JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Rutgers track and field set records at the 2025 NCAA East First Round, qualifying the most competitors – eight – for NCAA Championships in program history, while also adding a pair of school records.
 
It marks the fourth consecutive year that Rutgers will send competitors from both the men’s and women’s team to the outdoor championships. The eight Scarlet Knights in seven events is the most all-time and best mark since 2018 when RU qualified  five competitors in four events.
 
“I’ve never been prouder of a group of athletes,” said Bobby Farrell, director of track and field & cross country. “This was an unbelievable week of performances. They overcame weather delays, 95 degree temperatures and competing at midnight due to the delays. None of that affected their focus and drive. We came to compete.”
 
A Scarlet Knight will compete in three events on the track with Charlee Crawford, Chris Serrao and Bryce Tucker advancing in their respective events.
 
Crawford broke the women’s 400-meter record twice on her way to earning a trip to the NCAA Championships. She broke a 42-year-old record set by Lori McCauley in 1983 in the first round on Thursday, running 52.18. Crawford then improved on that time in the quarterfinals to set the record two days later with a time of 51.80.
 
Serrao also added a school record, breaking another four-decade old time, in the men’s 110-meter hurdles. He ran a time of 13.49 to top the time previously set by Eugene Norman in 1984. Tucker ran 50.00 in the quarterfinals of the 400-meter hurdles to seal his spot at the NCAA Championships.
 
Rutgers secured a qualifier on the first day of competition at the NCAA East First Round with Steve Coponi advancing in the javelin. Coponi recorded a throw of 69.87m (229′ 2″) to make his first trip to the NCAA Championships.
 
Reigning national champion Chloe Timberg will return to the Eugene, Oregon for the NCAA Championships with a chance to defend her pole vault title after posting a qualifying height of 4.24m (13′ 11″). The Scarlet Knights will send a total of three pole vaulters to the nation finals with Nico Morales and Kevin O’Sullivan making their debut on the men’s side. Morales and O’Sullivan cleared identical heights of 5.33m (17′ 5.75″) to qualify for their first NCAA Outdoor Championships.
 
Paige Floriea will make NCAA Championships debut in her first season with the Scarlet Knights after posting a qualifying mark of 6.22m (20′ 5″) in the long jump.
 
The 2025 NCAA Championships will run from Wednesday, June 11 through Saturday, June 14 at Hayward Field. Full schedule of Events.
 

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Long Beach State’s Rahni Turner capped off a standout season Saturday at the NCAA West First Round, running 13.21 seconds in the quarterfinals of the women’s 100-meter hurdles at E.B. Cushing Stadium.

Turner, who broke the school record in the opening round Thursday, placed seventh in her heat and 16th overall out of 24 competitors. Her heat featured one of the fastest marks of the day, as UCLA’s Yanla Ndjip-Nyemeck posted a winning time of 12.82 seconds.

Although Turner did not advance to nationals, her performance continues a season of record-setting success for the Beach.

Long Beach State will be represented by three student-athletes at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships, held June 11–14 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. Tristyn Flores punched his ticket to nationals in both the 100 and 200 meters, breaking the program record in the 100 and tying the record in the 200 during regional competition.

Flores will be joined by multi athletes Ryan Gregory (decathlon) and Claudine Raud-Gumiel (heptathlon), both of whom qualified earlier this spring.

Schedule at Nationals:

• 100m Semifinals: Wednesday, June 11 at 5:25 p.m. PDT
• 200m Semifinals: Wednesday, June 11 at 6:29 p.m. PDT
• Decathlon: June 11–12
• Heptathlon: June 13–14

Live coverage will be available on the ESPN family of networks.

COLLEGE STATION, Tex. – Southeast Missouri track & field wrapped up the NCAA West Preliminary meet with Brianna Dixon competing in the high jump.

During the last day of competition Brianna Dixon cleared a height of 5′ 9.25″ for 29th place, her second best jump of the year. 

Looking Ahead

Paden Lewis and Luke Hatfield Jackson will travel to Eugene Oregon, Jun 11 (Wed) through Jun 14 (Sat) to compete in the 2025 NCAA Outdoor track & field Championships.

