Extraordinary Bearcats Earn Third in Conference

SPOKANE, Wash. — Through preliminaries and final events, the Bearcats vied against eight teams in the 2026 NorthWest Conference Championships. A small group against a large number of opponents, they defied the odds and earned third place in the championships with 92 points and a significant lead against the fourth-place team, thanks to stellar perfomances both days of competition. The top eight athletes in qualifying events move on to finals, earning points for their team based on their perfomance in the final.

Anastasiia Lemesh took third place in the 3000m Steeplechase on the first day of competition, finishing with a personal best (PB) of 11:29.75 minutes. There were several impressive performances in the qualifying races, however not all made it to finals. In the 100m Prelims, all three Bearcats earned PBs: Lavender Bel with 12.22 seconds, Mashani Coleman Toliver with 12.43 seconds, and Wendy Brannon with 12.96, breaking 13.00 seconds. Bel and Coleman continued to finals, having placed third and fifth in the prelims. In the 200m Prelims, Bel achieved another PB (25.20 seconds) and Anna Bikle in the 800m Prelims got one too (2:18.51 minutes), both moving on to finals. Sage Miller ran 1:09.43 in the 400m Hurdle Prelims, earning 11th.

In Pole Vault, Rema Holmes cleared 2.78 meters, marking a new PB and taking 14th overall. Whitley Stepp earned third in Long Jump, jumping 5.44 meters (PB). Ella Thompson took eight in Long Jump, also adding points to the team's total. In Hammer Throw, Olivia Jacobson took 10th and Henri Osborne 12th, while in Shot Put Osborne earned ninth place. 

The second day of throwing events began with Javelin Throw, in which Erica Snyder got 10th place. In Discus, Nanea Cobb-Adams took 13th, and Jacobson 15th. In High Jump, Snyder earned second place by clearing 1.63 meters in a jump-off, having originally tied with another competitor. Stepp also competed in High Jump, taking fifth place. Amanda McArthur secured fourth place in Triple Jump.

In the first race of the second day, the 4x100m Relay finished in 47.92 seconds, the second-best time for Willamette. Bel ran as first leg, exchanging the baton with Coleman swiftly. After she handed off to Thompson, Thompson took off and created a significant lead, further extended by the anchor, Brannon. In the final meter of the race, the Whitworth team barely managed to pass Brannon, but the excitement of the race set the tone for the rest of the day. In the following 1500m, Bikle crossed the finish line at 4:49.57 minutes (PB), followed by Lemesh; Bikle earned fifth, and Lemesh sixth. Coleman took fourth in the 100m Hurdles, and Bel eighth. They raced again in the 100m, where Bel rose to third place and Coleman took fifth. Bikle also had another race, the 800m, in which she secured fourth place.

In the 400m Hurdles, Coleman raced yet again, this time alongside Juniper Ammirati. Coleman earned second, coming in at 1:03.21 minutes (PB), while Ammirati beat out one competitor to take seventh. Bel earned fourth place in the 200m, while Elise Henderson earned 15th in the 5000m. In the final event, the 4x400m Relay, the team of Coleman, Thompson, Ammirati, and Bel closed out the competition in a competitive race, earning fourth place with a season-best time of 4:02.12 minutes.