MANHATTAN, Kan. Kansas State’s men’s and women’s track and field teams will send 21 athletes to the NCAA Championship from Wednesday through Saturday (June 10–13) at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. The men’s squad features a program-record 14 competitors.
Men’s events are scheduled for Wednesday and Friday, while women’s events will take place on Thursday and Saturday. General admission tickets start at $28. All four days will be broadcast on ESPN or ESPN2 beginning at 7 p.m. CT, with individual field events available for streaming on ESPN+.
The 14 men will compete across six events: Aaron Antoine (triple jump), Dorian Charles (decathlon), Tah Chikomba (long jump), Croix DaCunha (long jump), Apalos Edwards (triple jump), Riley Marx (javelin), Gary Moore Jr. (hammer throw), Selva Prabhu (triple jump), Uroy Ryan (long jump), Emil Uhlin (decathlon), and the 4×400 relay team.
Seven women will compete in four events: Aaliyah Lindsay (long jump), Vanessa Mercera (400m hurdles), Destini Smith (triple jump), Daniela Wamokpego (triple jump), and the 4×400 relay team.
Six Wildcats are making their second straight outdoor championship appearance, and the team includes seven freshmen. Seven athletes also competed in the NCAA Indoor Championship in March.
Chikomba leads the men’s jumps group after a wind-aided 8.75m (28′ 8.5″) leap at the NCAA West Preliminary on May 27 the world leader under all conditions. He was added to The Bowerman watch list on June 4, collegiate track and field’s highest honor for the top male and female athletes. His mark ranks No. 8 in world history. He won the Big 12 title with an 8.27m (27′ 1.75″) jump, now the K-State outdoor school record. A junior, this is his first outdoor NCAA Championship after two years at Meridian Community College (NJCAA).
Wamokpego is a returning national champion from the 2026 indoor season. This year, she jumped 13.77m (45′ 1.5″) at the Rock Chalk Classic third-best in the NCAA and second in K-State history. Last season at Iowa, she earned All-America Honorable Mention with an 18th-place finish.
Mercera, a senior from Curaçao, is headed to her first NCAA Championship. In the 400m hurdles, her 55.39-second clocking is tied for seventh-fastest in the NCAA, won her the Big 12 title, and stands as the school record. She has also anchored the 4×400 relay five times this season.
Prabhu, another K-State conference champion, has the No. 4 wind-legal jump nationally. At the Big 12 Championship, he leaped 17.19m (56′ 4.75″) with a 4.6 m/s wind, then took second at the West Prelims with 16.68m (54′ 8.75″). Last season, the sophomore from India was the only K-State jumper to earn First Team honors, placing fifth.
The last time K-State had two men in the NCAA decathlon was 2019 (Aaron Booth sixth, Simone Fassina). Uhlin is making his third consecutive decathlon appearance; in 2025 he finished third for his first First Team All-America honor. The senior from Sweden qualified with 7,773 points at the David Noble Relays, just 86 shy of his personal best.
Charles, a redshirt freshman, was runner-up at the Big 12 decathlon with 7,748 points eighth in K-State history and won the javelin at 64.91m (212′ 11″).
Marx is back in the javelin for a second straight outdoor nationals after Second Team All-America honors last year. The junior from Andover, Kan., broke the school record at the Stanford Invitational and later threw a personal-best 75.52m (247′ 9″) at the NCAA first round for third place.
Ryan returns to Eugene after a ninth-place long jump finish last year with Arkansas. At the West Prelims, the sophomore took third with an outdoor best of 8.01m (26′ 3.5″) third in K-State outdoor history just an inch shy of his 8.04m indoor personal best from March.
Edwards is competing outdoors at nationals for the first time since 2022, when he won bronze in the triple jump for LSU. As a senior competing only outdoors this year, he recorded a season-best 16.65m (54′ 7.5″) at the first round, placing third and ranking fourth all-time at K-State.
Antoine, a junior from Trinidad and Tobago, returns to NCAA Championships in the triple jump in his first year competing in the event. He finished fifth at the conference meet (16.55m / 54′ 3.75″) and qualified with a 16.25m jump for ninth place.
Moore Jr., a senior, will make his outdoor championship debut in the hammer throw after competing in the weight throw indoors. He was runner-up at the Big 12 Championship with a season-best 67.22m (220′ 6″).
Lindsay, who competed in two events at the West Prelims, qualified for her first nationals in the long jump with a fourth-place 6.55m (21′ 6″) tied for second in K-State outdoor records.
DaCunha and Smith are two of seven freshmen on the team, competing in the men’s long jump and women’s triple jump, respectively. DaCunha equaled his personal best at 7.83m (25′ 7.25″) at the West Prelim. Smith leaped 13.81m (45′ 3.75″, wind-aided 3.3) in the first round; indoors, she earned First Team honors with a fifth-place finish.
Both 4×400 relay teams qualified for nationals for the first time since 2022. The men’s team ran 3:05.16 for 12th place, featuring seniors Bongumusa Nkosi and Cyrus Ways, freshman Heath Grant, and junior Nen Matlock; alternates are senior James Ezeonu and junior Tavon Underwood. The women’s relay broke the school record with 3:28.72, made up of freshmen Desirae Riehle, Delaney Brinker, Anastasiia Kretova, and Mercera. They eclipsed the previous record of 3:31.20 from 2015 and cut four seconds from their season’s best. Alternates are senior Jourdin Edwards and sophomore Ariana Jackson.
According to USTFCCCA national rankings from June 2, the K-State men rank 13th with 143.04 points, while the women are 26th with 84.23 points. Last year, the men tied for 30th with 10 points.
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