SPOKANE, Wash. – Northwest Nazarene track & field had a fantastic two days at the 2023 GNAC Indoor Championships on Monday and Tuesday, claiming six individual titles, 14 top-three finishes, three new school records, and multiple PRs across the men's and women's squads.
 
As a team, the men placed third with 121 points, just four back of runner-up Western Washington and 10 behind champions Western Oregon in a tightly contested title battle. The finish equals the NNU men's best-ever finish at GNAC indoors, also placing third in 2008, 2014, and 2017. The point total is the highest in program history by a significant margin, though, bettering the 2011 mark of 104.33 by over 15 points.
 
On the women's side, the Nighthawks placed sixth with 54 points, achieving their highest finish since a fifth-place result eight years ago in 2015. Western Oregon also claimed the women's title to sweep the championships, with Western Washington and Simon Fraser rounding out the top three.
 
"Going into this meet our goal was all about points," said head coach Danny Bowman. "And did we show that. On the men's side we scored the most in program history. The men were selfless and worked hard to achieve those points. Though we were 10 points out of first, I am proud of how well we did."
 
"The women also scored well. Overall, it was a well, hard fought meet. Lots of PRs and school record and national marks. I personally would like to thank all the parents and fans that were there. Your support of us is priceless. I also would like to thank my coach staff: Coach Burr, Coach Cantrell, Coach Eastman, Coach Mahr, Coach Mitchell, Coach Peterson, and Coach Ziegler for all you do for our student-athletes."
 
Steven Schmidt was a force for the Nighthawks in multiple events, finishing on the podium in four out of four tries. He won titles in the heptathlon and long jump while grabbing a runner-up finish in the high jump and third place in the pole vault. His 34 points scored are second-most in GNAC history at an indoor meet, just one point behind the record set by Chris Randolph of Seattle Pacific in 2005.
 
"First off I want to thank God," said Schmidt. "I want to thank my coaches and training partners as I wouldn't have been able to do it without them. This meet went really well. We went into this meet trying to get at least 25 points, I knew I could do more but that was kind of what we were shooting for. Ending with 34 points was really cool and I was absolutely wiped out after the 10th event."
 
"It really bummed me out that we were so close to the GNAC title, but it just keeps me hungry for more. Now I'm just going to rest up and try and go do something fun at Nationals."
 
Schmidt started things off with a bang on Monday, making history in the high jump portion of the heptathlon. He cleared a personal best of 2.14 meters (7-0.25) that is an NNU record, facility record at The Podium, third all-time in GNAC history, and tied for seventh in Division II this season.
 
Along with the high jump, he also took first in the long jump and shot put portions while taking second in the other four events to run away with the heptathlon title. His total of 5386 points was over 500 points clear of second place and is a new NNU record, fourth in GNAC history, and seventh in Division II.
 
If that wasn't enough, Schmidt was also crowned the long jump champion with a leap of 6.98 meters (22-10.75), the runner-up in the high jump at 1.94 meters (6-4.25), and earned a third-place finish in the pole vault at 4.41 meters (14-5.5). For his efforts, Schmidt was named the Men's Field Athlete of the Meet and earned the Men's Performance of the meet for his record high jump clearance.
 
Destany Herbert contributed to the women's point totals in both the shot put and weight throw, highlighted by an individual shot put title with a toss of 13.59 meters (44-7). The title is Herbert's first after runner-up finishes in the event at both indoors and outdoors last year. She also finished fourth in the weight throw with a mark of 15.05 meters (49-4.5), bringing her meet total to 15 points.
 
"I'm happy with how I performed," said Herbert. "All day I had in my head 'compete for those who didn't make the trip,' which was from a text that Coach Bowman sent us yesterday that really resonated in my heart. I know this is such a special opportunity that I've earned and I wanted to make sure to work hard to make all of my team proud."
 
Dylan Hendry had identical finishes to Herbert on the men's side, except the events were switched with Hendry taking the GNAC weight throw title and placing fifth in the shot put. He set a new personal best of 17.54 meters (57-6.5) in the weight throw that is fourth in NNU history to earn his first conference title, along with a toss of 13.93 meters (45-8.5) in the shot put.
 
"After my performance at last year's indoor conference meet, I was eager to redeem myself this year," said Hendry. "I knew that I was becoming a better thrower, and that I had a big throw coming. I just had to put it all together, and I was able to put together a good enough throw to win conference."
 
"I was so excited after seeing my throw go way past the 16-meter line and I knew that I had finally gotten a PR for this season. It made me so happy to see a lot of my teammates there watching me, cheering me on, and hugging me after I had my best throw ever in weight."
 
Kinsey Yenor registered the NNU women's second GNAC title with a dominating effort in the pole vault, clearing a mark of 3.73 meters (12-2.75) that was nearly six inches above the second place finisher.
 
Gerohm Rihari had the Nighthawks' final individual championship, edging out teammate Schmidt in the men's high jump with a winning clearance of 1.99 meters (6-6.25) that is fourth in school history.
 
NNU had six other top-three finishes, including silver medals from Turner Nye in the pole vault (4.41m) and Morgan Erler in the 3000m run (10:14.99, third in NNU history). Nye also earned points in the 60m hurdles with a fourth-place finish.
 
Erler was also part of the women's Distance Medley Relay squad that placed third, joining with Alejandra Gomez, Makenze Knowles, and Olivia Klein to cross the finish line at 12:28.25, ninth-best in school history.
 
Other third-place finishes came from Brayden Durfee twice (60m, 6.95 and 400m, 49.09) and Hunter Braseth (200m, 22.02). Durfee also placed sixth in the 200m, totaling 15 points at the meet.
 
Abbey Wood just missed the podium with fourth-place finishes in both the 60m and 200m to score 10 points for the women. Her mark of 24.88 seconds in the 200m eclipsed her own NNU record by .25 seconds.
 
Other point scorers were Jacob Kiesman (shot put, fourth, 13.98m), Anderson Kron (60m hurdles, sixth, 8.68), Jacob Steele (high jump, sixth, 1.84m), Quincy Ellis (800m, seventh, 1:54.65), Derek Knight (weight throw, eighth, 14.60m), and Nizhoni Buckway (shot put, eighth, 10.74m).
 
"I'm really proud of how the team performed," said one of NNU's captains, Nicholas Wong. "We've been putting in hard work since September and it clearly showed today. It was awesome to see the whole team cheer for one another and see some records broken!"
 
While most of the team will now set their sights on the outdoor season, a couple of Nighthawks may have one more indoor meet on their schedule at the 2023 NCAA DII Indoor Championships from March 10-11 in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Steven Schmidt is essentially a lock to go, and will see how he fares nationally in both the high jump and heptathlon, currently ranked seventh in the country in both events. On the women's side, Kinsey Yenor will hope that her PR of 3.92 meters in the pole vault from a few weeks ago is enough to earn qualification, currently ranked 14^th nationally (18 vaulters earned spots at the national meet a year ago).