PORTLAND, Ore. - The Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) has announced that reigning NCAA National Champion Laurenz Waldbauer is the 2026 GNAC Male Athlete of the Year. 

Waldbauer earns the honor after posting his most complete season in a Nighthawk uniform. The senior from Vilsbiburg, Germany came into the 2026 outdoor track & field season with high expectations after finishing as the National Runner-Up a year prior. Waldbauer had a great performance with a throw of 72.06 but fell short to Pittsburg State's Caleb Calvin with a throw of 75.94m. 

This year, his throw of 66.39m was good enough to win his first gold medal since his freshman season in the GNAC. However, he wasn't satisfied with just a conference title. Waldbauer started the national championship with a fault after his first throw sailed wide of the landing area, something he hasn't done is five years of competition. 

Needing a decent throw on his second attempt, he threw a 63.67m. With his third throw, Waldbauer launched the implement 73.53m which now put him in first place and eventually crowned him as champion for the first time in his career.

"Laurenz is a good benchmark for what an NCAA student-athlete should strive for. He is obviously a very gifted individual physically, but he did all of the little things that separate the great from the good. He worked on technique more precisely than others. He approached the weight room differently than others. He was obsessive about prehab and rehab. Watching him prepare for nationals this year was eye-opening – no stone was left unturned. And this pursuit of excellence carried over into the classroom where he maintained a 4.0 GPA through both his undergraduate and graduate career. You really can't achieve more as a student-athlete at the NCAA DII level."
- Greg Mitchell, NNU Head Track & Field Coach

Not only has Waldbauer been a force in competition, he has been a steady force in the classroom. In 2025, Waldbauer earned the NCAA Elite 90 award presented to the individual at each NCAA Championship event holding the highest GPA. He maintained a perfect 4.0 throughout completing his undergraduate degree in global business as well as his M.B.A. He became the second man in GNAC history to earn both the GNAC Male Scholar Athlete of the Year (2025) and the GNAC Male Athlete of the Year awards, joining Seattle Pacific's David Downs who claimed both honors in 2014.

Waldbauer became just the second man since the GNAC was formed in 2001 to win a national title in the javelin. The only other to achieve the feat was GNAC record-holder Cody Parker of Alaska Anchorage, who took home the NCAA gold medal in 2013. He is also just the 11th man in GNAC history to win an outdoor national title in any event, and the first to do so since David Ribich won back-to-back 1,500-meter NCAA titles in 2017 and 2018. He joined 2017 NCAA pole vault champion Payton Lewis as the second man in school history to claim an outdoor NCAA gold medal.

Waldbauer has been the pinnacle of consistency, qualifying for NCAA national four times and fininished on the podium twice with All-American status twice. 

Waldbauer made it two GNAC Male Athlete of the Year winners in-a-row for the Nighthawks, after star baseball pitcher Ernesto Lugo-Canchola took home the award in 2025. They are the only two athlete of the year winners – male or female – for Northwest Nazarene. Overall Waldbauer is the 11th track & field competitor to win the league's top male athlete award.

2026 GNAC Athlete of the Year Awards
GNAC Male Scholar Athlete of the Year – John Peckham, Alaska Anchorage, Cross Country/Track & Field
GNAC Female Scholar Athlete of the Year – Scottie Ellsworth, Central Washington, Volleyball
GNAC Male Athlete of the Year – Laurenz Waldbauer, Northwest Nazarene, Track & Field
GNAC Female Athlete of the Year – Announced June 25