Gators Finish Second at NCAA Outdoors
Florida wrapped up four days of competition at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday in Eugene, where the Gators fell short of a title for the second straight year.
Despite marking the triple crown in conference championships in 2025-2026, the women have not won a title since 2022, and the men lost a three-year title streak last season. The University of Florida is now without a national championship for the first time since 2009.
While the men did not have the numbers to produce team success, the women’s team came close with 43 points to finish second — seven behind the 2026 indoor and back-to-back outdoor champion Georgia Bulldogs.
It came down to the final event of the day: the 4×400-meter relay. After a hot start for the Gators, they dropped to sixth, while Georgia finished second for eight points and the team title. A disqualification in the 5,000 meters had given coach Mike Holloway’s Gators two additional points earlier in the day.
Senior thrower Alida Van Daalen led Florida with 16 points on her own. She opened with six on day one — a season-best 18.12-meter throw and a third-place finish in the shot put Thursday — before winning an individual national championship in discus Saturday with a meet-record 65.98-meter throw on her third attempt.
Senior Hilda Olemomoi competed in both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters. She finished ninth in the 10,000, five seconds back from the minimum point placement of eighth. A disqualification of former winner Doris Lemngole (Alabama) in her first 5,000-meter run at the NCAA Championships pushed freshman Judy Chepkoech to third and Olemomoi to sixth.
Sprinter Gabrielle Matthews ran the 100 and 200 meters, finishing sixth and fourth in the respective events for a combined eight points.
In the triple jump, sophomore Asia Phillips jumped 13.57 meters Thursday for a fourth-place finish.
Senior Tia Wilson made a move too early in the 1500 meters, losing gas at the end and finishing seventh for two points. Wilson had qualified as the fourth-fastest time in prelims; her teammate, freshman Claire Stegall, placed 13th and just missed the qualification line.
Junior Layla Haynes ran a 2:01.67 in the 800 meters to finish 16th and miss qualifying.
Also missing out on points was heptathlete Pauline Bikembo, who sat seventh heading into her final event, the 800-meter run. She ran 2:17.47 to fall to ninth, ten points behind Northern Iowa’s Joey Perry.
Thrower Imani Washington competed in the hammer throw Thursday, placing 21st — just under 13 meters off the leader, Elisabet Rut Rúnarsdóttir of Texas State.
On the men’s side, the Gators finished 15th with 18 points.
The meet was highlighted by a win from sophomore Vance Nilsson in the 400-meter hurdles out of lane 9. The seventh-fastest qualifier in prelims, Nilsson improved his time by over a second to become the first Gator to win the event title since 2017. His 48.06 is the ninth-fastest time in collegiate history.
Coming off the East Preliminary in Lexington, Justin Braun sat third in the world in the 400 meters. He finished sixth in 44.79 seconds for three points.
The remaining points came courtesy of junior Leikel Cabrera Gay in javelin and Kelvin Cheruiyot in the 10,000-meter run Wednesday, finishing sixth and seventh, respectively.
Arkansas took the men’s outdoor title for the first time since 2003, with Georgia finishing seven points back in second.
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