KANSAS — The 2026 Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) Outdoor Track & Field Championships will be held Thursday, April 30 and Friday, May 1 at Adair-Austin Stadium, on the campus of Friends University, in Wichita, Kan. The following is a meet preview written by meet announcer and long-time contributor to the KCAC, Carol Swenson.
2026 KCAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships Preview
By Carol R Swenson, Meet Announcer
April 27, 2026 (Written Prior to Entry Deadline)
The 2026 Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships will be held on April 30 and May 1, returning to the campus of Friends University in Wichita, Kan., for the first time since 2018.
Competition on Day 1, Thursday, will open with the Hammer Throw at 9:30 a.m. That will follow by the High Jump and Long Jump beginning at 11:00 a.m. The final field event of Day 1 will be the Javelin Throw, starting at 2:00 p.m. Track events will begin on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. with the finals in the 3,000m Steeplechase followed by preliminaries of the 100m Dashes, women's 100m Hurdles & men's 110m Hurdles. The 4x800m Relays will be Thursday's second final on the track, followed by preliminaries in the 200m Dashes before the finals in the 10,000m Runs for women and men wraps up competition on day one.
Competition on Day 2, Friday, is scheduled to begin at 11:00 a.m. with the Pole Vault, Triple Jump, Shot Put and Discus Throw. All of track events on Friday will be finals only beginning at 3:35 p.m. with the 4x100m Relays. The meet will wrap up with the 4x400m Relays, tentatively scheduled for the women at 7:55 p.m. and 8:10 p.m. for the men. The awards ceremony recognizing the high-point Athletes of the Meet, Coaches of the Year, and team champions will conclude the meet at approximately 8:30 p.m.
The Ottawa University women won their first ever KCAC Outdoor team championship in 2025 after finishing second the prior two years, edging the University of Saint Mary women by three points, the narrowest winning margin recent KCAC history, and snapping the four-year championship streak of the Spires.
While the April 21st rankings by the USTFCCCA do not have any KCAC women's teams ranked in top 25 nationally, the coaches' association has Friends as a narrow favorite to win their 10th KCAC championship since 2010, edging the Saint Mary women, with Evangel and Kansas Wesleyan battling for third in the final KCAC team standings while Ottawa and Tabor are expected to round out the top half of the final KCAC team race. In the South Central region of the coaches' association, they have flipped the rankings at the top, placing the Saint Mary women ahead of Friends, with Evangel again ahead of Kansas Wesleyan and Ottawa.
Evangel University's men also won their first KCAC team title in 2025, breaking the five-year string of titles by the University of Saint Mary men, with Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes' men finishing second by eight points, the second closest team title race on record since 1975.
Like the women, the USTFCCA surprisingly doesn't have any KCAC men's teams ranked in the top 25 nationally. The coaches' poll lists the University of Saint Mary men as a narrow favorite to win their sixth conference title over Kansas Wesleyan, with defending team champion Evangel University picked for third over Friends. In the April 21st South Central region poll of the USTFCCCA, Saint Mary is again ranked at the top of the KCAC schools, but regionally the rankings are shuffled with Friends and Evangel placed ahead of Kansas Wesleyan and Ottawa.
Individually, the meet could see ten women and five men eligible to return to defend outdoor conference titles in individual events they won a year ago. Women eligible to return to defend 2025 KCAC Outdoor championships include triple-winner JayOnna Perry (Ottawa, 100m Hurdles, 3-times 400m Hurdles, & Long Jump), along with single event champions Tiyna Ridge (Friends, meet record holder, 100m Dash), Carly Holadia (Saint Mary, 1,500m Run), Josie Tyrrell (Saint Mary, meet record holder, 5,000m Run), Delaney Miller (Evangel, High Jump), two-time winner ('23 & '25), Aaliyah Ramirez (Friends, meet record holder, Pole Vault), Kara Alexander (McPherson, Shot Put), Cara Shultz (McPherson, Discus), Abby Green (Friends, Hammer Throw), and Maddy Wolf (Kansas Wesleyan, Javelin). Abby Beets (Evangel) returns as a former Pole Vault champion in 2024. Men eligible to return as defending champions from 2025 include Domonic Atkinstall (Ottawa, 100m Dash), Benjamin Ipock (Evangel, 400m Hurdles), Dylan Brice (Bethany, Pole Vault), Carter Giittinger (Friends, Triple Jump), and Lamar Gordon (McPherson, Discus).
