GNAC Outdoor Multi-Event Championship Tournament

On Monday, April 29 and Tuesday, April 30 the Wildcat track & field team competed at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) Outdoor Multi-events Championship Tournament in Bellingham, Washington. 

It was here that junior multi-event athlete Drew Klein claimed his crown in the men’s outdoor decathlon as he walked away with 6709 total points overall. Other top performers from this meet included freshman sprinter Emy Ntekpere, junior hurdler Carly Huber and multi-event athlete Ellie Degroot.

“I train everywhere,” Klein said. “I train cardio, strength in the weight room, speed because I have to be fast [and] flexibility because I need to be flexible for each event.” 

Klein claimed first place in four of the 10 events he competed in during the championship including the 100 meter dash with 11.17 seconds, long jump with 6.96 meters, pole vault with 4.73 meters and discus with 35.58 meters.

“If you’re not prepared and confident in your ability to even produce high level marks that could turn into a conference championship win, then I think you [have] got to start working harder,” Klein said.

While Degroot suffered an injury during the meet, she took charge on the first day of the tournament as she won the women’s 100 meter dash event with 14.47 seconds and the 200 meter dash with 25.37 seconds.

Ntekpere and Huber broke their previous personal bests at the tournament as well. Ntekpere won first during her high jump event with 1.72 meters and Huber won the 800 meter event with a time of 2:27.80. Ntekpere placed fourth in the heptathlon with an overall score of 4335 points and Huber placed sixth with 4011 points. 

“I’m still a little disappointed in myself because [during] indoor season, I did do better than I am doing right now,” Ntekpere said regarding her recent performance. “But I am still proud of myself that I am doing my season’s best, that I can still get up there.”

Huber added her take on the tournament and pointed out what went well for her. 

“I like being able to know that we helped out our team with getting us points and really starting off on a good foot going into the individual events this Friday and Saturday [May 10 and May 11],” Huber said. And it was a really awesome atmosphere to be able to do it with other heptathletes and our decathletes.”  

GNAC Outdoor Championship Tournament

On Friday, May 10 and Saturday, May 11, CWU took on the GNAC Outdoor Championship Tournament that was hosted here on campus in Ellensburg, Washington. The Wildcats performed well as both the men’s and women’s teams placed second overall, earning a collective 28 medals, achieving 24 new personal records, attaining six new school records and breaking a GNAC record. There were also two individual meet awards presented to Klein as the Men’s Field Athlete of the Meet as well as freshman sprinter Josh Green as the Men’s Track Athlete of the Meet.

Klein, Ntekpere, Huber and Degroot came to play again for this tournament as they each earned at least one medal in their respective events. Klein garnered two bronzes and a gold medal, Ntekpere achieved a gold and a silver medal, Huber finished with a bronze medal and Degroot obtained a silver medal.

Another decorated athlete of the weekend was sophomore sprinter Isaiah Webster as he received medals in numerous events such as the men’s long jump, triple jump and high jump.

Both the men’s and women’s 4×100 meter dash teams were able to place first with times of 40.88 seconds and 45.76 seconds respectively. The men’s time was enough to beat their previous GNAC record and the women’s time prevailed as a season best.

Fifth-year thrower Brenna Board showed out for women’s shot put as she placed fifth overall and then came back for discus and snagged second place with a season best of 41.19 meters. “I’m excited because I did place a little bit higher than I was ranked, coming in,” Board said about her placement. “I’m just hungry.”

Freshman thrower Wes Kriete had a feeling that big things may be coming his way in his men’s shot put event as he seemingly predicted his own personal record.

“Lately I’ve been throwing fifteen [meters], fifteen-fives but I’ve been working on stuff in practice,” Kriete said. “Sixteen is looking pretty strong.” Not only did Kriete set a new personal record at 16.04 meters for men’s shot put, but his throw also earned him a gold medal for the event.

Kriete stated that his next prediction was to reach the national tournament next year, but only time will tell if this will prove as correct as his shot put distance.

As there were many standout performances over the weekend, only a few were highlighted above and the full list of players that earned achievements can be found below.