PEORIA, Ill. – Eight Braves travel to Fayetteville, Ark., for the first rounds of the 2026 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, hosted in Arkansas, from May 27-30.
Bradley's eight qualifying athletes marked a new program record for athletes sent to an NCAA First Round competition, surpassing the prior record of seven athletes sent in the 2016, 2021 and 2025 seasons.
NCAA WEST FIRST ROUND
Where: John McDonnell Field - Fayetteville, Ark.
When: May 27-30, 2026
Live Timing:
Flash Results
Live Video (All on ESPN+) :
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday
BREAKING DOWN THE 2026 WEST FIRST ROUND
Wednesday sees six Braves compete at John McDonnell Field. At 7:50 p.m.,
Jamie Phillips,
Kaden Kingsmith,
David Locke,
Matthew Burnett and
Jaxson Copelin will run in the First Round of the Men's 800m event. The first round consists of six heats with eight runners per heat. Phillips and Locke will race in heat one, Kingsmith and Burnett will race in heat five, and Copelin will race in heat six. The top three finishers in each heat plus the six best times among those not in the top three advance to the quarterfinals on Friday.
Day one concludes with
JD Rosslee's first race of the meet, as he will run in the Men's 10000m Semifinal at 9:10 p.m. The semifinal sees all 48 athletes compete in one heat. The top 12 finishers in the semifinal race will advance to the Men's 10000m Final at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Ore.
Thursday sees
Trixie Wraith run in the Women's 1500m First Round at 6:30 p.m. The first round of the event consists of four heats with 12 runners per heat. Wraith will compete in heat four. The top five finishers in each heat plus the four best times not among the top finishers will advance to the quarterfinal race on Saturday.
Those who advance to the Men's 800m Quarterfinal will run at 7:05 p.m. on Friday night. The 24 athletes advancing from the first round are split into three heats with eight runners each. The top three heat finishers plus the three best times not among the top finishers will advance to the Men's 800m Semifinal in Eugene.
JD Rosslee runs in the second of his two races at 8:10 p.m. Friday, competing in the Men's 5000m Semifinals. The 5000m semifinals contain two heats of 24 runners each, and Rosslee will compete in heat two. The top five finishers in each heat plus the two best times outside of the top finishers will advance to the Men's 5000m Final at the NCAA Championships.
The Women's 1500m Quarterfinals take place at 5:15 p.m. on Saturday, the final day of the West First Round. The 24 athletes who advanced from the first round of the event will be split into two heats of 12 athletes each. The top five finishers per heat plus the two next best times will compete in the Women's 1500m Semifinal in Eugene.
Nadia Potgieter wraps up the West First Round for the Braves on Saturday night, running in the Women's 5000m Semifinals on Saturday at 8:10 p.m. Similar to the Men's 5000m Semifinals, the Women's 5000m Semifinals contain two heats of 24 runners. The top five finishers in each heat plus the next two times outside of the top heat finishers advance to the Women's 5000m Final at the NCAA Championships.
All of the action will be live on ESPN+ throughout the competition.
