Linfield University's Kira Hawaaboo is headed to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, this week to compete in the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
 
The sophomore from Enumclaw, Washington, is among the leading challengers for a national championship in the women's long jump. She'll compete in that event Thursday at 2:30 p.m. PDT inside Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium.
 
Hawaaboo enters the NCAA Championships ranked fourth in the long jump among a field of 22 entrants. Her best mark of the season came at the NWC Championships when she sailed 19 feet, 6¾ inches.
 
She burst onto the Division III scene this spring in her first season of competitive track and field. She broke a 26-year-old record in the long jump midway through the season, then went on to earn NWC Field Athlete of the Meet after winning NWC titles in the long jump and heptathlon.
 
At the NWC Championships, she not only reset her own school long jump record, but broke Northwest Conference Championship meet record as well. She went to place fifth in the 100-meter dash, sixth in the 200 dash and contributed to Linfield's 4x100 and 4x400 relay squads, which finished second and fourth in the NWC, respectively.
 
Her coach, Travis Olson, believes Hawaaboo's best marks are yet to come.
 
"I certainly expect Kira to not only compete for All-America status but also a national championship," he said. "She is a great competitor that loves big competitions so it would not surprise me for her to be on the podium on Thursday."
 
Linfield's most recent track and field national champion was Olivia McDaniel, who won indoor and outdoor NCAA titles in the pole vault in 2019.