PORTLAND, Ore. – Emy Ntekpere’s 2025 track and field season at Central Washington University was nothing short of spectacular.
She broke records seemingly every time she competed, won three NCAA Division II national titles and on Thursday was announced as the 2024-25 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Female Athlete of the Year. She is the second woman and fourth student-athlete in school history to earn the top individual award from the conference and is the 12th women’s track & field athlete to receive the honor. Other CWU winners were LeAnne McGahuey (volleyball) in 2005-06, Mike Reilly (football) in 2008-09 and Johnny Spevak (football) in 2009-10.
Anyone who has followed GNAC track & field has seen this coming since Ntekpere debuted as a freshman in 2023-24, as she just missed the podium at both the indoor and outdoor national championships. A year later, Ntekpere has grown into the preeminent jumper in Division II. After claiming the gold medals in both the high jump and triple jump at the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, she was named the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association National Field Athlete of the Year.
Ntekpere’s first national title came during the indoor campaign, when she broke the conference indoor record with a jump of 42-8 feet (13.0 meters) on her fourth attempt on March 14 in Indianapolis. The competition wasn’t close among the field of 18 jumpers, with Pittsburg State’s Auna Childress finishing a distant second at 41-11.5 feet (12.79 meters). Ntekpere’s second- and third-best jumps also would have won her the national championship. She doubled down as an All-American in the high jump, clearing 5-10 feet (1.78 meters) to finish in sixth place. That mark was also a GNAC indoor all-time record.
The sophomore’s success on the national stage came after a dominant performance at the GNAC Indoor Championships, where she won gold in both the long jump and triple jump, took bronze in the high jump and placed fifth in the 60-meter hurdles. Ntekpere’s long jump of 19-3.25 feet (5.87 meters) was fourth-best in GNAC indoor history, and her 30 points scored were the most among any athlete at the meet. She was named the GNAC Field Athlete of the Meet and the GNAC Indoor Field Athlete of the Year.
Ntekpere quickly got to work on the outdoor record books, breaking the GNAC records in the triple jump at 43-6 feet (13.26 meters) and high jump at 5-10.5 feet (1.79 meters) and posting the 10th-best long jump at 19-4.75 feet (5.91 meters) in her first meet of the campaign.
