Iowa State concluded its track and field with 11 Cyclone entries in the four-day NCAA Outdoor Championship in Eugene, Oregon.

According to Iowa State University Athletics, the 11 entries were split between seven men competing in six events and three women competing in individual events alongside the 4×400 meter relay. Iowa State headed to nationals with five qualifiers ranked in the top 10 seed positions.

Day one

According to the NCAA, on the first day, freshman Joash Ruto cemented first place in the 3,000-meter steeplechase semifinals with a PR time of 8:22.94, earning his way to the national finals on day three. Following Ruto was junior Quinton Orr, who placed 20th with a time of 8:44.02.

Senior Dugion Blackman was up next in the 800-meter semifinals, placing 17th with a time of 1:48.15.

In shot put, senior Cam Jones finished his career at Iowa State, as he placed 18th overall with a throw of 18.62 meters. Jones now totals six career All-American honors while at Iowa State.

Continuing the day, sophomore Mikey McClain placed 21st in the 200 meter semifinals with a sprint of 20.79 seconds.

To finish off the first day of events, junior Rodgers Kiplimo placed fourth overall in the 10,000 meter final with a time of 29:10.89.

Day Two

On day two of the NCAA Championships, three events took place for the Cyclones. With junior Rachel Joseph setting the tone for Iowa State early on, as she placed fifth in the 400 meter semifinals with a sprint of 50.77, which earned her a trip to the finals on day four.

Following Joseph was junior Makayla Clark in the 800 meter semifinals, where Clark placed 23rd overall with a time of 2:28.86.

The women’s 4×400 meter relay finished the Cyclones events on day two, with sophomore Brooklyn Sandvig, freshman Karynne David, Clark and Joseph placing 17th overall with a time of 3:32.58.

Day three

On the third day of the NCAA National Championship, to close off the men’s events, Ruto started the day competing in the 3000 meter steeplechase final. Ruto placed fourth overall with a time of 8:20.47

Finishing the men’s events, Bera competed in the 5000 meter final, where he placed 11th overall with a time of 13:30.52.

Iowa State finished the NCAA Outdoor Championship, with the men securing 30th place with a 10-point finish

Day four

On the final day of the NCAA Championships, Joseph competed in the 400 meter finals, where she secured sixth place overall with a time of 51.36.

According to Iowa State University Athletics, Joseph became the first multi-time outdoor 400 meter All-American in Iowa State women’s history. Alongside becoming the fourth woman to earn First Team honors since 1984.

Junior Maelle Porcher closed out the championship, as she competed in the 5000 meter and placed 12th with a time of 15:41.76.

The NCAA Championships ended in Eugene, Oregon at Hayward Field on Saturday, along with the track and field season. 

The Gophers men finished seventh, their highest finish since 1948. The Gopher women did not have enough athletes in attendance to place as a team, but they saw good performances from redshirt sophomore Ali Weimer and graduate student Dyandra Gray.

Weimer became the first female Gopher runner to run the 10K in under 33 minutes. Her performance at the NCAA Championships broke her own school record that she set back in February. 

Earlier in the season, after Weimer set her first school record, she mentioned how special it was to her.

“The school record is kind of life-changing in its own way just because we’ve had so many great women come through our program,” Weimer said. “To be able to compete with those names and represent yourself in a way too.”

Gray placed 22nd in the 400 meter hurdles to end her career with the Gophers, but earned her first-ever All-American finish in her career. She is only the third from the Gophers women’s track and field team to do so in the 400 meter hurdles.

The men’s track and field team earned the most points from Greek hammer throwers graduate student Kostas Zaltos and sophomore Angelos Mantzouranis.

The two hammer throwers once again had a 1-2 finish. Zaltos took first, with his first and last NCAA gold medal. 

In an interview with KSTP before the championships, Zaltos said that he was not too worried about the competition at the NCAA Championships.

“The results are talking by themselves,” Zaltos said. “We are already doing the best.”

After Zaltos claimed the gold medal, he reaffirmed what he already knew to be true.

“Today I had the best series of my career,” Zaltos said. “I’ll take that. I am excited for the future. (Angelos and I) are the best duo of all-time in NCAA history. We are very excited about that.”

Zaltos threw a lifetime best at his final meet with the Gophers at 78.08 meters. 

Mantzouranis said in an interview after his performance that he felt like it was not his day, after throwing 77.96 meters and winning silver, only 0.65 meters shorter than his personal best.

Other notable performances came from sophomore Charles Godfred, who placed fourth in the long jump, and the 4×100-meter relay team, which earned seventh place, as well as first-team All-American honors.

The Big Ten champion relay team was able to finish a program-best seventh, even with an injury to senior Devin Augustine in the last stretch of the race, which forced him to slow down.

