By: Evan O'Kelly, Associate Commissioner for Communications

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Central Washington’s Emy Ntekpere tied her own Great Northwest Athletic Conference women’s high jump record on Friday at Virginia Beach Sports Complex, highlighting the opening day of competition at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships with the bronze medal.
 
GNAC ATHLETES IN SATURDAY’S NCAA INDOOR TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS FINALS
All times listed are Pacific
8 a.m. – Men’s Heptathlon – 60-Meter Hurdles (Drew Klein, CWU; Anders Larsen, UAA)
8:45 a.m. – Men’s Heptathlon – Pole Vault (Drew Klein, CWU; Anders Larsen, UAA)
Noon – Men’s Heptathlon – 1,000 Meters (Drew Klein, CWU; Anders Larsen, UAA)
12:30 p.m. – Women’s Triple Jump (Emy Ntekpere, CWU; Olivia Windbiel, SFU)
1:20 p.m. – Women’s 60-Meters (Emma Cannan, SFU)
2:10 p.m. – Women’s 400-Meters (Bec Bennett, WWU)
2:15 p.m. – Women’s Shot Put (Jessica Polkinghorn, WWU)
2:25 p.m. – Men’s 800-Meters (Colton Plummer, SFU)
2:35 p.m. – Women’s 800-Meters (Emmy Kroontje, WWU)
2:55 p.m. – Women’s 200-Meters (Emma Cannan, SFU)
3:45 p.m. – Men’s 4x400-Meter Relay (Simon Fraser)
4 p.m. – Women’s 4x400-Meter Relay (Western Washington; Simon Fraser)
 
Ntekpere cleared 5-11.5 feet (1.79 meters), a conference record that she set earlier this season. That was enough for a third-place finish in the event, as she earned her second straight All-America award after placing sixth as a sophomore last season. It was the second-best ever finish by a GNAC athlete in the women’s indoor high jump, behind only Danielle Ayers-Stamper’s national title for Seattle Pacific won in 2005. Ntekpere, the reigning Division II indoor national champion in the triple jump, will be back in action on Saturday in the finals of that event at 12:30 p.m. (Pacific). She joined Teona Perkins of Seattle Pacific as the only other woman in GNAC history to earn multiple All-America honors in the women’s high jump, with Perkins finishing fourth in 2007 and sixth in 2006. Kora Cook of Western Washington also competed in the high jump Friday, clearing a bar set at 5-4.25 feet (1.63 meters) and finishing in 18th place. It was Cook’s second straight NCAA Indoor Championships appearance, after she placed 14th in the event last year. Pittsburg State’s Jazmine Williamson won a jump-off against East Stroudsburg’s Shannon Harnett to secure the national title, after both jumpers also cleared a bar of 5-11.5 feet (1.79 meters).
 
Simon Fraser’s women’s distance medley relay unit were the other GNAC athletes to make it onto the awards podium on Friday, with a fourth-place finish in the final race of the day. The quartet of Veronica Dee, Charlotte Bosma, Steph Millar and Raiya Matonovich combined to run a time of 11:29.95 minutes, their fastest of the 2026 season. That figure also stands as the seventh-fastest in GNAC indoor history, and it was SFU’s best national finish in the DMR since it also took fourth in 2022. Overall it was the eighth time that the Red Leafs posted an All-America performance in the event, the most of any GNAC program. Colorado State-Pueblo won its second straight national title, clocking in with a meet-record time of 11:08.20 minutes.
 
Emma Cannan of Simon Fraser broke her own GNAC indoor record in the 200 meters, cruising to a time of 23.12 seconds for the top preliminary mark on Friday. Entering the meet as the No. 1 overall national seed, Cannan will have a chance for an NCAA title in the finals on Saturday at 2:55 p.m. (Pacific). Cannan’s previous conference record of 23.19 seconds was run earlier this season. The GNAC has never had a national champion in the indoor women’s 200-meters. Elise Hopper of Central Washington matched her personal best in the 200-meters, running a time of 24.00 seconds to finish 11th in Friday’s preliminary round, while SFU’s Jaeland Cummings followed in 17th place with a time of 24.53 seconds.
 
