On May 9 and 10, the Central Washington University Track and Field team met with many other schools at Civic Stadium in Bellingham, Wash. to compete in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) Track and Field Outdoor Championship. With the men’s and women’s team coming in second the year prior, both teams hoped to dethrone the back-to-back champs Western Washington University. The CWU men’s team fell down a podium spot, coming in third with 105 points, behind second place Western Oregon University with 116, and Western Washington University won their third outdoor championship in a row with a GNAC record breaking 302 points. The CWU Women’s team came just short of dethroning the three time champs with 204 points to Western Washington’s 229.
The men’s team was fronted by fifth year distance sprinter Johan Correa and freshman hurdler David Brown who both earned gold. Correa, in one of his last sprints for the Wildcats, earned gold in the 800-meter with 1:49.68 minutes and Brown earned gold in 110-meter hurdles with 14.32 seconds.
Brown, despite being a freshman at CWU, has already broken the men’s 110m hurdle and has now brought CWU a gold medal. Despite accomplishing so much so early in his collegiate track and field career, Brown isn’t getting comfortable. “I’m always trying to push myself, chase a better time, and become a better sprinter,” Brown said. “So if I’m good at one event trying to learn how to do another one, like 400 hurdles. I’m trying to get better at that one. So always chasing something is probably what helps me become better as an athlete.”
On the women’s side, 10 golds were taken home, 6 of which were earned by Sophomore Emy Ntekpere and fifth year E’lexis Hollis, who were given the Women’s Field and Track Athlete of the Meet respectively. Ntekpere earned gold in High Jump with 1.73m, long jump with 5.88m, and triple jump with 12.54m. Hollis brought home gold in 100m dash with 11.33 seconds, which is a personal best and is ranked fifth in the entirety of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II (NCAA DII). She also ranked first in the 200m dash with 23.61 seconds and propelled the 4x100m relay team to first with the team earning 45.16 seconds.
Fifth year Payton Elenbaas got a personal best in hammer throw with 55.44m which translated to gold in the outdoor championship. Junior Carley Huber also brought home a gold and a personal best, but in women’s 400-meter hurdles with 1:00.13 seconds. Sophomore Lauryn McGough became the first woman to win both Pole Vault and Javelin throw in the same GNAC meet, winning pole vault with 3.79 meters and winning javelin with 43.92 meters.
For McGough, the results were a surprise. “[It’s] very unexpected to win both of them [Pole vault and Javelin]. Especially Javelin, I was not doing well the whole year,” McGough said. Before the 2025 GNAC Outdoor Championship meet, McGough had never broken into the top three in Javelin, with her best result coming in last year’s outdoor championship where she placed 4th with 40.16 meters. While the 5-foot-8 sophomore won gold for CWU, she was also named to the all-academic GNAC team, picking up where she left off at high school, where she was named to the honor roll all four years. In terms of improvement, McGough self-evaluated herself and realized she needs to be more committed mentally. “I’ve been really busy with academics and it feels like I have a million cups and they’re all half full,” McGough said. “Over the summer and going into fall, I’m gonna really try to have a few cups and be able to balance them more and put more of my mental space to the track.”
Huber is no stranger to succeeding in the women’s 400-meter hurdles, as she has only dropped out of the top five twice in her collegiate career and has gotten first in the last three 400-meter hurdles events she participated in. The junior hurdler has now won two GNAC All-Academic team honors. “Balancing student athlete and work life can definitely be a struggle at times,” Huber said. “Glory to God in all of that … My faith keeps me grounded and calm throughout all the things that goes on.”
For the summer, track and field athletes have different plans. “I’m probably just gonna call my coach up every day, make him give me workouts and and just work my butt off every single day,” Brown said when asked for his summer plans. “If he tells me to rest, then I’ll rest, but I’m always not going to just be comfortable with where I’m at.”
For McGough and Huber however, the plan is to rest their body. “We normally take a few weeks or a month off, which is very much needed, especially towards the end of the year… It’s really nice to give your body a break and your mind a break,” McGough said. “I’ll probably take most of June off then start back in July. I’ll be travelling a lot this summer so I’ll train wherever I’m travelling and pole vault here and there.”
“Taking a break right now is definitely good while I can,” Huber said. “But I still incorporate practice time throughout the summer.”
Both McGough and Huber won’t be entirely inactive however, with McGough participating in other athletic activities such as Pickleball, Spike ball, and Swimming. Huber, wherever she will be travelling, will be going on runs early in the morning. “Make summer training something fun, not just summer training,” Huber said.
Seven Wildcats qualified for the NCAA DII Outdoor Championships in Pueblo, Colo. from May 22 to 24 with Correa qualifying for the 800 meter, Ntekpere for both the High Jump and Triple Jump, McGough for the pole vault, Hollis for the 100 and 200 meter dash along with joining the 4×100 meter relay comprised of Hollis herself, Elise Hopper, Zoe Gonzales, and Ashlynn Nielsen. For Correa and Hollis, this is their last chance to represent the Wildcats. Regardless of the NCAA DII results, Correa will be leaving with the CWU 800-meter, 1500-meter, 5000-meter, and mile records. Hollis will also have their name in the record books, holding the women’s 100 meter and 200 meter record.
