Cullowhee, N.C. – For the first time since 2018, the Western Carolina women's track and field team is the Southern Conference champion, dethroning the Samford Bulldogs as competition concluded Tuesday at the 2026 SoCon Outdoor Track & Field Championship at the Catamount Athletic Complex. WCU's seven-point, 182.5-175.5, victory is the closest title race on the women's side since the Catamounts secured a four-point, 255-251.5 win over the Bulldogs in 2016.  

Additionally, the Catamount men's team finished as the runner-up to the Samford Bulldogs at the championships, notching 180.5 points as a team for their best performance since posting 186 during their 2019 championship run.

The Catamounts combined for eight individual SoCon championships, 20 All-SoCon finishes, and 75 scoring efforts. Cymoria Thomas (100m & 200m), Toria Roundtree (discus), Jasmine Greene (triple jump), and Emmie Finley (women's hammer) claimed WCU's individual women's titles, while Austin Cline (men's hammer), Anthony Hawkins Jr. (discus), and Christian Roberts (400m Hurdles) took first in their events on the men's side.

Cymoria Thomas paced the Catamount scorers, becoming the first WCU women's runner to sweep the 100m and 200m sprints since Tayla Carter in 2016. Thomas recorded 20 points with her championship crowns, pairing with Shaniya Shirley in the 100m for 16 points, seven more than their projected score of nine in the event. That seven-point swing sparked a Catamount run to close the day.

WCU secured 68 points in the final eight events, including 22 from the triple jump team consisting of event winner Jasmine Greene (12.25m), Raelyn Vadala (11.82m), and Octavia Massena (11.64m) in fourth and fifth-place, Celia Gully in seventh (11.34m), and eighth-place scorer, Gisele Dulnuan-Kersey (11.27m).

The 22-point anchor and strong performances in the shot put by Ericka Jackson, Lexie Durban, and Toria Roundtree, and an event title in the 200m by Thomas, gave the Catamounts a nine-point lead heading into the 4x400m relays to close the day.

McCarey Beaty, Leah Butler, Jada Erwin, and Kyndal Saunders, who filled in for Emma Goins on the 4x400m relay team, posted clean exchanges throughout their final event and cruised to a third-place finish to ultimately ice the team scoring and give the Catamounts their 11th team title in program history, the leading mark among active SoCon members.

Western Carolina's Gaby Reeve earned the Pinnacle Award, sponsored by the Knight Commission, as the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA on the championship-winning team.

On the men's side, scoring was led by two-sport transfer Painter Richards-Baker, who climbed the podium four times with 18 total points. The Hillsborough, N.C., product recorded a runner-up showing in the 110m hurdles (14.24s), finished third in the 400m hurdles (52.83s), and was part of both the 4x100m relay (2nd – 40.94s) and the 4x400m relay (2nd - 3:11.82) teams. Richards-Baker and hurdles partner and 400m hurdles champion Christian Roberts accounted for 34 of WCU's 180.5 points.

Arguably, the most impressive individual performance on the men's competition came from Bradley White. Returning from injury and after rising to second on the all-time performance list in the men's 1,500m run at the Southside Power and Fitness Invitational, the freshman cut nearly four full seconds off his personal best time with a 3:46.45 finish. His circuits broke WCU's 54-year-old event record time of 3:47.62, originally set by Ben Bailey in 1972.

The Catamount men's throws squad also notched impressive performances, accounting for 66 of WCU's points. Austin Cline and Anthony Hawkins Jr. secured conference championships in the hammer and discus, respectively, with Kolton Weaver (2nd – shot put) and Dominick Dale (3rd – hammer) both earning podium placements.

Additionally, WCU's men's jumps squad earned three podium finishes on day two of the championship meet, with Josh Flack and Daniel Coronell commanding two-thirds of the podium by combining for second and third in the high jump, and Nathan Williams taking third in the long jump.  

Western Carolina saw 15 student-athletes collect SoCon All-Freshman team honors over the two-day event. The league's specialty seasonal awards, as voted on by the head coaches, will be released later this week.

 

Western Carolina Day Two Champions:

Women's 100m: Cymoria Thomas

Women's 200m: Cymoria Thomas

Women's Discus: Toria Roundtree

Women's Triple Jump: Jasmine Greene

Men's Discus: Anthony Hawkins Jr.

Men's 400m Hurdles: Christian Roberts

Western Carolina All-Freshman Team Honorees:

Men's 1500m: Bradley White

Men's 200m: Delton Jones

Men's 5000m: Matthias Peterson

Men's Discus: Anthony Hawkins Jr.

Men's High Jump: Daniel Coronell

Men's High Jump: Daniel Coronell

Men's Shot Put: Anthony Hawkins Jr.

Women's 400m: Jada Erwin

Women's 100m: Shaniya Shirley

Women's 400m Hurdles: McCarey Beaty

Women's 200m: Shaniya Shirley

Women's 200m: Jada Erwin

Heptathlon: Celia Gully

Heptathlon: McCarey Beaty

Women's Triple Jump: Celia Gully