The road to Hayward Field runs through Lexington and Fayetteville this week, with the NCAA Division I First Rounds kicking off May 27 to determine who books a ticket to the 2026 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships from June 10 to 13.
Most of these athletes will make it through. A few won’t — that’s the nature of regionals, and that’s part of why it’s worth tuning in early. Either way, this window — this postseason, this senior class, this last college season for many — is the moment to watch. Here are seventeen of the very best, the stories worth knowing, and the performances that have the rest of the country chasing them.
Jane Hedengren — BYU, distance
A freshman with a 14:50 5000m and a 30:46 10,000m. Those numbers don’t usually belong to a college freshman; they belong to Olympians. Hedengren has been the breakout star of the entire 2026 season, and a Hayward Field appearance would give her a stage to confirm she’s the future of American distance running. Her duel with Alabama’s Doris Lemngole (more on her below) is the headliner of the women’s distance program.
Adaejah Hodge — Georgia, sprints
A 10.77 and a 21.92 as a freshman. Hodge dominated the junior ranks for years before arriving at Georgia, and 2026 is her first NCAA-level championship run — the moment everyone in track has been waiting for. She’s the fastest woman in the East regional in both the 100m and the 200m, and she anchors a Georgia squad chasing back-to-back team titles after Caryl Smith Gilbert’s group won the 2025 championship. If she sweeps, she becomes one of the faces of college athletics overnight.
Doris Lemngole — Alabama, distance
The defending Bowerman Award winner. The reigning NCAA cross-country champion. The toughest racer in the women’s distance ranks. Lemngole hasn’t lost a distance race to NCAA competition in over a year — and the only person who looks capable of changing that is Jane Hedengren. Watch her in the 5000m and the steeplechase; she’s a tactical genius who saves her best closing kicks for the biggest meets.
Samuel Ogazi — Alabama, 400m
A 43.95 seed time. There are pro 400m runners around the world who haven’t run that this year. Ogazi is the defending NCAA outdoor 400m champ and the headliner of an Alabama men’s team that’s quietly stacked. His head-to-head with Georgia freshman Jonathan Simms (44.02 seed) and Arkansas’s Jordan Pierre (44.12) is the must-watch one-lap race of the championships — three of the four fastest 400m runners in the entire NCAA, all on collision course.
Habtom Samuel — New Mexico, distance
13:03 for 5000m. 27:30 for 10,000m. Samuel has been the man to beat in NCAA distance racing for two seasons, and he’s still here. His Lobo teammate Pamela Kosgei (15:03 / 30:49 — yes, those are women’s times) makes New Mexico the most dangerous distance program in the country on either side. Coach Joe Franklin’s group is the one that quietly turns regional dust into national medals.
Eddie Nketia — USC, sprints
The Trojans are co-defending men’s champions with Texas A&M, and Nketia is a huge reason they’re a betting favorite again. He ran a wind-aided 9.74 in the 100m and a 20.03 in the 200m at the Big Ten Championships in May to win both titles, and earned NCAA Co-Athlete of the Week honors for the performance. A sprint double at the national meet would be one of the postseason’s signature moments — and his sub-9.74 if it stays legal would put him in rarified collegiate air.
Garrett Kaalund — USC, sprints
Nketia’s running mate. Kaalund set the NCAA indoor 200m record this winter with a 19.95 — the fastest collegiate indoor time in seven years — and brings a 19.85 outdoor PR into the postseason. Together, he and Nketia give USC a 1-2 punch in the 200m that no other team can match. Pay attention to him on the 4×100 relay anchor too; the Trojans’ sprint depth is what makes them dangerous in the team race.
Jelani Watkins — Arkansas, sprints
A former college football player who’s now running 9.82 in the 100m and 19.87 in the 200m on home dirt for the West regional in Fayetteville. Watkins is a folk hero in the making — a second-chance athlete with sprint speed that’s about to make Arkansas a serious team-title threat. The Razorbacks haven’t won a men’s title since 2005, but with Watkins, Pierre, and a stacked relay, this might be the year.
Sanu Jallow-Lockhart — Arkansas, 800m
The fastest woman in college 800m running. Jallow-Lockhart’s 1:58.82 seed is the only sub-1:59 mark in the NCAA this year, and she’s been on every Bowerman watch list of the 2026 season. She anchors an Arkansas women’s 4×400 (3:20 seed — record territory) that should add a relay title to her individual hardware. The Razorbacks women are chasing their first NCAA outdoor team title since 2019, and the path runs through her.