The residence halls become dim as public health student, Leila Morrow, is on the last stretch of studying. Thoughts slow as she tries to recall every term for the tests lined up the next day, but she can’t sit at her desk any longer. Needing a break, Morrow steps out of her residence hall for a breath of fresh air in the late night. She heads for a walk along the well-lit campus as a way to take her mind off the piling stress. 

Walking a long campus, trips to the Recreation Center, journaling and connecting with friends, students are scrambling to find ways to manage the recurring midterms and final exams approaching. 

Academic stress may be the single most dominant factor that affects the mental well-being of college students, according to a 2022 review published in Frontiers in Psychology. For many Cal Poly students, that stress peaks around midterms.

“It’s just so much information to obtain in such little time,” Ayumi Sandez, microbiology freshman said. “Once one midterm starts, the second midterm is already coming up and you’re just stressed for the rest of the quarter.”

However, Cal Poly students are not facing this alone–therapy dogs, yoga, meditation workshops and planting activities are just some of the ways the university is offering support.

“We wanted to reach a wider range of students and support them in their wellness in different ways that are not necessarily limited to the Recreation Center,” Ella Boladian, kinesiology senior and Wellness Student Assistant, said.

Starting off exam season, on Monday, Apr. 28, students gathered in Studio 2 at the recreation center for an evening of guided yoga, meditation and journaling, led by instructor Kate Berman. 

Students are guided through yin yoga movements and journaling prompts as a way to calm the nervous system from outside distractions.  

“There are so many demands placed on college students, from their coursework, their jobs, their professors, themselves and their parents,” Berman said, describing why students might have a highly activated nervous system

According to Berman, yin yoga activates the vagus nerve, a part of the parasympathetic nervous system that helps slow heart rate and calm the body. In other words, it’s a way to shift students out of fight-or-flight mode and lower stress hormones.

Often, students leave the class transformed, Berman said. 

“At the beginning, I tend to witness a little bit of restlessness and maybe discomfort,” Berman said. “Towards the end, I see people really leaving a state of, like, kind of more calm and just slow.”

Since rebuilding the Cal Poly Wellness program for its first fully scheduled quarter this Spring, this relief is the kind of outcome the wellness events are designed to foster, Ella Boladian, Wellness student assistant said. 

“That’s all we really want, is just to promote wellness and give students events that they would enjoy,” Boladian said.

After partaking in the guided yoga, meditation and journaling event, Boladian said she noticed people walk out of the studio happy and smiling–an indication of the event’s success

Just outside, students can find more support on the Health and Wellness Lawn, where therapy dogs are brought in at least twice a month.  On schedule for midterms, dogs visited the Sequoia Lawn on Thursday from noon to 2 p.m..

During exam weeks is when the campus demands for therapy dogs are highest, according to Denise Fitzgerald, a volunteer with Alliance of Therapy Dogs.

Fitzgerald has been organizing visits to Cal Poly since 2008 and has seen firsthand the emotional relief these dogs provide – so much so that she recalled a student who, years later, recognized a therapy dog named Tucker at the park and credited him with helping her get through finals.

“There’s something about the human and dog bond,” Fitzgerald said. “Just being able to sit and pet a dog and sometimes just quietly, helps people just kind of forget about some of the stressful times that they may be going through.”

Beyond the organized support, students are finding their own ways to navigate midterms. This includes other types of physical activity and ways of coming together. 

“I like to take walks, especially night walks, or go to the Recreation Center,” public health freshman Leila Morrow said. “Other than that, I like to journal.” 

She also attends Panhellenic-organized study groups, which help her feel less alone during midterms, she said. This is something she hopes to see more of during exam weeks. 

“It’d be nice to see more community-driven study sessions. It’s kind of an intimidating thing to just get a group going in the first place, especially if it’s huge lecture halls,” Morrow said.

Jess Alvear, a political science and Spanish sophomore, balances two majors and a campus job–a combination that limits her time, adding to her stress.  