Japan’s Ichika Kajimoto successfully bided her time in winning the women’s 3k knockout sprint event on the last day of the World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup stop in Setúbal, Portugal.

Kajimoto paced herself to perfection, winning the 1500m and 1000m rounds, before out-sprinting the likes of open water veterans Caroline Jouisse and Lea Boy. Kajimoto swam 6:41.60 to win the last 500m ahead of France’s Jouisse (6:43.50) and Germany’s Boy (6:44.40).

Kajimoto was the national champion in the 400m, 800m, and 1500m freestyle earlier this year at the Japan National Championships and has never won a medal at a global event. Kajimoto has competed at the World Juniors in 2022 as well as the World Aquatics Championships in Doha 2024, but this is just her third appearance at the World Cup.

Boy, the winner from Ibiza, tried to control the pace in the final, replicating her strategy from the last World Cup, but Kajimoto was not having it, perfecting her line and each turn. Although the conditions were a bit more wavy than the men’s race, Kajimoto’s smooth and controlled stroke played to her advantage.

“Yeah, it’s a nice new format,” Boy said. “We like to swim it this way and not only 10k round for round, for round. It’s a little bit more special.

“The course here is a little bit different to the other site. We don’t have very (many) waves this time, so it was very nice. And the sun was out, so the water was cold, but with the sun it’s okay.”

The temperature of the water was up to 20 degrees Celsius during the women’s race as opposed to the 18.5 it was for the men. Even with a later start time than usual of 2:00 p.m. the water was a bit chilly, favouring the swimmers with more short-hand speed.

Boy and Kajimoto shared the podium in Ibiza in April, with the German winning and the Japanese in third.

Jouisse, the bronze medallist from the 10k yesterday, upgraded to silver today, her first of such colour individually at the World Cup.

“I’m really happy about the ten kilometres and I always want to perform in the ten kilometre because that’s the Olympic event,” Jouisse said. “So, that’s my main focus. The three kilometre is new, so I’m discovering it every time and I try a new strategy every time. So, it didn’t work out in Ibiza, it worked out in the national and it worked out today as well. So, I’m kind of glad because every time I did something different.”

Rising American star Brinkleigh Hansen (6:47.00) just missed the podium in fourth, and she will be making her senior international debut this summer at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore at age 15. Since 2001, the United States has always had a breakout high school girl on the Worlds team the year after the Olympics, and Hansen appears to be the next one after she was world junior champion last year in the 5k at age 14.

Monaco’s Lisa Pou (6:49.10) also competed in the final in fifth, ahead of China’s Tian Muran (6:51.90) and Great Britain’s Ella Dyson (6:52.80).

Japan’s Airi Ebina (6:53.90), Spain’s Angela Martinez Guillen (6:54.00 and Portugal’s Mafalda Rosa (7:05.20) also competed in the final.

The attention now shifts to the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore on July 15 with the women’s 10K.

“Training, training, training,” Boy said of what is next before the World Championships. “We stay at home and go six days before the first race to Singapore, and now it’s just time for training.”

The final World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup race will be in Golfo Aranci, Italy, on October 10 & 11.

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Texas A&M returned for the 17th time to the iconic Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, for the annual NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships from June 11-14.

Heading into the final competition of the season, both the men’s and women’s teams were ranked No. 2 by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Association Poll. Combined, the teams competed with 22 athletes across 24 events at the championships and walked away with three gold, three silver and two bronze medals.

In a thrilling final men’s 4x400m relay to close out the men’s side of the competition, senior Hossam Hatib, senior Cutler Zamzow, senior Kimar Farquharson and anchor runner redshirt senior Auhmad Robinson sealed the deal for the Aggies with a season-best 3:00.73 mark for the silver medal. The men tallied up 41 points to tie for the NCAA Outdoor Championship with University of Southern California, the win they’ve been searching for since tying for the championship with the University of Florida twelve years ago.

The women’s final rankings also came down to the women’s 4x400m relay, behind seniors Kennedy Wade, Camryn Dickson, Jasmine Montgomery and Jaydan Wood who snatched the final five points for A&M with a season-best 3:27.11 time and a fourth place finish. The team earned first team All-America honors, and helped the entire women’s team to a 43-point total and a third overall final rank in the national championship.

The first Aggie to earn points for the men was junior Alexsandr Solovev, the nation’s top collegiate pole vaulter. Solovev struck gold in the men’s pole vault final, clearing a school record and personal-best 5.78 meters on his third and final attempt at the staggering height. With a new collegiate-leading mark, Solovev added 10 points to the team tally and a first team All-America honor to his resume. 

Senior Sam Whitmarsh completed his collegiate career on a high, earning the second gold for the Aggies in the men’s 800m final. Whitmarsh finished in 1:45.86 seconds, earning his second first team All-America honor of his career.