Cannan also won her heat in the 60-meter prelims, clocking a time of 7.36 seconds. That was just 0.03 seconds off her personal best, and it was the second-best overall finish on Friday as she punched her ticket to Saturday’s finals which are at 1:20 p.m. SFU’s Cummings placed 14th in the preliminary round with a time of 7.51 seconds in her NCAA Indoor Championships debut.
 
Bec Bennett of Western Washington ran a stellar race in the women’s 400-meter prelims, earning her spot in the finals on Saturday for the second year in a row. Bennett clocked in at 53.73 seconds on Friday, finishing third overall and just 0.26 seconds off her personal best of 53.47 seconds. Bennett finished seventh in the event at last year’s NCAA Indoor Championships.
 
Colton Plummer of Simon Fraser ran a strong 800-meters preliminary on Friday to earn a berth in Saturday’s finals at 2:25 p.m. (Pacific). Plummer cruised to a time of 1:49.45 minutes, finishing just 0.06 seconds off his personal-best mark. That was good enough for the sixth-best time among the field of 18 preliminary competitors.
 
Emmy Kroontje of Western Washington stepped up in the women’s 800-meters, running the third-fastest time of Friday’s qualifiers at 2:08.67 minutes. That was enough to push her through to Saturday’s finals, which are set for 2:35 p.m. (Pacific). Kroontje surpassed her personal best by 0.03 seconds, as her time put her just 0.40 seconds off a GNAC all-time top-10 indoor mark.
 
The GNAC’s gold and silver medalists in the men’s heptathlon got their championship started first thing Friday morning, completing four of the seven events overall. Anders Larsen of Alaska Anchorage sits in ninth place among the field of 16 competitors, totaling 2,892 points on Friday. Central Washington’s Drew Klein is in 13th place with 2,784 points with three events left on Saturday.
 
Larsen clocked a time of 7.15 seconds in the 60-meter dash to pick up 830 points, while Klein was close behind in 7.17 seconds for 823 points. Klein followed with a long jump of 21-11 feet (6.68 meters) to nab 739 points, and Larsen snagged 713 points with his long jump of 21-6.75 feet (6.57 meters). In the shot put, Larsen posted a throw of 40-5 feet (12.32 meters) for 626 points, while Klein had a throw of 39-2.5 feet (11.95 meters) to earn 603 points. The final heptathlon event of Friday was the high jump, with Larsen logging a clearance of 6-3.25 feet (1.91 meters) to tie for third and pick up 723 points. Klein cleared 5-10.5 feet (1.79 meters) to earn 619 points.
 
In the men’s 400 meters, GNAC indoor champion Zachary Jeggo of Simon Fraser clocked in with a time of 47.41 seconds in the preliminary round. That slotted him 11th overall as the freshman came up just short of advancing to the finals in his NCAA Championships debut. Colton Magruder of Central Washington, the GNAC indoor champion in the 60-meter dash, clocked a preliminary time of 6.76 seconds on Friday as his indoor season came to a conclusion with a 16th-place finish.
 
SFU’s Matonovich made her national meet debut in the women’s mile on Friday, running a time of 4:53.40 minutes. That slated the GNAC Championships Women’s Track Athlete of the Meet 11th overall among the field of 18 competitors, as she narrowly missed qualifying for Saturday’s finals.
 
Hannah Chang of Seattle Pacific and Liv Heite of Alaska Anchorage represented the conference in the women’s 60-meter hurdles preliminary round on Friday. Chang ran a time of 8.77 seconds to finish 17th and Heite posted 9.03 seconds with neither qualifying for Saturday’s finals.
 
COMING UP: The championship meet continues on Saturday with the final three men’s heptathlon events kicking off at 8 a.m. (Pacific). A complete schedule of GNAC athletes competing at the event can be found online here.