Stepp Wins NWC Title With Career Best in High Jump
By Charlie McGuire, Athletics Communications Assistant
NEWBERG, Ore. – Whitley Stepp (So., Silverton, OR/Regis HS) earned a Northwest Conference title, winning the high jump with a personal best height of 5' 7" at the 2024 NWC Outdoor Track & Field Championships on Saturday, April 20 at Stoffer Family Stadium. Stepp claimed her second straight title in the high jump, claiming the top spot in 2023 as well.
The 4 x 100-meter relay combined for a third-place finish with a time of 49.22. Lavender Bel (Fy., Puyallup, WA/Graham-Kapowsin HS) ran the lead leg with Mashani Coleman Toliver (So., Bellevue, WA/Sammamish HS) and Kenzie Lee (So., Kaneohe, HI/Mid-Pacific Institute running second and third. Salah Williams (Fy., Wahiawa, HI/Leilehua HS) ran the anchor leg.
Lee recorded a season best in the prelims of the 400 meters and produced a personal best time of 1:00.84 to capture eighth in the finals. Bel bettered her personal best from Saturday to claim fifth in the 100-meter hurdles, clocking a time of 15.63. Lecia Sincere (Jr., Bremerton, WA/Central Kitsap HS) also turned in a pair of PRs on the weekend, placing eighth in the finals with a mark of 16.02.
Morgan Shaw (Fy., Redmond, OR/Ridgefield HS) clocked her career-best time of 4:59.61 and Zoe Heino (So., Portland, OR/Mountainside HS) posted a season-best with a 5:01.28 to earn top-20 finishes in the 1,500 meters.
Tenley Grant (Jr., Longview, WA/Kelso HS), who earned silver in the hammer throw, tossed the shot put 34' 10.25" to finish in the top 15. Kaiona Apio (Sr., Edmonds, WA/Edmonds-Woodway HS) finished seventh in the javelin with a throw of 122' 5".
Sage Miller (Valley Springs, CA/Calaveras HS) posted a personal record of 1:10.09 in the 400-meter hurdles to earn fifth. Katie Briggs (So., Las Vegas, NV/Faith Lutheran HS) was seventh with Coleman crossing eighth with times of 1:12.25 and 1:23.27.
Erica Snyder (So., Longview, WA/Mark Morris HS) was seventh in the triple jump with a distance of 35' 2". Sincere jumped 32' 11" and Williams went 32' 10.25" to rank in the top 20 of the event.
The Bearcats closed out the afternoon with a seventh-place finish in the 4 x 400-meter relay. Lee, Coleman and Briggs joined sophomore Katie Wingo (White Rock, NM/Los Alamos HS) to combine for a time of 4:12.14.
Willamette finished eighth in the team standings. Host George Fox University won the team title with 202.5 points while Whitworth University was second with 172 and Pacific University claimed third with 98. The Bearcats will next compete on Friday, April 26 at the Oregon State University High Performance Meet. They will travel to the Whyte Track & Field Center in Corvallis.