NCAA West First Round Homepage | Complete list of qualifiers

The participants for the 2026 NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships First Round competitions have been announced and The Big West is sending 98 qualifiers to compete for a place in the Championships finals. The NCAA West First Round will be held May 27-20 at Arkansas’ John McDonnell Field. The announcement was made Thursday on NCAA.com. 

The 98 qualifiers is this second-highest mark for the conference, only surpassed by 2025’s 116. All 11 member-institutions are represented on the listings by at least two event qualifiers heading to Fayetteville.

Cal Poly had the most total qualifiers with 19, primarily focused on the distances and throwing disciplines. UC Irvine had 17, with 13 from The Big West Women’s Track & Field Championship victors, the largest women’s contingent. The men’s champion Mustangs are also sending a bakers’ dozen, the biggest male representation in the conference.  

Seven student-athletes qualified in two individual events: sprinting duo of Cal State Bakersfield’s Makiah Parker and Trinity Barnett of Long Beach State (women’s 100, 200 m), Lilian Turban of Hawai’i (women’s long jump, javelin), UC Irvine’s Nyla Baker (women’s shot put, discus throw), UC San Diego’s Zach Lewis (men’s shot put, discus throw) and UC Riverside jumpers Chelsea Aninyei (women’s long jump, triple jump) and Kazu Kimura (men’s high jump, long jump).

Athletes who rank among the top 48 in the region in their respective events earn a berth into the NCAA West First Rounds. In addition, the best 24 relays times advance to the NCAA preliminaries. For combined events (Heptathlon and Decathlon), the top 24 declared student-athletes in each event based on their position on the national descending-order list will be accepted directly into the Championships.  

The top 12 competitors from each individual event and the top 12 teams from each relay event advance from both the East and West Preliminary Rounds sites to qualify for the NCAA Championships, held June 10-13 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. The list of qualifiers from each event contested in the first rounds will be announced by 3 p.m. on Sunday, May 31. 

The Big West had four qualifiers in the multi-events advancing straight to the Championships finals historic Hayward Field with UC Irvine duo Joy Anderson and Jolie Robinson set for the heptathlon and Long Beach State’s Ryan Gregory and Cal State Fullerton’s Keith Orona earning a place in the decathlon field, who are not included in the total of 98 First Round competitors.