Runner-Up Team Finishes at NCAA Indoor Championships

Saturday, March 14

Fayetteville, AR

All Day

University of Oregon

NCAA Indoor Championships

2026 NCAA Indoor runner-up - team picture

Photo by: GoDucks.com

Runner-Up Team Finishes at NCAA Indoor Championships

03/14/26 | Track and Field

Meet Results

The Ducks won three individual national titles on day two of the NCAA Indoor meet.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Oregon track and field team secured a pair of national runner-up finishes at the 2026 NCAA Division I Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark. Individually, Peyton Bair broke the Oregon school record on his way to a national title in the heptathlon, while Wilma Nielsen and Aaliyah McCormick won national titles in the mile and 60-meter hurdles, respectively.

The UO women now have two top-three national finishes this season having finished third at the NCAA cross country meet in November. This weekend also marks the men's second top-five national finish in the 2025-26 season; fifth at the national cross meet.

Bair completed his standout two-day performance with 6,503 points, becoming just the third collegian to score 6,500 points in the heptathlon. Needing to knock more than a second off his previous best in the 1,000 meters, the Kimberly, Idaho, native responded with a time of 2:39.54 to surpass Ashton Eaton (6,499) on the program's all-time list. Eaton set that record to win the 2010 NCAA title.

Over the course of the competition, Bair had four lifetime bests including a 5.07m/16-7.5 clearance in the pole vault where he needed a clutch third-attempt make at this opening height. In addition to the new school record, Bair set the Randal Tyson Track Center facility record and posts the No. 6 score in world history.

In the very next event on the track, the Women of Oregon amassed 14 points spearheaded by Nielsen's win in the mile. The Ducks picked up more points with Silan Ayyildiz in sixth place and Juliet Cherubet in eighth. Nielsen held off Rosemary Longisa of Washington State and Sadie Engelhardt of NC State down the stretch to successfully defend her NCAA mile title.

Nielsen is the third UO woman to win back-to-back NCAA Indoor titles, joining Brianne Theisen-Eaton in pentathlon (2010-12) and Raevyn Rogers in the 800 meters (2016-17).

McCormick added an indoor title to go with the outdoor title she won last June in Eugene. The Oregon senior got out and never gave the lead back, stopping the clock in a school-record 7.86 to just surpass the previous UO standard of 7.87 set by Sasha Wallace in 2017. McCormick joins Wallace as the second UO woman to win an NCAA indoor title in the 60-meter hurdles.

The San Diego, Calif., native was making her fourth appearance in the NCAA Indoor final including last year's runner-up finish. McCormick is also a two-time Big Ten indoor champion in the event.

The men's first points of the day came from Kobe Lawrence and Ben Smith in the shot put, contributing 13 points with their respective second- and fourth-place finishes. On his fifth attempt, Lawrence got the shot out to a lifetime-best 20.50m/67-3.25 to go from fifth to national runner-up positioning. Smith had back-to-back throws beyond 20 meters including a 20.37m/66-10 measure in the third round.

The top six in the men's shot put all finished with day's best past the 20-meter line.

In the final individual race of the weekend, Simeon Birnbaum came away with a runner-up finish in the 3,000 meters. He crossed the finish line in 7:41.85, and paired with the sixth-place outing for Benjamin Balazs, the Ducks added a final 11 points to their team score.

James Harding fought his way past a handful of runners down the final stretch in the men's 800 meters, crossing in fifth place overall to collect four points toward the team total. This weekend marked his first individual appearance at an NCAA Championships meet.

Notable: Aiden Carter was ninth in the heptathlon with a lifetime-best 5,908 points; becomes the No. 5 performer in UO history … he qualified for the NCAA meet with a previous best of 5,815 points from the Big Ten Championships … Arkansas (73.5 points) won the men's team title … Georgia (53 points) won the women's team title.

Saturday Results
NCAA Indoor Championships | Fayetteville, Ark.
MEN
Top 5
1. Arkansas – 73.5
2. OREGON – 40
3. Florida – 26
T4. Auburn – 24
T4. Kansas State – 24

800 Meters
5. James Harding – 1:46.98 [4 points]

Mile
9. Tomas Palfrey – 4:00.94

3,000 Meters
2. Simeon Birnbaum – 7:41.85 [8 points]
6. Benjamin Balazs – 7:48.04 [3 point]
12. Tomas Palfrey – 8:07.90
13. Elliott Cook – 8:09.64
14. Connor Burns – 8:11.24

Shot Put
2. Kobe Lawrence – 20.50m/67-3.25 (PB, UO #1) [8 points]
4. Ben Smith – 20.37m/66-10 (PB, UO #2) [5 points]

Heptathlon – Day 2/Final
1. Peyton Bair – 6,503 points (PB, FR, UO #1)
               2. 60m Hurdles – 7.86 [1,017]
               4. Pole Vault – 5.07m/16-7.5 (PB) [932]
               3. 1,000 Meters – 2:39.54 (PB) [879]
9. Aiden Carter – 5,908 points (PB, UO #5)
               4. 60m Hurdles – 7.96(=PB) [992]
               6. Pole Vault – 4.87m/15-11.75 [871]
               10. 1,000 Meters – 2:45.52 (PB) [813]

WOMEN
Top 5
1. Georgia – 53
2. OREGON – 44
3. Illinois – 42
4. Arkansas – 37
5. BYU – 27

Mile
1. Wilma Nielsen – 4:40.06 [10 points]
6. Silan Ayyildiz – 4:41.06 [3 points]
8. Juliet Cherubet – 4:41.51 [1 point]

3,000 Meters
13. Silan Ayyildiz – 8:58.59

60m Hurdles
1. Aaliyah McCormick – 7.86 (PB, UO #1)

Ticket packages for the Ducks' outdoor home schedule are currently on sale. The team is set to host the Oregon Team Invitational (April 18) and Oregon Twilight (May 8), along with the NCAA Championships in June.

For more news and information about Oregon cross country and track and field, follow @OregonTF on Facebook, Instagram and X.