Among the women's defending outdoor champions, Perry won four individual titles at the 2026 KCAC Indoor Championships, winning the 200m and 400m Dashes, 60m Hurdles, and the Long Jump, Tyrrell posted three indoor championship wins, sweeping the 1-Mile, 3,000m and 5,000m Runs; Ridge won the 60m Dash; Holadia took home the 1,000m Run title; Ramierez won the Pole Vault; Alexander grabbed the Shot Put title; and Green the Weight Throw crown. On the men's side, Atkinstall won the 200m Dash and Brice the Pole Vault, while Gordon grabbed the KCAC Indoor Shot Put crown.
Eight KCAC women scored at this winter's 2026 NAIA National Indoor Championships, with JayOnna Perry (Ottawa) and April Phillips (Evangel) leading the way with multiple placings. Perry placed 2nd twice, in the Long Jump and Pentathlon in addition to finishing 8th in the 60m Hurdles, while Phillips was 2nd in the Triple Jump and tied for 8th in the High Jump. Taking home silver medals for 2nd place finishes were Tiyna Ridge (Friends) in the 60m Dash, Autumn Nold (Evangel) in the 600m Run, and Delaney Miller (Evangel) in the High Jump. Placing 7th were Roy'Janae Brown (Ottawa) in the 200m Dash and Josie Tyrrell (SaintMary) in the 5,000m Run while Belle Barnett (Sterling) tied for 8th in the High Jump.
At the 2026 NAIA National Indoor Championships, three KCAC men scored led by Carter Giittinger (Friends) winning the non-KCAC contested Heptathlon. Daniel Blount (Ottawa) tied for 5th in the High Jump while Wyatt Johnson (Kansas Wesleyan/not competing this spring) was 5th in the 1,000m Run.
Entering the KCAC Championship weekend, a total of 12 performances by KCAC women and five (5) by KCAC men have met the NAIA "A" (automatic) qualifying standard, plus an additional 27 women and 11 men performances have met the NAIA "B" (provisional) standard for the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships, which will be held on the University of North Carolina-Charlotte Karl Straus Track in Asheville, North Carolina, May 20-22, 2026.
The 2026 KCAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships again shapes up to be a highly competitive, quality meet!
Returning Defending Champions from 2025 (current KCAC ranking):
[NM – No 2026 mark in the event]
WOMEN (Ten potential returning individual defending champions in 12 events, Nine are '26 KCAC leaders):
- 100m Dash
- Tiyna Ridge (Friends) (#1)
- 1,500m Run
- Carly Holadia (Saint Mary) (#1)
- 5,000m Run
- Josie Tyrrell (Saint Mary) (#1)
- 100m Hurdles
- 400m Hurdles
- 4x100m Relay
- 4x400m Relay
- 4x800m Relay
- High Jump
- Delaney Miller (Evangel) (#1)
- Pole Vault
- Aaliyah Ramirez (Friends) (#1) (2-time, '23 & '25, defending champion)
- Long Jump
- Shot Put
- Kara Alexander (McPherson) (#3)
- Discus
- Cara Shultz (McPherson) (#4)
- Hammer Throw
- Abby Green (Friends) (#1) (first ever 3-time KCAC defending champion)
- Javelin Throw
- Maddy Wolf (Kansas Wesleyan) (#1)
MEN (Five potential returning individual defending champions, Three are '26 KCAC leaders):
