2026 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships
Thursday-Saturday - hosted by Emporia State - Emporia, Kan. [Live Video] [Live Video - Throws] [Live Results] [Schedule]

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OREDIGGERS CLOSE 2026 SEASON AT NCAA OUTDOORS
The 2026 track & field season comes to a conclusion this weekend as Colorado School of Mines sends 21 individuals and a relay to the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & field Championships in Kansas. The three-day meet, which begins Thursday, will be held at Emporia State's Welch Stadium, also the site of the 2024 meet.

LIVE COVERAGE
The bulk of the NCAA Championships will stream on ncaa.com, but throws events will be available on the MIAA Network; both streams are free. Live results are available from Leone Timing. Fans can also follow @csmtrack on Instagram for updates.

MINES AT THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
This will mark the 27th consecutive outdoor championship that Mines has qualified competitors, dating back to 1999. The Mines women enter the weekend ranked third in the last USTFCCCA ratings index - their best showing ever - and despite having only seven entries, they account for 40 team points on paper based on seeds. The Mines men enter the meet ranked eighth and sport 16 entries with 32 team points on paper. The Oredigger men are on a streak of five consecutive top-25 finishes outdoors dating back to 2021 including 13th last year, while the women have had their three best team finishes all come in the last three years including 14th a year ago.

WHAT TO WATCH - THURSDAY
The opening day of the meet on Thursday could be weather-impacted with a forecast for all-day rain in Emporia. Jennifer Jarnagin starts things for the Orediggers in her final NCAA appearance, competing in the hammer throw final at 3:30 p.m. Central. It will be a busy evening on the track starting at 5:10 p.m. with Andreas O'Malley's nationals debut in the 1,500m prelims before indoor all-American Jonah Fallon runs the 400m prelims at 5:40 p.m. The steeplechase looks to be an event of strength for Mines in 2026 with two men and two women in prelims starting at 6:40 p.m. as 2025 bronze medalist Max Bonenberger and debutante Garrett Mackey run the men's heats, and second-seeded Sierra Wall and third-seeded Emily LaMena - also the 2025 women's bronze medalist - take on the women's race. The 400m hurdles will feature two first-timers in Elijah Quinby (7:40 p.m.) and Aani Hardesty (7:55 p.m.), and then the lone Thursday track final features four Orediggers as Paul Knight, Rowan Nicholas, Braden Struhs, and Jeremiah Vaille run the 10,000m. Knight, Struhs, and Vaille all appeared in the race last year with Vaille snagging a podium spot. 

Thursday, May 21 (all times Central)
3:30 p.m. - women's hammer throw final (Jennifer Jarnagin)
5:10 p.m. - men's 1,500m prelim (Andreas O'Malley)
5:40 p.m. - men's 400m prelim (Jonah Fallon)
6:40 p.m. - men's 3,000m steeplechase prelim (Max Bonenberger/Garrett Mackey)
7:10 p.m. - women's 3,000m steeplechase prelim (Emily LaMena/Sierra Wall)
7:40 p.m. - men's 400m hurdles prelim (Elijah Quinby)
7:55 p.m. - women's 400m hurdles prelim (Aani Hardesty)
8:10 p.m. - men's 10,000m final (Paul Knight/Rowan Nicholas/Braden Struhs/Jeremiah Vaille)

WHAT TO WATCH - FRIDAY
The middle day of the meet is all on the track for the Orediggers starting at 6 p.m. Central with the men's 800m prelims where three runners - Liam Currie, indoor mile all-American Brock Drengenberg, and indoor 800m all-American Tim Thompson - try to make finals. In the women's prelims, another indoor all-American in Imani Fernandez-Gorbea looks to advance. Steeplechase finals start at 7:15 p.m., and then the men's 4x400 hits the track for a 7:50 p.m. prelim as Currie, Thompson, Quinby, and Fallon (with Logan Meade as an alternate) try to hold up their #5 seed to advance to the final. The men's 4x400 relay hopes to get on the podium for the first time outdoors since 2001 to conclude the meet on Saturday.