“I notice I’m either up late or squeezing in study time between classes. I think taking advantage of the short periods I have of free time during the day can kind of relieve my stress,” Alvear said. She spends this time staying connected, whether it’s calling home or spending time with friends, she said. 

“It just kind of helps me to relieve my stress a little bit if I share it with other people and we can kind of bond because I feel like it’s something everyone is going through,” Alvear said.

As midterms stretch on and students juggle jobs, the pressure continues, but so does the support. Whether it’s through a quiet yoga session, a call home or a few calming minutes with a therapy dog, students can find ways to reset.

For students like Leila Morrow, sometimes all it takes is fresh air and a walk in the calm night to reset and refocus before returning to a night of studying.

Final Results

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (May 31, 2025) –

Five more Northern Arizona track and field athletes punched their tickets to the NCAA Division I Outdoor National Track & Field Championships on the fourth and final day of the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds in College Station, Texas.
 
Maggi Congdon (1,500-meters), Karrie Baloga (3,000-meter steeplechase), LiNay Perry (400-meter hurdles), Ava Mitchell (5,000-meters) and Agnes McTighe (5,000-meters) all punched their tickets to Eugene.
 
The Lumberjacks also broke three school records in the process.
 
Congdon left no doubt in the 1,500-meters, easily winning the event with a season-best time of 4:05.73, which is also a facility record and ranks eighth all-time in NCAA history. She punched her ticket to Eugene for the second-straight year in the event.
 
Baloga placed second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a blazing time of 9:40.13 to punch her ticket to Eugene for the second-straight year. The sophomore breaks her own school record, setting a new personal best after winning her heat.
 
Perry put together the best 400-meter hurdle race of her life, breaking her own school record for the second time in 48 hours. She clocked 56.70 to auto qualify and finish second in her heat and fifth overall, making her first career individual appearance at the NCAA Championships. She is the first Lumberjack on the men’s or women’s side in NAU history to qualify for the NCAA Championships in the 400-meter hurdles.
 
In the 5,000-meters, Ava Mitchell finished fifth in her heat to auto qualify to Eugene. She ran 16:00.58 to place 10^th overall. Agnes McTighe qualified by time, finishing 12^th in 16:01.83.
 
Maisie Grice placed 15^th in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 10:08.72, followed by Hayley Burns in 10:16.86 to place 20th.
 
Also, in the 1,500-meters, Alex Carlson finished 16^th with a time of 4:15.13 and Keira Moore placed 19^th in 4:16.95.
 
Elise Stearns placed 19^th in the 5,000-meters in 16:19.13, followed by Emma Stutzman (22^nd, 16:24.43) and Moore (26^th, 16:25.99).
 
Today concluded action for NAU at the NCAA West Preliminary Round. The Lumberjacks will send nine athletes onto the NCAA Division I Championships from June 11-14 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. They will be represented by Trevor Hook (javelin), Drew Bosley (10k, 5k), David Mullarkey (10k, 5k), Colin Sahlman (1500m), Congdon (1500m), Baloga (3k steeplechase), Perry (400-meter hurdles), Mitchell (5k) and McTighe (5k).
 

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Five Brown track and field athletes competed in Jacksonville, Florida, attempting to qualify for the National Championships in Eugene, Oregon. Senior Jada Joseph punched her ticket to nationals for the second straight year in the triple jump after placing ninth with a mark of 13.01 meters. 

Elsewhere, Frank Monahan-Morang finished 46^th with a mark of 6.45 meters in the long jump on Wednesday. 

Delaney Seligmann and Jada Joseph competed in the women’s long jump on Thursday. Seligmann finished 20^th with a mark of 5.99 meters, while Joseph was 35^th with a mark of 5.84 meters. Also on Thursday, Chidinma Agbasi competed in the hammer throw, finishing 41^st with a mark of 53.97 meters. 

Joseph Oduro competed on Friday in the men’s triple jump. He finished 26^th with a leap of 15.20 meters. 

 

UP NEXT

Last year, Jada Joseph finished 22^nd at the National Championships, earning Honorable Mention All-America honors. The National Championships will take place June 11-14. 

 

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