BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Western Washington University Track & Field student-athletes Maurice Woodring and Katie Potts have been selected as GNAC Athletes of the Week following standout competition at the Triton Invite over the weekend.
 
Woodring earned his second GNAC Track Athlete of the Week award this season, also earning the honor for events held March 3-9. Potts won her school-record eighth GNAC Field Athlete of the Week award in her sixth year of competition for the Vikings, breaking a tie with men's sprinter Alex Donigian and women's javelin thrower Bethany Drake.
 
Woodring (Puyallup, WA/Puyallup HS) won the 400m hurdles on Saturday at the Triton Invite in La Jolla, California, breaking WWU's 52-year-old school record in the event in 51.69 seconds. Woodring's time is the fastest this season by a GNAC runner in the event and the 7th-fastest in NCAA Division II so far in 2025. His mark moved up to No. 2 in GNAC history now only trailing the conference record of 51.48 set by Simon Fraser's Vladislav Tsygankov in 2017.
 
"Maurice has been locked in this year and our hurdle coach Laurent Birade thinks there is more to come from Mo," said WWU head coach Ben Stensland. "Taking down a 52-year-old school record is something special, and he's got his eyes set on the GNAC legend Vlad Tsygankov's record as well."
 
Potts (Everett, WA/Glacier Peak HS) posted a provisional national qualifying mark in the discus with a season-best mark of 46.56m/152-9 at the Triton Invite (2nd-best mark of her career). That lifted her name to the top of the GNAC performance list and stands as the No. 18 throw thus far in Division II this spring. Potts also competed in the shot put at the event, where she logged a season-best mark of 13.82m/45-4.25 to rank 4th in the GNAC this season.
 
"Katie has been working incredibly hard her whole career at Western. We talk about buildup to breakthrough in our program and Katie has been in the process of building something special," said Stensland. "Coach (Damien) Fisher has been doing an incredible job and we are all getting excited about things coming together for Katie in the next couple weeks."
  The Vikings are back in action Saturday (April 12) at the Battle of Sparta hosted by Trinity Western University at McLeod Athletic Park in Langley, B.C. WWU will host four home meets over the next month with the Pee Wee Halsell Collegiate Invite (April 25), Ralph Vernacchia Invitational (April 26), GNAC Multis Championships (April 28-29) and the GNAC Outdoor Championships (May 9-10) in Bellingham at Civic Stadium. The complete 2025 WWU Track & Field schedule can be viewed online at wwuvikings.com/TF.
  The Vikings swept the team titles at the 2025 GNAC Indoor Championships earning the title of conference indoor champions for the second consecutive season. Dating back to the 2022 calendar year, the WWU men have won nine of 10 possible titles in cross country, indoor and outdoor, while the women have combined for seven of 10 titles. The Western track & field and cross country program has a current string of 12 consecutive team titles across men's and women's dating back to the 2023 outdoor championships.