SPOKANE, Wash. -- While the George Fox track & field team wasn't able to clinch their ninth straight Northwest Conference sweep, the Bruin men took home the NWC Championship while the women placed second.

Top Performers
The men's 4x100-meter relay, consisting of Ezra Clark, Carson Tapia, Owen Gurney, and Caleb Smith, kicked the day off with a bang, claiming first place with a season's best mark , 41.70. 

Hope Bridge came in for the women's 1500-meter, running a personal best of 4:45.64 to earn third place. On the men's side, Westin Madden also came in third, tracking another personal best, 3:55.18. 

Makaylah Johnson competed in the 100-meter hurdles, just trailing in second with 14.46 (a new D3 No. 20), behind Allyson Hammond of Pacific, who set the meet record with 13.91. Senior Blake Smith grabbed first place for the men, coming in at 14.81. 

Karys Gates ran a big personal best in the 400 meters, 57.60.

On the field side, Freshman Kristian Carrington jumped 45-01.50 in the triple jump to get second. 

Two Bruins saw the podium for pole vault - Luke Nelson finishing first, 15-04.25, and Zeke Sikkema, 13-10.50, to fall in third. Candice Mugo-Wainaina finished with a third-place effort in the women's discus, throwing a 129-10.

Carson Tapia, meanwhile, continued the blazing start to his Bruin career with a victory in the 100m with a time of 10.71. Tapia, who set the 200m program record in the prelims the day before, made sure to blazer by his record with a personal best time of 21.16 in the 200m finals, winning the event. In the women's 200m, Janice Hellesto finished third with a 25.13.

The Bruins were also all over the board in the 800m finals. Hope Bridge finished second on the women's side with a time of 2:18.01, while Gavin Humphrys (1:53.97) and Larry Trefry (1:54.02) finished second and third, respectively.

The distance squad continued to show out, with Chloe Cook capturing the 5000m conference championship by nine seconds with a 17:35.10, while Kellen Ruiz placed third on the men's side with a 14:54.27.

The day concluded with the men's 4x400m relay, where the Bruin team of Conner Christy, Blake Smith, Larry Trefry, and Caleb Smith finished in second place with a season-best effort of 3:18.25.

As a team, the Bruins nearly pulled off a men's and women's championship sweep for the ninth consecutive year. The men picked up their ninth straight title, scoring a total of 214.5 points, ahead of second-place Whitworth's 182. The Pirates took the title for the women, scoring 218 points as the Bruins scored 191.5

With the men's title, head coach John Smith was named the men's track and field coach of the year for yet another time. Two of his athletes, meanwhile, picked up awards: Carson Tapia was the men's rookie of the meet, while Makaylah Johnson was women's rookie of the meet.

What Comes Next
While the NWC season has come to a close, the Bruins still have a month until the NCAA Championships. Select Bruins will compete at the OSU High Performance meet on Friday, May 1.