BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Led by a 7th-place finish from sophomore Nicole Avery, the Western Washington University had four competitors in the two-day GNAC Combined Championships that were held Monday and Tuesday at Civic Stadium.

 

Avery earned the Vikings two points towards the GNAC Outdoor Championships team standings with her top-eight finish, scoring 3,919 points. The sophomore recorded a personal-best mark in the long jump with a leap of 5.14m/16-10.5 to place 5th and score 598 points. She also placed 4th in the javelin with a mark of 30.72m/100-9.

 

Freshman Karma Walker finished just outside of scoring points in 9th place with 3,779 points, while setting a PR in four of the seven events. Walker recorded a PR in all three events during Tuesday's final day of competition.

 

Freshmen Cassandra Schulberg (3,139 Points) and Tess King (2,872 Points) placed 11th and 12th in the 12-athelte competition.

 

Vivien Liessfeld of Alaska Anchorage took home the heptathlon title with an NCAA Provisional Qualifying mark of 4,639 points while winning three events (Shot Put, Long Jump, Javelin). Macy Clemens of Western Oregon earned the silver medal (4,428 points) and Hannah Chang of Seattle Pacific placed 3rd (4,365 Points).

 

The GNAC Combined Championships also featured the men's 10-event decathlon with Central Washington's Drew Klein backing up his indoor heptathlon victory by winning the outdoor title with 6,709 points. Klein was just off his PR of 6,881 points recorded earlier this season at the Texas State Bobcat Invitational, a mark that currently ranked No. 12 in NCAA II. Gabe Burchfield of Western Oregon finished 2nd (6,249 Points) and Anders Larsen of Alaska Anchorage was 3rd (6,230 Points).

The Vikings wrap up the regular season portion of the schedule this weekend with a handful of student-athlete competing at the Portland Twilight on Saturday in Portland at Griswold Stadium. Katie Potts and Liam Wall will compete in the discus at the Oregon Twilight Friday night in Eugene. WWU's next full-team competition will be the 2024 GNAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships held May 10-11 in Ellensburg. The Vikings are the defending men's and women's champions from last year's outdoor conference championships. The complete 2024 WWU Track & Field schedule can be viewed online at wwuvikings.com/TF.