(UW ATHLETICS) – COLLEGE STATION, Texas –The Wisconsin women’s track and field duo of Emma Kelley and Taylor Kesner punched their tickets for the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday at the NCAA West First Round.

Kelley ran a personal-best time and the No. 3 mark in school history to advance in the 800 meters while Kesner threw the No. 2 mark in program history in the discus. 

EMMA TO EUGENE
A four-time champion in the 800 meters at the Division III level at WashU, Kelley advanced to her first NCAA championship at the Division I level thanks to a historic performance on Saturday. 

Kelley finished fourth in the third section of the 800 in 2 minutes, 1.87 seconds, a personal-best mark and the No. 3 time in school history, to advance to the NCAA outdoor championships. Her time was the sixth-fastest time during the evening and was almost a second faster than her previous-best mark.

Only UW legends Suzy Favor and Amy Wickus have run faster 800 meter-times in program history than Kelley. 

Kelly will compete in the semifinals of the 800 meters on Thursday, June 12 at 7:58 p.m. CT while the final will take place on Saturday, June 14 at 9:14 p.m. CT. 

KESNER CONTINUES EXCELLENCE
Taylor Kesner’s stellar showings continued on Saturday afternoon, as the Highland, Illinois, native qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in a second event—earning a mark of 189 feet, 8 inches (57.83m).

She moved to No. 2 all-time in school history in the process, in addition to becoming the only athlete this season to advance to the NCAA Championships in both the discus and javelin. In Texas, Kesner wrapped up her first-ever regional appearance with a pair of personal bests.

Kesner will throw the javelin on Thursday, June 12 at 7:15 p.m. CT and the discus at 7:40 p.m. CT on Saturday, June 14, 2025. 

A pair of girls’ track and field athletes did not stand on the medal podium alongside a transgender athlete for high jump at the Oregon state championship on Saturday night. 

Footage obtained by Fox News Digital showed the two high school seniors, Reese Eckard of Sherwood High School and Alexa Anderson of Tigard High School, step down from their respective spots on the podium next to a trans athlete who represented Ida B. Wells High School. 

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Eckard, in fourth place, and Anderson, in third, each finished ahead of the trans athlete, who tied for fifth place. But the two females faced the opposite direction as the other competitors received their medals from officials. 

The footage then showed an official confront the two young women, and gesture for them to move away. Eckard and Anderson were then seen walking away from the podium and standing off to the side. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Oregon School Activities Association for a response. 

The trans athlete previously competed in the boys’ category in 2023 and 2024, Fox News Digital previously reported.

Eckard and Anderson were praised for not standing on the podium on social media, and were even shouted out by prominent conservative activist Riley Gaines. 

CALIFORNIA TOWN RALLIES BEHIND TRUMP AS IT HOSTS TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIP AMID TRANS ATHLETE CONTROVERSY

“We didn’t refuse to stand on the podium out of hate. We did it because someone has to say this isn’t right. In order to protect the integrity and fairness of girls sports we must stand up for what is right,” Anderson said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

Girls and women making symbolic gestures to protest trans inclusion in sports has become a growing trend in 2025. 

On May 17 at a California track and field sectional final, Reese Hogan of Crean Lutheran High School stepped from the second-place spot onto the first-place medal podium after her trans opponent, AB Hernandez stepped down from it. Hogan’s stunt was lauded on social media by Gaines and others. 

On April 2, footage of women’s fencer Stephanie Turner kneeling to protest a trans opponent at a competition in Maryland, and subsequently getting punished for it, went viral and ignited global awareness and scrutiny against USA Fencing.

Oregon is one of many Democratic-controlled states that saw transgender athletes compete in girls’ track and field championships this weekend, with other highly-publicized incidents taking place in California, Washington, Maine and Minnesota. 

The America First Policy Institute (AFPI), a nonpartisan research institute, filed a Title IX discrimination complaint against Oregon for its laws that allow biological males to compete in girls’ sports on May 27. 

The complaint was filed to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, which has already launched Title IX investigations against the high school sports leagues in California, Minnesota, Maine and Massachusetts. 

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Oregon girls’ track and field athletes Reese Eckard and Alexa Anderson don’t stand on a medal podium next to a trans opponent. (Courtesy of America First Policy Institute)

“Every girl deserves a fair shot – on the field, on the podium, and in life,” said Jessica Hart Steinmann, AFPI’s executive general counsel and vice chair of the Center for Litigation, in a statement. 

“When state institutions knowingly force young women to compete against biological males, they’re violating federal law and sending a devastating message to female athletes across the country.”

President Donald Trump signed the “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order on Feb. 5 and his administration has made combating the continued enabling of trans athletes in girls’ sports by Democratic states a priority. 

The U.S. Department of Justice has already launched a lawsuit against Maine for its defiance of Trump’s executive order, and the president suggested on Tuesday that federal funding pauses could be coming against California amid the situation involving Hernandez.

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Winning at regionals is an accomplishment.

But it’s just the beginning, serving as the first stepping stone to potentially capturing a national title.

UCLA track and field competed in the NCAA West Regional at Texas A&M’s E.B Cushing Stadium in College Station, Texas, from Wednesday to Saturday. Thirteen Bruins qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships as individuals, while both the 4×100- and 4×400-meter relay teams advanced on the women’s side.

The women’s 4×400-meter relay squad finished out the meet Saturday with a season-best 3:28.18 mark. UCLA trailed Texas A&M the entire race, but junior Naomi Johnson closed out the race with a team-best 51.43 split to send the squad to second in its heat and fourth overall.

On Friday, the men’s 4×400-meter relay squad placed dead last with a 22nd place finish in a time of 3:16.00. Junior Zaire Waring, who ran the second leg for UCLA, appeared to sustain an injury after the first 100 meters of his race as his stride quickly turned into a limp.

Waring pulled through with a 51.10 second split, the slowest leg of any competitor in the field, but still managed to finish despite his apparent pain during the majority of the race.

Despite missing out on qualification with the relay, sophomore Gabriel Clement II punched his ticket to Eugene, Oregon, after posting a personal best 46.75 to place third in the first heat of the 400-meter dash.

Juniors Michael Pinckney and Tamaal Myers were the other national qualifiers on the men’s side. Pinckney punched his ticket with a fourth-place finish in the discus event after throwing a personal-best 60.88 meters.

The Queens, New York, local tossed another personal best mark in Wednesday’s hammer throw, opening the meet with a 64.91 meter throw to place 15th.

On the women’s side, 10 Bruins recorded national championship-qualfiying performances. Graduate students Ka’Leila Abrille and Katerina Adamiec earned their spots after placing first and seventh, respectively, in the pole vault competition, clearing the 4.42 meter mark – the third best jump in program history.