LOGAN, Utah – Utah State track and field's 22 qualified athletes are set to compete at the 2026 NCAA West First Rounds at John McDonnell Field in Fayetteville, Arkansas, from Wednesday to Saturday, May 27-30.
MEET INFORMATION
2026 NCAA West First Rounds
Date: May 27-30, 2026
Start: Wednesday @ 1 p.m.; Thursday @ 1 p.m.; Friday @ 4 p.m.; Saturday @ 4 p.m. (MT)
Site: Fayetteville, Arkansas
Venue: John McDonnell Field
Live Streaming: ESPN+ (
Wednesday,
Thursday,
Friday,
Saturday)
Live Results:
Flash Results
Competitions:
Meet Schedule and Start Lists (
Men and
Women)
More Information:
Meet Central
DIRECTOR OF TRACK & FIELD/CROSS COUNTRY ARTIE GULDEN
"We are super proud to have 22 student-athletes at the NCAA West First Rounds. Many have been here before, but we have a good number who are here for the first time. This meet is really just about execution. If they can achieve similar marks that got them here, we should be in a good position to have some move on to the NCAA finals."
BOUND FOR OREGON?
Utah State has 22 athletes competing in 21 events at the NCAA West First Rounds. Berths to the First Rounds were awarded to the region's top 48 individuals and top 24 relay teams in each event. Aggie athletes set to compete this weekend are listed below with their regional seed and converted marks.
USU Men:
| Event |
USU Athletes |
| 100 Meters |
11. Ayodele Ojo, Jr., 10.09; 34. David Konan, 10.21. |
| 200 Meters |
46. Mathew Hall, 20.66. |
| 800 Meters |
10. Landon Bott, 1:45.83. |
| 10,000 Meters |
45. Joshua McKee, 28:50.58. |
| 3,000-Meter Steeplechase |
3. Logan Garnica, 8:29.92; 20. Garrett Woodhouse, 8:40.33; 39. Michael Amitava Maiorano, 8:47.15. |
| 4x100-Meter Relay |
17. Utah State (Javin Richards, Mathew Hall, David Konan, Ayodele Ojo, Jr., Daniel Chase, Diego Aguirre-Stewart), 39.48. |
| High Jump |
37. Taite Priestley, 2.12 meters (6-11.5). |
| Pole Vault |
5. Logan Hammer, 5.60 meters (18-4.5); 26. Javin Richards, 5.30 meters (17-4.5); 41. Marshall Rasmussen, 5.23 meters (17-1.75). |
| Javelin |
5. Walker Deede, 74.90 meters (245-9); 45. Kace Jones, 63.61 meters (208-8). |
USU Women:
The top-12 finishers in each event at each of the NCAA West and East First Rounds will qualify for the NCAA Outdoor National Championships, held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, from June 10-13.
AGGIES AT THE PRELIMS
Seven of Utah State's 22 student-athletes traveling to Arkansas for the NCAA West First Rounds are competing in their first career prelims. Juniors
Kace Jones,
Michael Amitava Maiorano and
Joshua McKee and freshman
David Konan are making their prelim debuts on the men's side, while junior
Claire Petersen, sophomore
Shay Jones and freshman
Karina Cooper are each making their first appearances on the women's side.
Senior
Logan Hammer will make his fourth career appearance at the NCAA West prelims, having advanced to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in 2024 and 2025. Graduate
Logan Garnica and juniors
Landon Bott,
Walker Deede and
Shelby Jensen have each qualified three times to the NCAA prelims, with Jensen having reached the outdoor championships in 2025. Seniors
Sarah Ellis,
Valerie Clark,
Javin Richards and
Marshall Rasmussen, junior
Garrett Woodhouse and sophomores
Diego Aguirre-Stewart,
Daniel Chase,
Mathew Hall,
Ayodele Ojo, Jr. and
Taite Priestley are each making their second trip to the NCAA West First Rounds.
RECORD SCRATCH
Utah State athletes broke two school records at the Bryan Clay Invitational from April 16-18. Garnica broke his own school record in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase, finishing with a time of 8:29.92 that topped his previous record by four seconds. Ellis set the women's 5,000-meter record with a time of 15:50.07, breaking
Emma Thornley's 2025 record by 11.37 seconds. Clark broke the USU record in the women's javelin on home soil at the Aggie Invitational, launching a throw of 53.60 meters (175-10) to break Mia Estes's 2018 standard of 51.38 meters (168-7). At the BYU Robison Invitational, the women's 4x400-meter relay team of Petersen,
Shay Jones, graduate
Annie Ivins and sophomore
Heidi Harper broke the Aggie record in the event with their time of 3:36.87, besting the 2025 standard of 3:38.66 which was set by Jones,
Adi Nielson,
Alison Richter and
Emma Reeves. At the Mountain West Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Ojo broke the USU record in the 100 meters with a time of 10.09 en route to a silver medal.
USU has also made its mark on the MW record book in 2026. Bott broke the conference record in the men's 800 meters with his time of 1:45.83, besting the previous record of 1:46.01 set by Colorado State's Bryan Berryhill in 2001. Deede posted the second-best javelin throw in conference history of 74.90 meters (245-9), ranking only behind two-time Utah State All-American Sindri Gudmundsson. Garnica's steeplechase record also ranks fourth in MW history and Ojo's 100-meter record is the fifth-best in conference history.
AWARDS SEASON
Freshman
Henry Tait earned MW Men's Freshman of the Week honors on March 24, his first career MW weekly award and the Aggies' first accolades of the outdoor campaign. Cooper won the women's freshman honors on March 31, the second such award of her career. Following the USU-hosted Aggie Invitational, Deede, Hall and freshman
Blake Johns swept the men's weekly accolades on April 28, respectively claiming the field, track and freshman awards. In the conference's final weekly awards cycle on May 5, Ojo and Richards claimed the MW Men's Track Athlete and Field Athlete of the Week awards. Utah State student-athletes claimed a total of 12 MW weekly awards in the 2025-26 indoor season, the most in program history and the second-straight indoor season with at least 10 awards earned.
LAST MEET
The Utah State men's team placed third and the women's team finished eighth at the 2026 Mountain West Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Clovis, California, from May 14-16. The Aggies won four individual and relay titles, earned 11 medals, broke a school record and posted five performances that rank in the top 10 in Utah State history.
FOLLOW ALONG
Fans can follow the Utah State track and field programs on X at
USUTF_XC, on Facebook at
USUTrack and on Instagram at
USUTF_XC. Aggie fans can also follow the Utah State athletic program on X at
USUAthletics or on Facebook at
Utah State University Athletics.
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