Monday, December 11, 2023
by Thomas Lal

PORTLAND, Ore. –  The Central Washington women’s track and field team is the first track and field team in the conference to earn GNAC Team of the Week honors for the 2023-24 season after opening the indoor season with several impressive marks at the Spokane Invitational.

“It’s nice to be recognized as Team of the Week amongst all the outstanding performances across the conference,” first-year head coach Jonathan Hill said. “Our group of speed/power women bought into a new philosophy and have worked with deliberate intent to improve their craft. This was far from a perfect meet, but we competed hard and that usually leads to good things. We have new standards of excellence, so it's back to work to find areas we can improve upon. I’m proud of this group of women and what they’ve accomplished so far in this young season.”

The Wildcats’ performances at The Podium on Saturday were highlighted by the outstanding efforts of senior sprinter E’lexis Hollis in the 60-meter dash. Hollis earned GNAC Track Athlete of the Week honors by breaking her own school record and clocking the second-best time in conference history, running 7.38 seconds in the preliminaries. The time is an NCAA provisional qualifier and ranks Hollis second in the NCAA this season. She followed that up by winning the final in a time of 7.44 seconds, beating out a heat that included four Division I runners.

Central Washington picked up its second win of the day courtesy of freshman Emy Ntekpere who won the high jump by three-quarters of an inch with a clearance of 5 feet, 8.5 inches. The NCAA provisional mark ranks second in the nation this season and vaults Ntekpere into a tie for No. 4 on the GNAC Indoor All-Time list. The performance also earned Ntekpere selection as the first GNAC Field Athlete of the Week for the season.

Lauryn McGough made it two Central Washington freshmen to set provisional marks on Saturday by taking victory in the pole vault with a clearance of 12 feet, 3.5 inches. The mark was level with Suzi Woodall of Division I Eastern Washington with McCough being awarded the victory after clearing the winning height on her first attempt.

The Wildcats also saw their fair share of success in the 60-meter hurdles where senior Lauryn Chandler led the way with a seventh-place finish in the finals alongside four Division I runners. Chandler’s time of 8.75 seconds in the final was good for her own NCAA provisional qualifier and ranks 13th in Division II this season. Along with Chandler’s standout performance in the event, sophomores Ellie DeGroot, Carley Huber and Zoe McDevitt all picked up personal records in the qualifying rounds.

Senior Brenna Board led the way for Central Washington in the throws, coming through with a PR of 41 feet, 4.5 inches in the shot put to place eighth out of 38 competitors. Board earned her second PR of the meet in the weight throw with a mark of 42 feet, 10.75 inches to take 19th out of 30 athletes.

With their season opener in the books, Central Washington will join the rest of the conference in taking time off from competition until the new year. The Wildcats will be back in action at The Podium on Jan. 12-13 for the Spokane Indoor Challenge, the second of five meets they are set to compete at in Spokane this season.