NAIA outdoor track championships underway at UNC Asheville, boost recovery efforts

Asheville’s Karl Straus Track was busy with national-caliber action Wednesday as the 2026 NAIA Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track and Field National Championships got underway on the UNC Asheville campus, drawing athletes, coaches and fans to Buncombe County for a three-day meet that runs through May 22.

The championships mark the 74th annual men’s meet and the 45th annual women’s meet, and Asheville is set to host them again in 2027. For the city, that makes the national event more than a one-week booking. It is a repeat landing that helps keep Asheville visible in the college sports market and reinforces the city’s bid to be known as a destination for sports tourism.

NAIA officials said the choice of Asheville was driven by the stadium experience at Karl Straus Track, which features a state-of-the-art Mondo surface installed during a $4 million renovation completed in 2023. That project was backed in part by Tourism Product Development grant money through Explore Asheville and the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority, tying the facility’s upgrade directly to the county’s tourism strategy.

Explore Asheville and Airstream Ventures are hosting the event, and local tourism leaders have cast the championships as a way to generate direct economic impact for hotels, restaurants and other businesses still working through Hurricane Helene recovery. Vic Isley, president and CEO of Explore Asheville and the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority, has said the meet underscores Asheville’s position as a leading sports destination while also helping fuel the local creative economy.

The field also brought a regional angle. Frontier Conference athletes were competing in Asheville and earning All-America honors on May 21, with Dakota State’s Zachary Haugen finishing third in the men’s hammer throw to earn NAIA All-America status. The conference’s presence gave the championships a stronger Mountain West and Northern Plains footprint, with teams such as Montana Tech and Rocky Mountain College represented on the national stage.

Rocky Mountain College’s men also posted a program record in the opening day action, adding another layer to the meet’s competitive value for visiting programs. For UNC Asheville and the surrounding West Asheville and downtown corridor, the crowd means more than a packed track schedule. It puts national attention on a renovated campus facility, brings spending into the local economy and gives Asheville another high-profile event to build on when the championships return in 2027.