By: Evan O'Kelly, Associate Commissioner for Communications

PORTLAND, Ore. – The Great Northwest Athletic Conference outdoor track and field top-10 lists got a facelift over the weekend, as Central Washington rewrote numerous conference standards in the Lone Star State.
 
The Wildcat track and field program recorded four GNAC outdoor records to be exact, and seven overall top-10 all-time GNAC performances en route to being named the GNAC Team of the Week on Monday. “It is all part of our process,” said second-year CWU head coach Jonathan Hill. “When we look at our kids’ performances, we don’t look at the marks or outcomes but how well we executed based on our potential. It is exciting to look at the jump or race and recognize a distance or mark is special, but we are also confident we have improvements that can be made.”
 
Headlining the weekend was newly minted NCAA indoor triple jump national champion Emy Ntekpere, who broke the conference outdoor records in both the triple jump and the high jump. Just two weeks after claiming the national title in the triple jump, Ntekpere put forth a monster PR of 43-6 feet (13.26 meters) last weekend to finish second among a field of 33 competitors. The jump was just 4.5 inches shy of the Division II all-time record of 43-10.5 (13.37 meters), as Ntekpere approached a 2023 leap by Auna Childress of Pittsburg State. Her most recent effort smashed the existing conference record of 41-4.25 feet (12.60 meters), which was set by Alaska Anchorage’s Chrisalyn Johnson in 2019.
 
Ntekpere wasn’t finished there, as she proceeded to take down the league outdoor record in the high jump at 5-10.5 feet (1.79 meters). That was good enough for a second-place finish among a field of 39 jumpers, as she surpassed the 2007 height of 5-10 feet (1.78 meters) set by Teona Perkins of Seattle Pacific. Ntekpere moved her name to the top of the NCAA Division II performance lists in both events. She also posted a long jump of 19-4.75 feet (5.91 meters), tying for the 10th best in conference history and pushing her to No. 13 on the national performance list.
 
“You’re never surprised when Emy does something special,” Hill said on the GNAC Indoor Field Athlete of the Year. “The weekend started with the long jump which is a fun event for her. We didn’t have expectations of doing anything at the level she did. We were trying to work on some things we had focused on in practice, and we were trying to execute a nice triple jump and compete.”
 
Ntekpere wasn’t the only Wildcat field athlete to put together a memorable performance, as GNAC indoor pole vault champion Lauryn McGough also had a headline meet. The sophomore cleared 13-3.5 feet (4.05 meters) on her third and final vault attempt, moving her name up to No. 8 on the national performance list with the outdoor personal best. McGough topped the previous GNAC outdoor best of 13-3 feet (4.04 meters), which was achieved by Seattle Pacific’s Scout Cai in 2021. She came up just short on the next progression set at 4.15 meters, as she chased her overall collegiate best of 13-4.5 feet (4.08 meters) that won her the gold medal and GNAC Performance of the Meet at the 2025 GNAC Indoor Championships last month. McGough finished second only to Lillianna Ifft of Baylor, who cleared the 13-3.5 foot bar on her second attempt among the field of 21 competitors in the section.
 
“She went 3.95 at our home meet, so we felt like a breakthrough was coming,” Hill said on McGough’s efforts last week. “That event got moved back and we started about 9:45 p.m. at night – she was still jumping around 11 p.m. She overcame a lot of adversity, and I give her a lot of credit for taking it jump by jump. She ended up competing for the win. She wants to win and jump high and that’s a good combination. Her attempts at 4.15 were great.”
 
Senior sprint star E’lexis Hollis shaved her PR in the 100 meters down to 11.27 seconds, as she improved upon her second-best all-time GNAC outdoor time and finished in first place in an event that featured 51 total competitors. Hollis climbed to No. 2 on the national performance list, as she trails only Lenoir-Rhyne’s Alexis Brown who ran 11.13 seconds last week. “We have been excited about her 100 meter all year,” Hill said on the three-time GNAC indoor champion in the 60 meters. “Because of how she has been executing her 60s, we knew these mass velocity skills she is building are special. We are excited about this mark. It was a great meet with great competition, and she ran down the whole field.”
 
Hollis then ran the anchor leg on the Wildcats’ 4x100 meter relay squad, which took down its own GNAC outdoor record from a season ago. The combination of Zoe Gonzales, Ashlyn Nielsen, Elise Hopper and Hollis put together a time of 45.15 seconds, finishing third behind only Sam Houston and Louisiana among the field of 17 relay teams. Surpassing last year’s conference record of 45.76 seconds, CWU moved itself up to No. 4 on the national performance list and trails national leader Tusculum (44.91 seconds) by only 0.24 seconds. “We changed up our order and personnel, and it worked well last week,” Hill said. “They have been training really well and have high expectations for themselves. They want to get to the national meet.”
 
CWU’s men’s 4x100 meter relay also performed well at the meet, clocking the second-fastest time in GNAC outdoor history at 41.01 seconds. Josh Boast, Cohen Hall, Bautista Diamante and Trevion Walker teamed up in the event, as they came up just shy of last year’s GNAC record of 40.88 seconds that was also set by a different combination of CWU sprinters. “Our guys executed well,” Hill said. “They focused on doing their job and moving the baton fluidly down the track.”
 
Payton Elenbaas gave the Wildcats something to be excited about within their throws unit, as she emerged with a win in the hammer with a personal-best toss of 164-6 feet (50.13 meters). Last year’s GNAC Outdoor Championships runner-up in the hammer, it was just the second time in her collegiate career she cleared 160 feet. Elenbaas moved up to No. 2 on the GNAC outdoor performance list in the hammer and also finished 10th among 34 throwers in her section of the discus at 134-3 feet (40.91 meters). “Payton and her coach have been working hard on a couple technical cues, and she responded well to the environment,” Hill said. “She is a senior gearing up for these winning moments, and she capitalized on it last weekend.”
 
Freshman hurdlers David Brown and Ian Calhoon each had solid showings last week, finishing sixth and eighth, respectively in their section of the 110-meter hurdles. Brown posted a PR time of 14.78 seconds and Calhoon was close behind with a PR time of 15.27 seconds.
 
Freshman standout Cal’von Baker had a strong showing in the high jump, finishing 10th among a field of 35 jumpers with a height of 6-7 feet (2.01 meters). That stands as the top high jump in the conference thus far in 2025, and Baker has cleared two meters in five of the first six meets of his collegiate career. He won the gold medal at the GNAC Indoor Championships at 6-7.5 feet (2.02 meters) and holds a collegiate best of 6-7.75 feet (2.03 meters).
 
“Our hurdler guys did a really nice job, and Cal’von was jumping for the win in the high jump,” Hill said.
 
The Wildcats get back to work this weekend at the Whitworth Peace Meet, scheduled for Friday in Spokane. The Wildcats finished as the team runner-up on both the women’s and men’s sides at the GNAC Indoor Track & Field Championships, as they have laid a strong foundation in pursuit of a conference team title under Hill’s guidance. CWU also became the 11th school to notch a top-10 women’s team finish at the indoor national championship meet, as it totaled 19 points earlier this month to place ninth among the 56 teams represented at the event.