Junior Winny Bii was crowned with her gold medal in the women’s triple jump, leaping 13.96 meters to earn first team All-America honors. Bii had a very consistent season, earning silver at the Southeastern Conference Outdoor Championships, fourth at NCAA Indoor Championships, and gold at the SEC Indoor Championships to cap her junior season.

The 400m hurdle duo of seniors Ja’Qualon Scott and Bryce McCray earned 11 valuable points in their event final. Scott crossed the finish line in a personal-best 48.29 seconds, earning a silver medal and a first team All-America honors. McCray finished sixth overall with a personal-best 49.52 mark, earning three points for the team and first team All-America honors.

Junior Jaiya Covington finished in the national runner-up spot in the women’s 100m hurdles, grabbing a silver medal with a 12.93 mark and a first team All-America honor.

The bronze medal count was added to by the women’s 4x100m relay team consisting of sophomore Jasmine Harmon, Dickson, senior Bria Bullard and Montgomery. The team ended their season on a high with a season-best 42.89 mark and first team All-America honors.

Freshman Sofia Yakushina — the current NCAA No. 1 in women’s heptathlon — landed on the national podium with a bronze medal to complete her freshman season. Yakushina started strong in the 100m hurdles, placing fourth overall in 13.53 seconds. She finished eighth overall with a 1.69-meter jump in high jump, 19th overall with an 11.46-meter throw in shot put and fourth overall with a 24.02 mark in the 200m to finish the first day of competition ranked eighth overall with 3,492 points. 

Yakushina fought back on the final day winning her first event, leaping a personal-best 6.47 meters for 997 points in the long jump. She finished ninth overall in both the javelin throw and 800m with a throw of 40.38 meters and a time of 2:14.93 seconds to secure her podium finish. The freshman walked away from her first NCAA Outdoor National Championship with some new hardware, a first team All-America honor and a 6,058 point performance.

The final first team All-America honor for the men’s team was awarded to Robinson, who finished seventh overall in the men’s 400m final in 46.07 seconds. 

A school record was broken again over the week by freshman Debora Cherono in the women’s 3000m steeplechase. The newly minted first team All-American ended her first collegiate season with a personal-best 9:32.10 in the final, taking down her previous school record from the semifinals a mere two days before.

The last women’s first team All-America honor was awarded to Montgomery in the 200m final, finishing in fifth overall in 22.61 seconds..

As the sun set on Hayward Field, it marked the end of the 2024-25 NCAA D1 Track and Field season, and a remarkable result for Texas A&M. Cross country will hit the ground running in the fall and track and field will return in January 2026.

EUGENE – The Texas A&M women’s track & field team secured a third-place finish at the NCAA Championships Saturday evening at Hayward Field. An individual national champion and runner-up finisher highlighted the individual performances.
 
Winny Bii headlined an action-packed day, capturing A&M’s first NCAA title in the women’s triple jump. The junior hit the ground running, leaping 13.96m/45-9.75 on her first attempt to capture the lead. Bii’s opener held throughout the entire competition, landing her at the top of the podium for the championship crown.
 
The women’s 4x100m relay quartet of Jasmine Harmon, Camryn Dickson, Bria Bullard and Jasmine Montgomery set the tone on the final day of the season and put the team on the scoreboard, taking third in the event with a season-best time of 42.89.
 
Debora Cherono held the momentum for the Maroon & White, as the standout steeplechase freshman broke her own school record for the fifth time this season with a time of 9:32.10 to place fifth in the event, dropping her semifinal time by a staggering 10 seconds.
 
Jaiya Covington continued to separate herself as one of the nation’s premier short hurdlers, as the Aggie junior ran out of lane seven in a stacked event and crossed the line in 12.93. This was Covington’s first NCAA outdoor individual final and delivered eight points to the total.
 

Yakushina capped off her historic rookie campaign, as she finished third in the women’s heptathlon with 6,058 points. The freshman added on to her day one total (3,492 points) starting in the long jump where she won the event with a personal-best leap of 6.47m/21-2.75 which jumped her to No. 4 in the A&M record books. She followed that up with ninth in the javelin (40.38m/132-6), leaving only the 800m on deck. Yakushina concluded her seven-event competition placing ninth in the 800m in 2:14.93 to ensure her third-place overall finish.
 
Montgomery added her second First Team All-America honor of the evening in the 200m, as the junior clocked a time of 22.61 which was good for fifth in the final.
 

Concluding the championships for the Maroon & White was the 4x400m team consisting of Latasha Smith, Dickson, Montgomery and Jaydan Wood. The group ran a season-best time of 3:27.11 to capture fourth in the event and secure the final five points for the women’s team to place third in the championships with 43 points.
 

To learn more about Texas A&M Track & Field/Cross Country, visit 12thMan.com and follow @aggietfxc.