Ja’Kobe Tharp — Auburn, 110m hurdles
The reigning NCAA champion in the 110 hurdles, with a season-best 13.05. Tharp also doubles as U.S. national champion in the event, which makes him as decorated as any hurdler in the country regardless of category. Auburn finished runner-up at the men’s championships in 2024 by a single point, and Tharp is the kind of dependable champion who turns a near-miss into a title.
Geoffrey Kirwa — Louisville, steeplechase
An 8:08 seed in the 3000m steeplechase — fastest in the NCAA by nearly 20 seconds. Kirwa is the kind of athlete who could make the most technically demanding distance race look easy, then close in 56 seconds when somebody tries to go with him. He’ll be chasing defending NCAA champ James Corrigan of BYU (8:13.87 PR), and the two of them might just rewrite the collegiate record book. If you’ve never watched a steeple final, this could be the one that hooks you.
Temitope Adeshina — Texas Tech, high jump
A 1.95m clearance heading into the postseason — the best mark in the country and within striking distance of the collegiate record. Adeshina has been on every Bowerman watch list of the year, and the high jump is one of those events where the difference between fourth place and a national title is one bar. Texas Tech as a women’s team is a sleeping giant in this meet, and Adeshina is the centerpiece.
Jonathan Seremes — Texas Tech, triple jump
The reigning NCAA indoor triple jump champion comes into the postseason with a 17.09m seed — over half a foot ahead of his nearest collegiate rival. Seremes is the kind of athlete who turns the triple jump into appointment viewing: tall, technical, and ridiculously consistent. Pair him with Adeshina in the high jump and Texas Tech becomes one of the more dangerous combined-team threats in the meet.
Hana Moll — Washington, pole vault
A 4.83m seed, the highest in the country. Her twin sister Amanda Moll is right behind her at 4.63m, and the two of them could meet in the same flight at the national meet — a sibling duel for an NCAA title is the kind of storyline that draws in fans who don’t usually follow track. Cheering for the Mollses isn’t optional; it’s mandatory.
Axelina Johansson — Nebraska, shot put
The Swede broke the NCAA indoor shot put record in December 2025 with a 19.72m heave, then backed it up with a 19.97m mark — the best in the country — heading into the West regional. Johansson is a Bowerman watchlister and has been the most consistent thrower in college track all season. If Nebraska finishes as a top-five women’s team, it’s because she scores ten points by herself.
Tarik Robinson-O’Hagan — Ole Miss, throws
Three-time NCAA shot put champion (2024 indoor, 2024 outdoor, 2025 indoor) with a 21.18m PR — and he scores in the hammer too. Robinson-O’Hagan is the most decorated returning thrower in college track, and the kind of athlete who can quietly carry a team to the podium with a 20-point weekend by himself. He’s the closest thing the men’s championships have to a guaranteed win.
Alicia Burnett — Ole Miss, sprints
The reigning SEC indoor 60m champion brings a 10.94 seed to the East regional 100m — top three in the country. Burnett has been quietly putting together one of the most complete sprint seasons in the SEC, and she’s the reason Ole Miss has a real shot at scoring meaningful points in the sprints alongside Robinson-O’Hagan’s throws haul. Watch her on the relay too; the Rebels’ 4×100 is built around her speed.
The LA 2028 angle
Here’s the thing about this list: it’s also a preview of Team USA — and a handful of other national teams — at the next Olympic Games. Los Angeles 2028 is just over two years out, and most of these athletes will be in peak form when the torch arrives in California.
Samuel Ogazi is already a Nigerian international who anchored relays at the Tokyo World Championships. Adaejah Hodge represents the British Virgin Islands and has been on Olympic radars since she was sixteen. Habtom Samuel runs for Eritrea, Geoffrey Kirwa for Kenya, Tima Godbless and Athaleyha Hinckson for Nigeria — and that’s just on the LSU women’s relay alone. The NCAA isn’t just American track’s farm system anymore; it’s the global one.
