SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Linfield University track and field star Kira Hawaaboo broke a nine-year old school record in the women's heptathlon on Friday, scoring 4,629 points at the Klein/Nwaba Combined Events meet on the campus of Westmont College.
 
In surpassing her previous best score of 4,495 points set during the 2024 Northwest Conference Championships, Hawaaboo eclipsed Olivia Bannerot's all-time mark of 4,573 points set in 2016. The record-setting mark placed her third in a field of 24 competitors at the Klein/Nwaba meet, trailing only unattached athlete Jordan Eggerth (4,697) and Macy Clemens from Western Oregon (4,639).
 
Hawaaboo's 4,629 points represent the second-highest point total by a NCAA Division III heptathlete this spring, trailing only Ripon University's Bridget Finn, who this week recorded a nation-leading mark of 4,718 points.
 
Hawaaboo, in only her second season of organized track and field, has been on a roll as of late. Last week, she placed fourth in the women's long jump at the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships. For the second consecutive season the junior from Enumclaw, Washington, was honored as the West Region Indoor Field Athlete of the Year by the USTFCCA.
 
Competing at the same meet, Linfield's Durham Huson placed 10th in the men's decathlon with a score of 5,404 points. Huson, a sophomore out of Hillsboro's Glencoe High School, improved his score by 528 points.
 
AHEAD
Linfield athletes return to action next Saturday, March 29, in Forest Grove, where the Wildcats are scheduled to compete in the annual Pacific Open starting at 9 a.m.