The Northwest Conference Combined Events Championships may not pack stadiums, but it’s a defining moment in the track and field season for athletes like Emily Brown.
“It was really busy,” Brown said, “There weren’t a lot of athletes out on the field, but there was a lot of intensity still with the championships going on. So, it was really easy to have that energy there, even though there weren’t a lot of fans because it’s Monday, Tuesday.”
With warm weather and a tight-knit group of multi-event athletes, the atmosphere was electric.“A lot of people had tons of PRs and good marks,” Brown said, “So that’s good.”
Brown herself had a career-best performance in the women’s heptathlon, which includes seven grueling events across two days: 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put and 200 meters on day one; followed by long jump, javelin and the 800 meters on day two.
“I performed great,” Brown said, “I had four event PRs and an overall PR in the heptathlon, my score overall. So, it was the best I’ve ever done.”
That kind of performance doesn’t come by accident. Brown’s preparation is consistent.“I prepared mentally and physically the same way I do for every track meet,” she explained, “I just try to drink lots of water, eat right, and visualize throughout the week—make sure I have all of my boxes checked.”
Training for the heptathlon is a logistical feat in itself. “We try to make sure we cover all of our events throughout the week,” Brown said. “So, we’ll double up days. We’ll do hurdles and then javelin one day, or shot put and high jump. We lift [on] Monday, Wednesday, Friday and go to the pool [on] Tuesday, Thursday.”
One thing that makes the multi-events unique is the sense of community between athletes.“There are only a few girls and guys from each team that even do the heptathlon or decathlon,” Brown explained, “So everyone kind of knows each other. You can see all the other athletes at different multi-conferences, and you kind of get to know everybody. So, it’s familiar.”
Among the competitors that inspire her, Linfield’s Kira Hawaaboo stands out.“She’s a junior and she’s the two-time multi-conference champ,” Brown said. “She’s really, really good at what she does. So it’s really cool to compete against her and see how I can learn from her by watching.”
Scoring in the combined events can be confusing, but Brown breaks it down, stating, “It’s based off a certain standard—like a distance, time, or height. And if you do better than the mark, you get more points. You’re competing against others, but also trying to beat the standard.”
Looking ahead, Brown sees this meet as a stepping stone. “It’s kind of like a milestone,” said Brown, “Multi-conference is so much earlier than conference, so it feels like just a checkpoint that I got through. Now I’ve got a regular season conference and hopefully Nationals.”
However, Brown has goals for the rest of her 2024-25 season with Whitworth Track and Field. “Just aiming for PRs and trying to do my best,” she explained, “I do have to be an alternate leg for the 4×100 relay, and I don’t normally do the 100, so we just started practicing handoffs this week.”
For Emily Brown, the combined events are more than just a competition — they’re a community, a challenge and a chance to grow. Following the NWC Combined Events Championships, Whitworth Track and Field competed at the NWC Conference Championships, where both the men’s and women’s teams placed second out of nine.
