conference record of 53.04, with Hopper winning in 52.48, and Bennett second in 52.56.
For the meantime, Hopper has the second fastest time in NCAA Division II, while Bennett is tied for third.
Bennett, who was on Australia's world championship team back in 2019 in the 4 x 400 relay, set a personal best, eclipsing her 52.60 set last year in Poznan, Poland after the NCAA season concluded.
Just over an hour later, it was the same order of finish in the 200 as Hopper won in 23.86 to Bennett's 24.18.
To put an exclamation point on her day, Hopper helped the Wildcats run a conference record 3:36.90 in the 4 x 400 relay, with Western finishing second in 3:37.64. Both teams went under the old conference record of 3:39.00 that the Vikings set at the Bryan Clay Invitational a few weeks ago.
Central Washington currently has the third fastest time in D2, while Western Washington remains in fourth on the national descending order list.
Earlier in the day, Hopper finished eighth in the 100m, running 12.57.
In addition to Hopper's contributions, the Wildcats got wins in the triple jump from Tehya Moore (39-4.5/12.00m); Maliyah Gordon in the shot put (47-5; 14.45m); and Ellie DeGroot in the 400 hurdles (59.31).
Western Washington picked up one individual title on the day, as Kathryn Chapin (186-2/56.75m) and Azadeh Teague (173-11/53.02m) went 1-2 in the hammer.
Seattle Pacific's Hannah Chang won her third straight 100 hurdles title, running 13.97.
MEN'S RECAP...
While they got only three individual wins, Western Washington's depth ruled the day, as they steamrolled the field en route to a 254 to 125.75 victory over second place Central Washington, breaking the conference meet record of 229 the Vikings set last year.
Seattle Pacific was sixth with 67.33 points, while Saint Martin's was eighth with 28 points.
GNAC-record holder Maurice Woodring (Nathan Herde/GNAC photo) of Western Washington shone bright once again in the men’s 400-meter hurdles, where he clocked in at 50.73 seconds on Tuesday to bring home his second consecutive and third-career gold medal in the event. Woodring broke his own conference-meet record – set last year with his winning time of 51.47 seconds – and he also won the 2023 crown.
The Vikings' Calvin Gutierrez did not disappoint as he picked up his first gold medal in the hammer. Having already broken the GNAC record this season, Gutierrez threw a solid 196-10 (60.00m) for a decisive win.
Corbin Herron of Western Washington ran the seventh-fastest 110-meter hurdles time in GNAC history, in a time of 14.45 to take home the gold medal for the first time in his career.
As if they needed it, Western Washington capped its dominant team meet performance with a victory in the 4x400-meter relay, clocking a time of 3:08.81. It was WWU’s seventh-consecutive title in the event and ninth overall – the most of any GNAC program. The Vikings broke their own GNAC record of 3:09.56, which they set earlier in the 2026 season. That puts them for the time being inside the top ten on the Division II descending order list, after throwing out multiple marks from Pittsburg State, and Angelo State.
Central got a win from Drew Klein in the pole vault, clearing the winning bar of 15-11.75 (4.87m) on his third and final attempt. It was his second-career win in the outdoor event, with his first title coming in 2024.
Seattle Pacific’s Tawaf Aboudou came through with a jump of 48-5.25 (14.76m). Aboudou, who won Monday’s men’s long jump gold medal, became the third man in league history to win both horizontal jumps at the same conference championship.
Aboudou also claimed a gold medal on the track, where he sprinted his way to the men’s 100-meters title. His time of 10.45 was just enough to hold off Colton Magruder of Central Washington, who ran 10.48.
With the team sweep by both the men and women, the Vikings have won 20-consecutive team titles across the sports of outdoor track & field, indoor track & field and cross country dating back to the spring of 2023. It is the longest such streak of team trophies since the conference was formed in 2001.
Should teams and individuals choose to, they have until this Sunday to improve upon their marks to get into the NCAA D2 championships in Emporia, Kansas. The field for the NCAA championships will be named on May 12th.
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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