It’s worth noting where most of these athletes train. Of the seventeen on this list, eight compete in the SEC — Lemngole and Ogazi at Alabama, Tharp at Auburn, Hodge at Georgia, Robinson-O’Hagan and Burnett at Ole Miss, Watkins and Jallow-Lockhart at Arkansas. The Big Ten chips in with USC’s Nketia and Kaalund, Washington’s Hana Moll, and Nebraska’s Axelina Johansson — four of the most credentialed athletes in the country. The Big 12 lands its punch through BYU’s Jane Hedengren and Texas Tech’s Adeshina and Seremes. Rounding out the list: Louisville’s Geoffrey Kirwa flies the flag for the ACC, and Habtom Samuel keeps the Mountain West in the conversation from New Mexico. The conferences’ grip on Olympic-pipeline talent is the defining college sports story of the decade, and it shows up nowhere more clearly than in track and field.
For the homegrown US side: Jelani Watkins, Hana and Amanda Moll, Eddie Nketia (New Zealand-eligible but raised stateside), Garrett Kaalund, and Ja’Kobe Tharp are all legitimate US Olympic team candidates for 2028. Tharp already made the US World Championship team last summer. The Mollses might be the best American pole vault duo since Stacy Dragila’s era. Kaalund’s 19.95 indoor would have been Olympic-final caliber in Paris.
The pipeline from Hayward Field to the Olympic stadium has never been shorter. Watching these athletes now is watching the start of the LA 2028 storyline — three summers early, when the names are still affordable to back and the stories still belong to fans rather than brands.
Why this matters now
Most of these athletes will turn pro within twelve months. The shoe companies are watching, the agents are circling, and the next time you see them compete it’ll be in Diamond League uniforms or Olympic kits. Right now, though, they’re representing schools, running for teammates, and — through platforms like RallyFuel — building direct relationships with the fans who got behind them early.
NIL changed the model: you don’t have to wait for someone to go pro to support them. You can fuel a championship run while it’s actually happening. So pick a name from this list, pick a school, and tune in. Hayward Field, June 10 to 13. The next generation is showing up.
Got a hot take on who’s bringing home a national title? Make your predictions and back the athletes you believe in before the rest of the country catches on. See all track & field athletes on RallyFuel →
Frequently Asked Questions
When are the 2026 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships?
The 2026 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships run from Wednesday, June 10 through Saturday, June 13, 2026, at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. The men’s and women’s championships are held simultaneously on a split-gender format: men compete on Wednesday and Friday, women on Thursday and Saturday.
How do NCAA track athletes qualify for the championships?
Athletes first have to advance through the NCAA First Rounds (also called regionals), held May 27–30 in Lexington (hosted by the University of Kentucky) and Fayetteville (hosted by Arkansas). The top 12 finishers in each individual event at each regional advance to the championships in Eugene. The top 12 relay teams from each region also advance. Heptathlon and decathlon athletes skip the regional round and qualify directly via the national descending-order list.
How can I watch the 2026 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships?
All four days of the championships will air on the ESPN family of networks, primarily ESPN2 in the 8 p.m. ET window each evening. ESPN+ also carries the regional rounds and additional sessions throughout the event. Check ESPN’s schedule closer to the meet for combined-event and field-event coverage windows.
Who is the defending NCAA Outdoor Track & Field team champion?
On the women’s side, Georgia (head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert) won the 2025 NCAA Outdoor team title with 73 points, ahead of Southern California’s 47. On the men’s side, Southern California and Texas A&M shared the 2025 title with 41 points each, edging Arkansas by a single point.
What is the Bowerman Award?
The Bowerman is college track and field’s equivalent of the Heisman — given annually to the most outstanding male and female athletes in NCAA Division I track and field. The 2025 winners were Jordan Anthony (men’s) and Doris Lemngole (women’s). Lemngole returns to defend her title in 2026 and is featured on this list.
How does NIL work for college track athletes?
NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) gives college athletes the right to earn money from their personal brand while still competing in the NCAA. For track athletes — who historically had to wait until turning pro to monetize their athletic careers — NIL is transformative. Through platforms like RallyFuel, fans can directly back athletes during their college careers rather than waiting for shoe-company deals to land. Learn more in the RallyFuel NIL glossary.
Who are the favorites to win team titles in 2026?
On the women’s side, Georgia enters as defending champ with a stacked sprint corps led by Adaejah Hodge; Arkansas, USC, Texas A&M, and South Carolina are the top challengers. On the men’s side, USC and Texas A&M return as co-champions, with Arkansas (home crowd at regionals), Alabama, Auburn, Florida, and Tennessee all in the title conversation.
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