Oklahoma State Track Lands First Qualifiers for 2026 National Championships

The Oklahoma State Cowboys and Cowgirls have already qualified four track and field stars for the NCAA Championships, based on action at the NCAA West Regionals in Arkansas.

The event continues Friday and Saturday at the University of Arkansas, where the team compete earlier this month in the regular season. Any OSU qualifiers will move on to complete in the NCAA Championships at legendary Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., from June 10-13.

Two Cowboys and two Cowgirls have already punched their tickets to Eugene as of Thursday night.

Denis Kipngetich and Adisu Guadie

𝑻𝑰𝑪𝑲𝑬𝑻𝑺 𝑷𝑼𝑵𝑪𝑯𝑬𝑫 🎟️

Denis Kipngetich and Adisu Guadie are the first 2 Cowboys this weekend to punch their tickets to the NCAA Championships, doing so with 4th & 10th place finishes in the 10,000 Meters!#GoPokes I #run4okstate pic.twitter.com/G5bBhe49KI
— Oklahoma State XC/T&F (@run4okstate) May 28, 2026

The pair of Denis Kipngetich and Adisu Guadie were the first two Cowboys to qualify for nationals on Wednesday as the pair finished in the Top 10 of the 10,000 meters.

Kipngetich qualified with a time of 28:48.46 while Guadie qualified with a time of 28:57.90. The Top 12 finishers in the event qualified, with New Mexico’s Habtom Samuel winning the event with a time of 28:42.53. Kipngetich finished six seconds out of first place.

Jacob Deacon also ran in the event and did not qualify for nationals, as he ran a time of 29:22.21. Will Muirhead finished in 32nd with a time of 29:35.71.

Burklie Burton and Rachel Neaves

𝑩𝑰𝑮 𝑻𝑰𝑴𝑬 𝑩𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑲𝑻𝑯𝑹𝑶𝑼𝑮𝑯 𝑭𝑶𝑹 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑺𝑬𝑵𝑰𝑶𝑹 💪

Rachel Neaves qualifies for her first NCAA Championships in the Hammer Throw with an 11th place finish at the NCAA West First Round with her toss of 63.64 meters!#GoPokes I #run4okstate pic.twitter.com/soYbVNWz5H
— Oklahoma State XC/T&F (@run4okstate) May 28, 2026

The pair qualified for nationals in the hammer throw, an event that Burton claimed at the Big 12 Championships earlier this month. This time, it was Neaves with the better throw, but both were well off the top throw.

Neaves finished in 11th place with a top throw of 63.64 meters, or 208.9 feet. Burton was the final qualifier, finishing in 12th place with a throw of 63.52 meters, or 208.5 feet. Cal’s Valentia Savva won the even with a throw of 69.18 meters, or 227 feet.

Burton posted a personal-best of 67.99 meters at the Big 12 Championships. It was the second-longest hammer throw for an under-20 athlete in U.S. history. It is also currently the No. 1 under-20 hammer throw in the world. While she didn’t match that, qualifying for nationals gives her a chance to better that.

Oklahoma State sent its largest contingent in program history to an NCAA regional this week. The Cowgirls had qualifiers in 11 different events while the Cowboys had qualifiers in 10 different events. Many of the events happening in the final two days involved runners that that are moving through quarterfinals and semifinals in their respective disciplines, leading up to finals on Saturday.

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