Dozens qualify for 2026 NCAA track championships at Hayward Field
Dozens of athletes have punched their ticket to Hayward Field, where Eugene will host the NCAA outdoor championships June 10-13 and again in 2027 and 2028.
Dozens of college athletes from around the country have qualified for the 2026 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships, turning Hayward Field back into the center of the sport and setting up another busy June for Eugene.
The national meet is scheduled for June 10-13 at Hayward Field, with the University of Oregon serving as host. The NCAA’s first-round meets were held May 27-30 in Lexington, Kentucky, for the East and Fayetteville, Arkansas, for the West, and the top 12 finishers in each event at each site advanced to Eugene. In the combined decathlon and heptathlon, the top 24 athletes in the country moved on to the final site.
Several programs began announcing their qualifiers as regional results were finalized. Illinois State said it sent 10 individual student-athletes and one relay squad to the West First Round, then later listed 11 total postseason entries, including the men’s 4x400-meter relay. Florida State and other programs also had athletes advance through the opening rounds, filling out a championship field that will pull top performers from both coasts into Lane County.
For Eugene, the meet is part of a familiar cycle. The NCAA has scheduled the University of Oregon to host the Division I outdoor championships at Hayward Field in 2026, 2027 and 2028, extending the city’s grip on one of track and field’s biggest stages. Oregon says Hayward Field has hosted more NCAA outdoor championships than any other venue, and the school notes that between 2010 and 2018 it hosted the meet seven times, drawing more than 40,000 fans over four days each time.
The venue’s history stretches back to 1962, when Oregon first hosted the NCAA outdoor meet. The 2018 championships were the 16th time the national outdoor meet was staged in Eugene, a milestone that reinforces how deeply the city’s identity is tied to track and field.
The field itself carries the name of Bill Hayward, the Oregon coach who guided athletes for 44 years, and the modern championship materials point to ESPN and ESPN2 coverage along with ticket sales for the final site. That mix of television exposure, ticket demand and a three-year hosting run keeps Eugene at the center of TrackTown USA, with Hayward Field continuing to deliver national attention and economic activity to Lane County.
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