Spectacular Podium Finishes for Bearcats

SPOKANE, Wash. — At the 2026 NorthWest Conference Championship, the Bearcats faced intense competition during the qualifying events April 25th and then the finals on the 26th. Nevertheless, the Bearcats' strong performance, backed by significant personal bests in both days of competition, put them in third place overall, with 151 points (61 more points than Lewis & Clark College, which came in fourth). The top eight athletes in qualifying events move on to finals, earning points for their team based on their perfomance in the final.

The first day was a mix of preliminary races, final long-distance running events, and some final field events. On the track, Jay Chew took eighth in the 10,000m, earning one of the first points for Willamette. In 3,000m Steeple Chase, Adam Lewis earned fifth place, also adding points to the scoreboard. In the qualifying races, eight Bearcats secured spots in finals, some in more than one event. Notable perfomances include the 400m Prelims, in which Major LeProwse qualifed with a personal best (PB) of 49.72 seconds, and Steeley Mucken as the sole Bearcat to qualify in the 100m. Matthew Nivala and Mason Williams both qualified for two individual events: the 200m and 110m Hurdles for Nivala, and for Williams the 110m and 400m Hurdles. In the 800m Prelims, Tim McMahon and Liam Bergevin both achived PBs, however neither qualified for finals.

In the first day of field events, Roan Bashioum earned first place in Hammer Throw with a distance of 57.45 meters (PB). Austin Snodgrass took seventh place in Hammer, while in Shot Put he dominated with a throw of 16.27 meters, securing first place. Kaleb McArthur and Owen Phillips both placed top eight in Long Jump, McArthur landing third by jumping 6.86 meters. In High Jump, Davandre Campbell took third place by clearing 1.96 meters, followed by Carson Naehr in sixth.

The second day of field events saw McArthur earn fourth place in Triple Jump, while Elijah Jones took second place in Pole Vault, clearing 4.53 meters. In Javelin, Judah Ali'ifua earned twelfth place. Snodgrass and Bashioum took second and third in Discus, Bashioum with a personal best of 45.74 meters.

Track events started off with a bang as the 4x100m Relay team of Phillips, Nivala, Niko White, and Cole Beneventi broke the 1992 school record, finishing in 41.82 seconds to earn third place. Racing for a second time in the 1500m, Lewis took 15th overall. In the 110m Hurdles, Nivala, Williams, and Brison Speakthunder placed fourth, sixth, and eighth, respectively. In the 400m Finals, Leprowse surpassed his PB from the previous day to take third place with a time of 49.66 seconds. Beneventi was also in this race, where he earned sixth place. Mucken achieved second place in the 100m, adding eight points to the team's total.

Myles Crandall and Williams led the 400m Hurdles, coming in at first and second with two significant PBs: 53.74 seconds for Crandall, and 54. 23 seconds for Williams. Kayden Gonzales earned eighth place in the 400m as well. In the 200m, Nivala came in hot at 22.11 seconds (PB) for sixth place. Thomas Bernadicou earned more points for the Bearcats in the 5000m, achieving fifth place, while Chew earned 12th. In the 4x400m Relay, the team of LeProwse, McMahon, Nivala (running his fourth race of the day), and Crandall closed out the championships in an intense race, taking third place.