By: Evan O'Kelly, Associate Commissioner for Communications

PORTLAND, Ore. – After a successful showing at last week’s NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships, the Great Northwest Athletic Conference announced its special award winners for the 2025-26 indoor season on Friday.
 
2026 GNAC Indoor Track & Field – Special Award Winners
Women's Track Athlete of the Year - Emma Cannan, Simon Fraser
Women's Field Athlete of the Year - Emy Ntekpere, Central Washington
Women's Freshman of the Year - Raiya Matonovich, Simon Fraser
Women's Coach of the Year - Ben Stensland, Western Washington
 
Men's Track Athlete of the Year - Colton Plummer, Simon Fraser
Men's Field Athlete of the Year - Drew Klein, Central Washington
Men's Freshman of the Year - Zachary Jeggo, Simon Fraser
Men's Coach of the Year - Ben Stensland, Western Washington
 
Leading a cast of four Simon Fraser athletes selected for special awards was NCAA women’s 200-meters champion Emma Cannan. Cannan broke her own GNAC record in the preliminary round of the 200-meters running 23.12 seconds, before winning the NCAA gold medal with a time of 23.21 seconds in the finals. She became the first-ever sprinter in GNAC history, including indoors, outdoors, women’s and men’s, to win a national title. Cannan also made the national podium in the 60-meters, finishing fourth with a time of 7.36 seconds.
 
Cannan’s stellar indoor season included GNAC gold medals in both the 200-meters and 60-meters, and a silver medal as a member of SFU’s 4x400-meter relay unit. She broke the GNAC Championships meet record with a 200-meters time of 23.21 seconds in the finals, on her way to GNAC Championships Performance of the Meet recognition. Cannan’s season-best 60-meters time of 7.33 seconds slotted her name third in GNAC history. She also became the first woman in conference history to run a sub-53 second 400-meters indoors, setting that GNAC record at 52.48 seconds. The Cannan-led Red Leaf 4x400-meter relay squad’s season best time of 3:43.67 minutes was fourth-fastest in conference indoor history.
 
Since it joined the GNAC in 2010-11, Simon Fraser has dominated the GNAC Women’s Track Athlete of the Year award as Cannan took home the Red Leafs’ ninth such honor. Other SFU athletes to stake the claim include Marie-Eloise Leclair (2025 & 2024), Alison Andrews-Paul (2022), Addy Townsend (2017 & 2020), Lindsey Butterworth (2015) and Helen Crofts (2013 & 2011). Cannan was also recently introduced as a member of Team Canada for the upcoming 2026 World Athletics Indoor Championships, which run March 20-22 in Kujawy Pomorze, Poland.
 
Earning her second straight GNAC Field Athlete of the Year honor was Central Washington’s Emy Ntekpere, who leapt her way to a national runner-up performance in the triple jump last week. She posted a season-best jump of 42-3.5 feet (12.89 meters) to come up just shy of her second-straight NCAA indoor title. The Wildcat junior added two more All-America performances to her resume, also taking the bronze medal in the high jump at 5-10.5 feet (1.79 meters) at the NCAA Championships. Ntekpere’s 2026 indoor season included breaking the GNAC indoor record in the high jump with the previously-mentioned mark. She was the GNAC Championships Field Athlete of the Meet for the third straight season, becoming the first woman in conference history to win the high jump, long jump and triple jump at the same GNAC Indoor Championships. Ntekpere is the lone Central Washington women’s athlete to take home a GNAC indoor athlete of the year award.
 
Women’s Freshman of the Year honors went to SFU’s Raiya Matonovich, who had a stellar start to her collegiate track & field career. Taking home GNAC Track Athlete of the Meet honors, Matonovich won three gold medals and a silver at the conference indoor meet to spark SFU to a third-place team finish. Matonovich ran 2:09.40 minutes in the 800-meters and 4:54.77 minutes in the mile for her two individual gold medals. She helped lead the SFU distance medley relay team to the title at 12:20.15 minutes at the conference meet, and that unit’s season-best time of 11:29.95 minutes ranked it seventh all-time in the GNAC. Matonovich had a season-best mile time of 4:42.62 minutes, vaulting her name up to No. 3 in the GNAC record books. She capped her freshman indoor season by helping SFU’s DMR team take fourth at the NCAA Championships while adding a 10th-place finish on the 4x400-meter relay team and an 11th-place finish in the mile. She is the fourth woman in Simon Fraser history to claim GNAC Indoor Freshman of the Year honors, joining Cannan (2023), Townsend (2016) and Paige Nock (2015).
 
