NCAA Championships Start Wednesday at Hayward Field

EUGENE, Ore. – The 2026 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships begin Wednesday at Hayward Field. The Ducks' national weekend will get started with preliminary heats of the men's 4x100 relay at 5:05 p.m. on ESPN. Day one of the NCAA Championships will feature the men's schedule.

The Men of Oregon have 15 entries—12 individuals and one relay—with qualifiers in 10 events. Simeon Birnbaum (1500 and 5,000 meters) and Ben Smith (shot put and discus) are both entered in two events.

The Ducks will have five scoring opportunities on day one of the NCAA Championships with four coming in throwing events. Smith and Kobe Lawrence are in the shot put while Daniel Thrana and Pat Vialva will take on the javelin. Smith was the Big Ten champion in the shot put and was the top qualifier out of the NCAA regional round with his toss of 20.50m/67-3.25 in Arkansas.

Smith also posted the nation-leading mark of 20.88m/68-6 at the conference meet. Lawrence and Smith finished second and fourth, respectively, at the NCAA Indoor Championships in March.

The shot put competition will begin at 7:10 p.m. on ESPN+.

Oregon's first final of the meet comes in the men's javelin (6:15 p.m., ESPN+). Thrana and Vialva started the postseason with a 2-3 finish, respectively, at the Big Ten Championships. Thrana has a season's best of 78.32m/256-11 and Vialva established a lifetime best of 77.40m/253-11 at the conference meet. The two Ducks are both ranked inside the top 10 nationally.

In the last final of the opening day, Evan Burke will represent Oregon in the 10,000 meters. He posted a personal best of 27:57.04 during the Stanford Invitational in early April. Burke finished fifth at 5,000 and 10,000 meters at the Big Ten Championships, and is making his debut appearance at the NCAA Outdoor meet.

The race is scheduled to start at 7:56 p.m. on ESPN before the broadcast switches over to ESPN2 at the top of the hour.

The Ducks have entries in the first four events on the track beginning with the sprint relay. Preliminary rounds follow for Oregon in the 1500 meters (Birnbaum, Elliott Cook and Tomas Palfrey), steeplechase (Benjamin Balazs) and 110-meter hurdles (Kai Graves-Blanks).

Graves-Blanks will appear twice Wednesday, first as a member of the 4x100 relay. The 110 hurdles will begin approximately one hour after the relay.

Hayward Field will serve as the host site for the NCAA Outdoor Championships for the 21^st time, and for the fifth time in its current form. Day two of the meet will mark the beginning of the women's schedule and the conclusion of the decathlon.

All-session and single-day ticket packages for the NCAA Championships are currently on sale.

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