Spokane, Wash.– The 2026 Northwest Conference Track & Field Championships are officially underway with an exciting first day at Boppell Track, hosted by Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington. The George Fox women and men currently lead the team standings heading into the second and final day of the championship meet.
The George Fox women top the standings with 101 points, followed by Whitworth in second (70). Pacific sits at third with 26.5 points, followed by Pacific Lutheran (20.5), Linfield (20), Willamette (19), and Puget Sound (8). Rounding out the standings are Lewis & Clark with 7 points, and Whitman with 1. For the men, George Fox sits in first with 75 points, while Whitworth is close behind in second with 71. In third with 61 points are the Willamette Bearcats, followed by Lewis & Clark (60), Puget Sound (16), Whitman (12), Pacific Lutheran (10), and Linfield (5).
The women’s 10,000-meter kicked off the meet with a blazing start, with the top twelve runners all finishing with personal records. George Fox’s Chloe Cook took home gold with a rapid time of 36:28.03, followed by Whitworth’s Kezlie Thygesen (36:59.62), and Pacific’s Ria Gill (37:20.38). In the men’s 10k, junior London Haley of Whitworth claimed victory with a time of 31:20:02, followed by Whitman’s Jason McManus (31:31.95), and Evan Markelz of Lewis & Clark (31:39.06).
In the first day of field events, the women’s pole vault wrapped up in an exciting finish, with Kiana Neir of Pacific Lutheran securing the championship title with a 3.68-meter effort, surpassing George Fox’s Kylie Morais who placed second, and Fox’s Angela Hawkins and Linfield’s Sage Cramp who tied for third. In the women’s hammer, Whitworth’s Madison Carr claimed gold with a NWC meet record of 54.89m, while also setting a new ‘26 Division III #3 mark. The Bruin’s Evan Roberts placed second with a throw of 50.97m, while Whitworth’s Kylie Loveless placed third (50.24m).
The Whitworth women dominated the shot put– sweeping all three medalist positions. Amblessed Okemgbo claimed first with a NWC meet record and a ‘26 DIII #3 mark of 14.68m, while Madison Carr earned runner-up with a mark of 13.98m (‘26 DIII #5). Kylie Loveless took home third with a mark of 13.03m. In the women’s long jump, freshman teammates of George Fox took home the first and second place honors– Janice Hellesto with a jump of 5.54m and Makaylah Johnson with a second place jump of 5.53m.
In the men’s shot put, Willamette sophomore Austin Snodgrass placed first with an effort of 16.27m, while George Fox’s Joshua Taylor placed second (15.84m)– both breaking into the DIII top 50. The men’s long jump championship title went to Owen Gurney of George Fox (6.92m), followed by Whitworth’s Kaden Hooper and Willamette’s Kaleb McArthur.
The men’s high jump championship title was claimed by freshman Cody Gardanier of Puget Sound, completing a jump of 1.96m and inching out the competition by completing his previous jumps in the fewest amount of misses. In second place was Caleb Smith (George Fox) and in third was Davandre Campbell (Willamette). Wrapping up the first day’s field events was the men’s hammer throw, where Roan Bashioum of Willamette claimed victory in a new personal best and ‘26 DIII #16 mark with an impressive effort of 57.45m. Adam Sessions and Cody Wheeler of Whitworth followed close behind, with respective throws of 55.36m (Sessions) and 53.21 (Wheeler).
Preliminary heats dominated the remainder of the track schedule as athletes vied for spots in Sunday's finals. Pacific Boxer senior Allyson Hammond set a new NWC Championship meet record in the 100m hurdles with a time of 14.22; she also set a DIII top 25 time in the 100m prelims (12.04) and was the top qualifier in the 200m (24.81). Other notable performances include Brayden Oletzke of Whitworth in the 110m hurdles (14.98), Elizabeth Beiswanger of Puget Sound in the 400m (56.95), Avery Keith of Puget Sound in the 400m (49.08), Carson Tapia of George Fox in the 100m (10.78) and 200m (PB, 21.30), Hope Bridge of George Fox in the 800m (2:17.80), Henry Tierney of Pacific in the 800m (1:52.26), Whitney Nelson of Puget Sound in the 400m hurdles (1:05.31), and Myles Crandall of Willamette in the 400m hurdles (54.35).
The 3,000-meter steeplechase was the only other track final of the day. On the women’s side, freshman Ali Heinly of Pacific claimed victory with a time of 11:19.25, followed by Puget Sound’s Emily Moore and Willamette’s Anastasiia Lemesh. For the men, junior Jack Ireton of Whitworth took home gold in the steeple, racing a speedy time of 9:15.95. Runners-up included Emil Miller of Lewis & Clark and George Fox’s Kellen Ruiz.
Day two of the NWC Championships will resume at 10 AM on Sunday, April 26th at Boppell Track.