SFU had similar success on the men’s side, with Colton Plummer garnering GNAC Indoor Men’s Athlete of the Year honors. Plummer had the top national finish of any male athlete in the GNAC, earning All-America status at eighth place in the 800-meters with a time of 1:50.21 minutes. His indoor campaign was highlighted by a career-best 800-meters time of 1:49.38 minutes on Jan. 17, which was the third-fastest indoor time in conference history. Plummer went on to take home the gold medal in his specialty event at the GNAC Championships, running 1:51.00. He also boosted the SFU 4x400-meter relay team to a victory at the conference meet in 3:11.70. The Red Leafs went on to break the GNAC indoor record with a time of 3:11.27 minutes on their way to a ninth-place finish at the NCAA Championships. Plummer is the third man in school history to earn GNAC Indoor Athlete of the Year honors, joining Aaron Ahl (2022) and Rowan Doherty (2019).
 
Like his women’s counterpart Ntekpere, Drew Klein of Central Washington was voted as the GNAC Indoor Men’s Field Athlete of the Year. Injuries limited Klein to just one indoor meet prior to the GNAC Championships, but on the biggest stage he performed at his best. He took home his second GNAC heptathlon gold medal, posting personal bests in the shot put of 40-5.5 feet (12.33 meters) and the high jump at 6-1.25 feet (1.86 meters) on his way to 5,149 points. That was good enough to earn Klein his second-career GNAC Field Athlete of the Meet award as well. Klein then followed with a stellar performance at the NCAA Championships, finishing in ninth place with a career-best heptathlon total of 5,235 points. That figure was sixth-most by a GNAC athlete all-time. Klein is the second Wildcat to bring home an indoor athlete of the year honor, joining 2025 GNAC Indoor Men’s Field Athlete of the Year Isaiah Webster.
 
Blazing around the track all winter long was 400-meter specialist Zachary Jeggo of Simon Fraser, who earned the GNAC Men’s Freshman of the Year award. Jeggo ran the second-fastest 400-meters time in conference indoor history in his very first collegiate event, and it didn’t take him long to claim the record. In the GNAC Championships finals, Jeggo became the first man in conference indoor history to eclipse the 47-second threshold, running 46.72 seconds to bring home the gold medal. He went on to finish 11th in his NCAA Championships debut, clocking in at 47.41 seconds to cap his first indoor campaign. Jeggo was a key member of SFU’s GNAC-gold medal and record-breaking 4x400-meter relay squad as well. He is the second man in SFU history to claim the GNAC Indoor Freshman of the Year award, following 2020 selection Jeremiah Lauzon.
   

Piloting Western Washington to both the women’s and men’s team titles at the GNAC Indoor Championships, Ben Stensland was voted by his peers as the GNAC Coach of the Year for both genders for the third consecutive season. It was the Vikings’ third-straight sweep of the team indoor trophies, and WWU extended its streak of GNAC Championships team titles to 18 across the sports of cross country, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field. WWU has won every trophy in those sports since sweeping the outdoor titles in the spring of 2023. Stensland’s Vikings got the job done once again this winter, with the men’s team breaking the GNAC indoor record for total points with 190. That was 2.33 points more than the previous total of 187.66 set by WWU in 2024, and it was an 88-point victory margin over men’s team runner-up Central Washington (102 points). On the women’s side WWU racked up 163 points to fend off the Wildcats by 11 (152 points). Stensland is in his fourth season leading the WWU track & field and cross country program.

The GNAC was also well-represented within the USTFCCCA major regional awards, which were also announced on Friday. Six of the eight major west region award winners came from the GNAC.

2026 USTFCCCA West Region Award Winners
Men's Track Athlete of the Year - Colton Magruder, Central Washington
Men's Field Athlete of the Year - Drew Klein, Central Washington
Men's Coach of the Year - Ben Stensland, Western Washington
Men's Assistant Coach of the Year - Asaundra Dalton, Azusa Pacific
Women's Track Athlete of the Year - Emma Cannan, Simon Fraser
Women's Field Athlete of the Year - Emy Ntekpere, Central Washington
Women's Coach of the Year - Jack Hoyt, Azusa Pacific
Women's Assistant Coach of the Year - Tom Dickson, Simon Fraser
View the complete listing of USTFCCCA all-region selections online here.