SPOKANE, Wash. – Led by another record-setting performance by Amblessed Okemgbo, the Whitworth women won their first Northwest Conference track and field championship in a decade on Sunday at the 2026 NWC Championship meet at Whitworth's Boppell Track.
Okemgbo, the 2026 NWC women's Field Athlete of the Meet, demolished the meet and team record in the discus while the Pirate women finished 1-2-3 in the javelin. Whitworth ended George Fox's eight-year run as NWC champions by scoring 218 points to 191.5 for the Bruins.
Okemgbo led from the start of the discus. Her first throw surpassed 160 feet, which would have been a new meet record. But she went even further on her final throw, reaching 161'-7". That is a new NWC meet record and ranks third in NCAA Division III this season.
Six Pirates scored in the discus overall, giving the Pirates 25 points in that event. Hannah Wynne was fourth (128'-4"), Izzy Carpenter was fifth (124'-8"), Shannon Bell was sixth (124'-1"), Madison Carr was seventh (122'-3") and Kylie Loveless was eighth (121'-2").
Whitworth's women opened the meet with a 1-2-3 finish in the javelin. Devyn Chelin's season-best toss of 139'-8" was the winner. Natalie Ellis hit her second best (127'-10") for second place. Emily Brown's first throw of 122'-9" was good enough for third. After a second attempt, she passed on all other throws to focus on her three races. Loveless was eighth (116'-4"), giving the Pirates 25 more points in the javelin.
In Sunday's two other field events, Shaloma McCay (37'-4.5") was runner-up to PLU's Madison Downey (37'-6.5") in the triple jump by only two inches. Brianna Tira finished sixth in the high jump, clearing 5'-0.25".
Brown's decision to rest after her second javelin throw paid off as she went on to defend her title in the women's 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:02.47. Peyton Fox finished eighth in 1:09.56.
Brown was also runner-up in the women's 400-meter dash in 57.15 to Puget Sound's Elizabeth Beiswanger (55.88). Marlee Paget took sixth in 59.42 and Hope Madill was seventh in 1:00.71.
Brown was also part of Whitworth's winning 4x100 relay. She ran the second leg, along with Macayla Mills, Isabella Tolen and Akeelis Muhammed. Muhammed's anchor was enough to overcome Willamette at the tape, winning by one-hundredth of a second in a season-best 47.91.
Tolen took seventh in the 100-meter dash in 12.65. Pacific's Allyson Hammond won in 12.10. Tolen also took seventh in the 200 dash in a personal best time of 25.67 with Muhammed taking eighth in 26.15. Pacific's Hammond also won the 200 in 24.42.
The Pirates got a pair of runner-up finishes in the distance races. Lily Jones was second in the 1,500 meters to Lewis & Clark's Malia Heien. Jones ran a personal-best 4:42.00. Ashlyn Dary finished fourth in 4:48.34 and Isa Higgins was seventh in 4:53.45.
Jones added a third-place finish in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:20.13 with Dary sixth in 2:24.67. Heien also won the 800 for Lewis & Clark in 2:17.77.
Kezlie Thygesen earned her second runner-up finish of the meet in the 5,000 meters. She went 17:44.12 to finish behind George Fox's Chloe Cook, who also won the 10,000 on Saturday. Madilyn Danaraj was fifth in 18:34.49 and Jones was sixth in 18:37.83.
The Pirates closed the meet with a runner-up finish in the 4x400 relay with a season-best time of 3:57.01. Puget Sound won in 3:52.49.
The final women's team scores were: Whitworth 218, George Fox 191.5, Willamette 92, Pacific (Ore.) 76.5, Linfield 67, Pacific Lutheran 66, Puget Sound 54, Lewis & Clark 52, Whitman 1.
The Pirate men were in the hunt until the very end, falling by a few points to the nine-time champion Bruins. The final men's team scores were: George Fox 214.5, Whitworth 182, Willamette 151, Lewis & Clark 90, Puget Sound 66, Pacific (Ore.) 45, Linfield 29, Pacific Lutheran 23.5, Whitman 18.
The Pirates got a pair of individual wins in the throwing events. Cody Wheeler won the javelin with a toss of 218'-4" with Brandon Geck taking second with a mark of 199'-0". Tristan Hiller (193'-0") was fifth.
Eddie Vu defended his title in the discus with a heave of 171'-5" with Adam Sessions taking eighth (138'-7").
Kaden Hooper took fifth in the triple jump with a personal-best mark of 43'-3.25" with Na'i Ka'anapu eighth (41'-10.5").
The Pirates had several runner-up finishes on the track, beginning with the 4x100 relay. George Fox edged Whitworth 41.70 – 41.74.
Jack Ireton, who won the steeplechase on Saturday, was runner-up in the 1,500-meters on Sunday with a time of 3:54.07. Isaac Akiyama was fourth in 3:55.48. Pacific's Henry Tierney was the winner in 3:52.60.
London Haley, previously champion of the 10,000 yesterday, was second in the 5,000 to Lewis & Clark's Evan Markelz in a close race. Markelz edged Haley 14:52.85 – 14:53.19. Ireton took eighth (15:26.60) in his third race of the meet.
In another extremely close finish, defending champion Blake Smith of GFU edged Brady Oletzke in the 110-meter hurdles 14.81 – 14.82. Oletzke's time was a PR. Luke McCorkle also had a PR while taking seventh (16.59).
Oletzke went on to take third in the 400 hurdles in 55.57, while Connor Hylton was fifth in 56.19. Willamette's Myles Crandall won in 53.74.
Puget Sound's Avery Keith set a meet record in the 400 dash (47.11) with Cooper Rolfs finishing fourth in 50.00.
Cam Schmidt was unable to defend his title in the 200 dash, taking third in a season-best 21.71. Schmidt was fourth in the 100 dash in 10.91 while Austin May was fifth (10.98). George Fox's Carson Tapia won both races.
Whitworth closed the meet with a sixth place finish in the 4x400 relay in 3:24.39. Puget Sound won in 3:17.09.
