VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – The Pittsburg State University women's indoor track & field stormed to the finish line in the team standings Saturday (Mar. 14) as the Gorillas rallied from behind to capture the 2026 NCAA Division II Indoor National Championship at the Virginia Beach Sports Center.

The Gorillas compiled 69.5 points in the two-day meet to claim the program's fourth all-time national championship and secure back-to-back indoor national crowns. West Texas A&M University secured the national runner-up finish with 59 points and Adams State University placed third with 47 points.

Pitt State hoisted the indoor crown for the second consecutive season after finishing as the national runner-up in 2024, the program's previous benchmark season. The Gorillas finished fourth overall in both 2016 and 2017.
 
The Gorillas, who scored in nine of 17 events overall in the meet, sealed the victory late Saturday afternoon with a 22.5-point outburst by sisters Isabelle and Breanne Peters and Cannon Booker in the pole vault. Isabelle Peters claimed the national title with a personal best clearance of 14 feet, 6 inches, while Breanne Peters also logged a PR with a national runner-up clearance of 14-4. Booker also logged a PR mark of 14-0 to finish in a tie for fourth place in the discipline.
 
Payton Phillips and Lily Brown started Pitt State's point scoring efforts early on Championship Saturday with fourth place and seventh place All-America showings in the pentathlon. Phillips totaled 3,889 points, while Brown compiled 3,836 points.
 
Kayvon Nubine added a fourth place All-America finish in the 60-meter hurdles (8.39) and Jazmine picked up her third All-America medal of the Championships with an eighth place showing in the triple jump (40-3.25), after claiming the national title in the high jump and placing fourth in the long jump Friday.
 
Paige Mullen, who scored a fourth place All-America finish in the 5,000 meters Friday, posted a seventh-place All-America effort in the 3,000 meters Saturday, crossing the finish line in 9:22.70.
 
The 4x400m relay of Nikole Cozort, Isabel Abdouch, Kinleigh Hall and Mikah Edwards closed out the Championships with a fourth-place All-America finish. Their time of 3:40.81 established a new school record while adding the final five points to the Gorillas' team championship point total.

The Gorillas posted their 10th straight top 10 national finish Saturday. Since 2016, the Gorillas have finished fourth (2016), fourth (2017), fifth (2018), sixth (2019), tied for 10th (2021), tied for fifth (2022), tied for eighth (2023), second (2024) and first (2025, 2026) nationally. The 2020 national indoor meet was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Pitt State men also captured the 2026 NCAA Division II Indoor National Championship, marking the second straight year the Gorillas swept both women's and men's indoor track & field titles. The last school to accomplish that feat was St. Augustine's College in 2007.