- 100m Dash
- 400m Hurdles
- Benjamin Ipock (Evangel) (#1)
- 4x100m Relay
- 4x400m Relay
- 4x800m Relay
- Kansas Wesleyan (NM) (2-time defending champion)
- Pole Vault
- Dylan Brice (Bethany (#1)
- Triple Jump
- Carter Giittinger (Friends) (#8)
- Discus
- Lamar Gordon (McPherson) (#1)
2026 NAIA National Outdoor Qualifiers as of April 27 (national rank)
WOMEN
- 100m
- Tiyna Ridge (Friends) 11.26 A (#2)
- Gabrielle Pitts (Evangel) 11.67 B (#9)
- Roy'Janae Brown (Ottawa) 11.71 B (=#10)
- Morgan Lilly (Evangel) 11.79 B (#18)
- 200m
- Tiyna Ridge (Friends) 23.75 A (=#3)
- Roy'Janae Brown (Ottawa) 23.91 B (#8)
- Morgan Lilly, Evangel 24.24 B (=#18)
- 400m
- Autumn Nold (Evangel) 55.19 B (#10)
- Haley Sampson (Saint Mary) 55.92 B (=#18)
- JayOnna Perry (Ottawa) 56.31 B (#24)
- Deslyne Cooper (Saint Mary) 56.43 B (=#26)
- 800m
- Fien Molenberg (Friends) 2:10.64 A (#8)
- Carly Holadia (Saint Mary) 2:13.77 B (#20)
- 5,000m
- Josie Tyrrell (Saint Mary) 17:12.82 B (#10)
- 10,000m
- Josie Tyrrell (Saint Mary) 35:55.65 A (#6)
- 100m Hurdles
- JayOnna Perry (Ottawa) 13.90 B (#6)
- Gabriela Millan (Friends) 14.16 B (=#21)
- Jordyn Miller-Knuckles (Saint Mary) 14.17 B (=#23)
- 400m Hurdles
- JayOnna Perry (Ottawa) 1:00.44 A (#6)
- Liberty Wiles (Evangel) 1:03.15 B (#29)
- 3k Steeplechase
- Abigail White (Saint Mary) 11:16.68 B (#14)
- 4x100m Relay
- Ottawa 46.04 A (#5)
- Evangel 46.25 A (#9)
- Saint Mary 46.73 B (#12)
- Friends 47.24 B (#26)
- 4x400m Relay
- Saint Mary 3:51.25 B (#10)
- Evangel 3:51.60 B (#13)
- High Jump
- Delaney Miller (Evangel) 1.73m/5'8 A (=#4)
- Belle Barnett (Sterling) 1.70m/5'7 A (=#8)
- April Phillips (Evangel) 1.70m/5'7 A (=#8)
- Paige Smith (KWU) 1.68m/5'6 B (#15)
- Pole Vault
- Aaliyah Ramirez (Friends) 3.78m/12'4.75 A (=#9)
- Megan Prestia (Evangel) 3.71m/12'2 B (#11)
- Long Jump
- Gabrielle Pitts (Evangel) 5.89m/19'3.75 B (=#10)
- JayOnna Perry (Ottawa) 5.80m/19'0.25 B (#15)
- Triple Jump
- Aneesa Sheppard (Friends) 11.74m/38'6.25 B (#16)
- Hammer
- Abby Green (Friends) 54.54m/178'11 A (#10)
- Javelin
- Maddy Wolk (KWU) 42.22m/138'6 B (#15)
- Rian Boub (Ottawa) 41.57m/136'4 B (#24)
MEN
- 3k Steeplechase
- Prince Ntozo (Saint Mary) 9:15.12 B (=#7)
- Evan Pearce (KWU) 9:19.22 B (#11)
- 4x100m Relay
- High Jump
- Pole Vault
- Dylan Brice (Bethany) 5.00m/16'4.75 A (=#2)
- Long Jump
- Tyler Holmes (Saint Mary) 7.44m/24'5 A (#12)
- Triple Jump
- Charles Jones (Sterling) 15.68m/51'5.5 A (#4)
- Daniel Blout (Ottawa) 14.97m/49'1.5 B (#13)
- Matthew Bryant (Friends) 14.69m/48'2.5 B (#19)
- Shot Put
- Shawn Burdick (Friends) 16.67m/54'8.25 B (#8)
- Lamar Gordon (McPherson) 16.19m/53'1.5 B (=#19)
- Discus
- Lamar Gordon (McPherson) 51.75m/169'9 B (#9)
- Hammer
- Lamar Gordon (McPherson) 55.65m182'7 B (#16)
- Javelin
- Koltyn Kaniper (Tabor) 68.14m/223'7 A (#2)
- Alex Richardson (Evangel) 62.94m/206'6 A (#6)
- Koby Graham (Evangel) 59.16m/194'1 B (#19)
- Decathlon
- Carter Giittinger (Friends) 6754 (#6)
- Braxton Baker (Evangel) 6397 (#13)
—KCAC—
