PEORIA, Ill. – A program-record-setting eight Bradley Track & Field athletes have qualified to compete in the NCAA West First Round in Fayetteville, Ark., as the NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Track and Field and Cross Country Committee announced the qualifiers for the 2026 NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

The five men's 800m runners -- four-time MVC Champion Jamie Phillips, 2026 Stanford Invitational 800m Champion Kaden Kingsmith, two-time MVC 800m Bronze Medalist David Locke, 2025 Stanford Invitational 800m Champion Matthew Burnett and 2026 MVC 1500m Champion Jaxson Copelin -- will all compete in the 800m event in Fayetteville. All five athletes possess times in the top 100 nationally and own the top five times in Bradley Men's Track & Field history. 

JD Rosslee, NCAA Cross Country Championship qualifier and owner of the 5000m and 10000m program records, will compete in the Men's 10000m Semifinal on Wednesday night and the Men's 5000m Semifinal on Friday night. He will be the first Brave to run in multiple events at an NCAA meet since Michael Ward ran in the 1500m and 5000m events in 2017.

Trixie Wraith, the winner of the 1500m and 5000m at the MVC Championships this past Sunday, will run in the women's 1500.

Nadia Potgieter, the MVC 3000m Indoor Champion and the MVC 5000m Indoor & Outdoor Silver Medalist, will compete in the Women's 5000m semifinal for the third straight season.  

Potgieter qualifies for the NCAA Outdoor West First Round for the third consecutive year, becoming the first woman to do so since Tiana LoStracco qualified in 2021, 2022 and 2023. She is only the third woman achieve such a feat, joining LoStracco and Kristen Busch (2014-16). Wraith, Phillips and Copelin each qualify for the NCAA West First Round for the second straight season. Kingsmith, Rosslee and Locke will each make their first NCAA Championship appearance. 

Bradley's eight NCAA-qualifying athletes mark a new program record for the most athletes to qualify for the NCAA Championships. It is the most under Head Coach Andrew Carlson and bests the previous program record of seven qualifying athletes, set in 2016, 2021 and 2025. At least one Brave has qualified for the NCAA West First Round in every season since 2013 (excluding 2020).