Friday, May 22 (all times Central)
6 p.m. - men's 800m prelim (Liam Currie/Brock Drengenberg/Tim Thompson)
6:15 p.m. - women's 800m prelim (Imani Fernandez-Gorbea)
7:15 p.m. - men's 3,000m steeplechase final (Max Bonenberger/Garrett Mackey, if qualify)
7:30 p.m. - women's 3,000m steeplechase final (Emily LaMena/Sierra Wall, if qualify)
7:50 p.m. - men's 4x400 relay prelim

WHAT TO WATCH - SATURDAY
Pole vaulter Aidan Bennett starts Saturday off with Mines' only field event of the day at 2 p.m. as the senior hopes to go out with a bang. Otherwise, it's all track finals depending on who advances, with the exception of a strong group of 5K runners that includes Daniel Appleford and Dawson Gunn for the men (6:30 p.m.) and Grace Strongman and Emily LaMena for the women (6:55 p.m.) Gunn was the indoor silver medalist at the distance and is the top seed heading into this weekend's meet while Appleford makes his debut; in the women's race, Strongman and LaMena are seeded 1-2 as Strongman ran 10 seconds faster than anyone in the field in the regular season (15:47) and LaMena is the only other sub-16:00 runner (15:57) this year.

Saturday, May 23 (all times Central)
2 p.m. - men's pole vault final (Aidan Bennett)
3:55 p.m. - men's 1,500m final (Andreas O'Malley, if qualify)
4:35 p.m. - men's 400m final (Jonah Fallon, if qualify)
5:15 p.m. - men's 800m final (Liam Currie/Brock Drengenberg/Tim Thompson, if qualify)
5:25 p.m. - women's 800m final (Imani Fernandez-Gorbea, if qualify)
5:40 p.m. - men's 400m hurdles final (Elijah Quinby, if qualify)
5:50 p.m. - women's 400m hurdles final (Aani Hardesty, if qualify)
6:30 p.m. - men's 5,000m final (Daniel Appleford/Dawson Gunn)
6:55 p.m. - women's 5,000m final (Grace Strongman/Emily LaMena)
7:20 p.m. - men's 4x400 relay final, if qualify

MINES MEN CAPTURE RMAC TITLE
Mines won the RMAC outdoor men's team title for the first time since 2019 in late April, scoring 188 points to lead the pack in Pueblo. Paul Knight (10,000m), Max Bonenberger (steeplechase), and Aidan Bennett (pole vault) won individual titles on Saturday, and the gold run continued on Sunday with crowns for Alejandro Philippart (110m hurdles), Jonah Fallon (400m), Tim Thompson (800m), Dawson Gunn (5,000m), and the 4x400 relay. The women finished a strong third behind individual crowns for Sierra Wall (steeplechase), Imani Fernandez-Gorbea (800m), Jennifer Jarnagin (hammer throw), and the 4x400 relay. 

OLDEST MINES RECORD BROKEN
Lisa Sutherland broke the oldest record on the books at Mines as part of her silver-medal heptathlon effort at the RMAC Championships, running a 14.28-second 100m hurdles to snap the mark that had stood since 1987. It was one of three Mines records to go down at the conference meet along with the men's 4x100 relay's (Eric Hill Jr., Crockett Becker, Tegan Daughters, Jathan Busby) time of 40.66 and Aani Hardesty's 400m hurdles performance of 59.17 seconds. The men's 4x400 relay (Liam Currie, Tim Thompson, Elijah Quinby, Jonah Fallon) also came away with a new RMAC Championships record of 3:09.74.

CROSSING THE STAGE
Colorado School of Mines' commencement ceremonies last week included 23 members of the Mines track & field program, with a dozen of them headed to Emporia this week. Aidan Bennett, Elijah Quinby, Tim Thompson, Daniel Appleford, Dawson Gunn, Andreas O'Malley, and Braden Struhs all earned bachelor's degrees, while Brock Drengenberg, Paul Knight, Jennifer Jarnagin, and Grace Strongman each earned their second Mines silver diplomas with master's degrees. Strongman was named the President's FemaleSenior Scholar-Athlete of the Year, as well, for her outstanding combination of athletic and academic achievement in earning her M.Eng. in metallurgical and materials engineering.