The current CWU Track and Field (T&F) team is one of the most accomplished in the school’s history. Among the 88 athletes and seven coaches that accompany the team, 14 school records and five Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) records are held. The men’s team holds five school records, while the women’s team holds nine school records and all five GNAC records.

Junior Josh Boast holds one of the school records with 51.45 seconds at the 400-meter hurdle competition. Boast was a local to Ellensburg and even ran track and field at Ellensburg High School. His name being in the history books seemed untouchable.

“As an Ellensburg alumni, I’ve thought about the idea of being in the record books for CWU,” Boast said. “But I didn’t really think I could do something this special so it does really mean a lot for me.”

Boast spoke on his history and experience with one of his teammates, Freshman Colton Magruder. “Me and Colton go way back to our high school track days. We actually were on the same 4×100 in high school my senior year and we ended up placing 5th in the 2A championship race,” Boast said. “I think it’s pretty cool that me and him are able to represent Ellensburg at such a high level … we are already just so familiar with each other it leads to such a good connection of trust between each other.”

Magruder holds his own record at CWU, as he set the Men’s 100-meter record earlier this year with a time of 10.35 seconds. 

Both Magruder and Boast are members of the men’s CWU 4×100 relay team, along with Sophomore Ian Calhoon and Junior Chase Perez, who own the respective record with a time of 40.76 seconds. Boast has been on the 4×100 relay team his entire time at Central, allowing him the opportunity to work with other athletes that hold records, such as Senior Drew Klein who holds the school’s Pole Vault record and alumni Johan Correa who still holds CWU’s 800-meter, 1500, 1 Mile and 5000 sprint records.

Boast reflected on his time competing with Correa and Klein, stating that “competing with so many of these great athletes is truly a blessing.” 

“My freshman year, I found myself looking up to people like Johan and Drew because they worked so hard and were so passionate about the sport,” Boast continued.

The record books aren’t always on the mind for the junior sprinter, as his interview with The Observer was his first time hearing he was 0.67 seconds away from breaking the school’s 400-meter dash record. “In all honesty, I never really realized how close I was to the record,” Boast said.

Among the many athletes Boast mentioned was Sophomore Boogy Brown, who holds his own record for the T&F team. Brown holds CWU’s 110-meter hurdle record with a time of 14.15 seconds. Boast stated that the underclassman was “a great help for me this year” and named him among the athletes who were a blessing to compete with. “He’s been one of my top motivators in the weight room and at practice, always pushing me to be better,” Boast said. 

Brown set the hurdle record early in his collegiate career, coming in as a freshman and breaking the record. Brown said setting the record so early in his career “feels good, but it just allows me to focus on my own race and just keep striving to beat the same record I have.” 

The Sophomore isn’t alone in his record, though, as the aforementioned Boast, Klein and Calhoon have all placed top 10 in the school’s 100-meter hurdle history in the last year, with Klein coming 0.10 seconds behind the record. 

“It keeps me on my toes,” Brown said about his teammates. “It keeps pushing me to strive for greatness and allowing me to not be relaxed in my practice or my career. It keeps me pushing so that way, I can go beat those guys and shove it in their faces a bit.”

Brown had a chance to play with Boast and, like Boast, competed with Correa in 2025’s 4×400 relay team. “Those are my guys, those are my best friends,” Brown said. “I go to war with those guys, so it’s nice when we all get to come together and for a common cause: to try to beat a record together … (Johan’s) that guy.”

Being just a sophomore, Brown still has some years left in his collegiate career. Brown currently has his eye on his teammate’s record in the 400-meter hurdle. “I’m gonna try to come for Josh Boast’s record in the 400-meter hurdles, because I’m gonna try and buff it down and give him a run for his money.”

When reflecting on his collegiate career so far, Brown had one word: “Unfinished.” Brown went on to elaborate, “Job’s not finished yet. I’m excited to keep striving for greatness and be the best I could be, the best teammate I could be, so we can all come together and get that team title.”

Boast and Brown were both asked if there was anyone on the team that they wanted to shout out.

Boast answered, “My shoutout has got to go to my team as a whole, I just am so thankful that I have a great support system of people who push me every day and make me a better athlete and friend and I wouldn’t be as decorated of an athlete if my coach didn’t trust me to do the things I do so I have to give Coach Hill, Coach Parker and Coach Fickle a shoutout as well.”

Brown responded with “I feel like all of them get a good hand of life. Every time you do something good, coaches right there, expressing this to the whole team.”

The current men’s team isn’t the only CWU T&F team that holds top spots, as the women’s team holds four more school records and five GNAC records.

The aforementioned Hopper is currently at the top of CWU’s 400-meter dash and is a member of both the 4×100 relay and 4×400 relay teams. She won school records for both teams. Hopper joins Zoe Gonzalez, E’lexis Hollis and Ashlyn Nielsen for the 4×100 team who hold the top spot the school record in 2025, and holds the GNAC record for the 4×100 event. The 4×400 relay team consists of Ellie Degroot, Carley Huber, Donna Marie Harris and finally Hopper who broke the CWU record this year. 

One of the most decorated athletes CWU has to offer is Junior Emy Ntekpere. Ntekpere is one of two members of the CWU T&F to hold multiple individual records. The 5-foot-8-inch Vancouver native holds both the school and GNAC records for high jump, long jump and triple jump. These performances earned Ntekpere a national title in both high jump and triple jump in the 2025 NCAA Division II Women’s Outdoor Championship, becoming the first woman to win both in the same NCAA championship. 

This record-breaking year earned Ntekpere the NCAA Division II Women’s Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year.

The other member of the CWU T&F to hold records in multiple individual events is alumni and current coach E’lexis Hollis. Hollis helped the women’s 4×100 relay break the school record in 2025, along with setting her own records in the 60-meter dash, the 100 and the 200. Hollis’ 60-meter time is also the current GNAC record. After graduating from CWU last year, Hollis joined the T&F team not as a competing athlete, but as a volunteer assistant coach.

CWU sends athletes to compete in NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships

While the CWU track season is over for the majority of the team, there are 10 athletes who have unfinished business as they advance to the 2026 NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships at Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas. Opening day begins Thursday, May 21 and concludes Saturday, May 23. 

The entire team will be cheering and rallying behind them from the beginning to the end of the upcoming championship. One of those team members is Brown, who’s been vigorously supportive of his teammates, having full faith and confidence that they’ll finish strong. “Good luck,” Brown said. “I’ll be rooting for them, and I know they’re all going to come out victorious because they work out there, they work their butts off.” 

Brown is cheering on every teammate that is competing at the championship, highlighting a few. “I wish Josh (Boast) good luck in his 400 hurdles, Drew (Klein) in his decathlon, Elise Hopper, I know she’s in a lot of events in there, so I know I just hope she doesn’t get fatigued. I know she’s gonna go out there and kill it and do her thing,” Brown said.

Brown is hoping for the best and everything to go well, knowing what they are capable of doing and will perform lights out on the biggest stage. While eight of the 10 athletes going to the Championship are either juniors and seniors, two of the 10 athletes who are going are Freshmen Julie Castillejo, who will be an alternate in the 4×400-meter relay and Freshman Layla Fields, who will be starting in the 4×100-meter relay along with Gonzales, Nielsen and Hopper. Hopper will also be competing in the 4×400, 200-meter and 400-meter dashes. 

The 4×400 relay team will consist of the record breaking team of Degroot, Marie Harris and Huber. Junior Maliyah Gordon will be competing in the shot put. With the hard work that each athlete puts into competing and thriving, all will be on full display this Thursday, with each athlete having the opportunity to place high against fellow competitors to reach the pinnacle.