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NCAA Men's Formchart - 5/26/26Published by
NCAA Men's D1 Outdoor Formchart By Jack Pfeifer for DyeStat Place Name School Class 100 4 Jaleel Croal South Florida Sr 7 Traunard Folson Tennessee Jr All eight of last year’s scorers were underclassmen, but the 1-2 finishers, Jordan Anthony of Arkansas and Max Thomas of USC, turned pro. Watkins (9.82w best) – a transfer in the off-season from LSU – and Ajayi (9.88 PR) were 3-4 in that race, then Ajayi beat Watkins this winter in the 60, setting up a possible decisive meeting in the SEC final. Except that in the conference prelims, Ajayi foolishly let up at the finish and missed advancing. In his absence, Watkins scored a decisive win (9.95) over Tennessee’s Folson (10.03). Nketia, the Aussie/Kiwi, won the Big Ten from an outside lane in a wind-blown 9.74 over Ize-Iyamu (9.80w). Croal (9.75w) won the American Conference over JaDarien Parker (9.83w) of East Carolina, Lawyer (9.93w) won the Big 12 and Mosebi (9.98) won the ACC. The field also includes the 2024 champion, Louie Hinchliffe (9.97w), a British Olympian who returned to Houston after a year running professionally. 200 2 Denzel Simusialela Kentucky Sr 6 Rashun Fountain East Carolina Jr What have you done for me lately? Kaalund (19.85 PR) and McCoy (19.93) finished 1-2 indoors just a couple months back. They have been out of action much of the time since – neither ran at their conference championships – but because both have been listed for Regionals, they remain on our lists, relegated for now to 7th and 8th. If healthy, they can finish higher. Kaalund, 3rd a year ago, is the top outdoor returnee. He scared the world record in winning indoors. McCoy missed the 2025 outdoor season with an injury; he ran the 100 and 200 for the Bahamas in the Paris Games. Also missing is Tarsis Orogot (19.75), who advanced all the way to the semifinals for Uganda in the ’24 Olympics and last year’s Worlds. He ran this year for Alabama but was never in top form. Watkins, 3rd indoors, ran an impressive 19.87 to win the SEC over Simusialela (19.98) and Okon (20.10). Nketia won the Big Ten (20.03w) over Charles (20.09w) and Indiana’s Trelee Banks (20.10w). Fountain, part of an excellent stable of sprinters at East Carolina, ran 19.98w to win the American. 400 4 Josiah Wrice South Carolina So 6 Jayden Davis Arizona State Jr Ogazi lost the 400 at the Torrin Lawrence Invitational, May 2 on the new Georgia home track, by a few thousandths of a second to the brilliant new freshman Simms. Both ran 44.02, a lifetime best for both, the fastest times in the world at that point for 2026, and a new Nigerian national record for Ogazi. Ogazi hasn’t lost very often since he burst onto the college scene as a 17-year-old freshman in the spring of 2024, and he quickly made up for this rare defeat by winning the SEC two weeks later in a spectacular 43.95, leaving in his wake Arkansas’s Pierre (44.12) and Simms (44.16). Ogazi was runnerup in the 2024 NCAA meet as a freshman, won it last year, won this year’s indoor Nationals, and made the Olympic final in Paris in 2024. Simms was the early star of this indoor season, breaking the world Junior indoor record (44.62), then slipped to 4th at Indoor Nationals behind Braun (44.67) and Pierre. Pierre was 3rd outdoors a year ago for Arkansas/Pine Bluff. Our top five here are all from the SEC, including Wrice (44.72). 800 1 Colin Sahlman Northern Arizona Sr 2 Rivaldo Marshall Arkansas Sr 7 Dayton Carlson Arizona State Sr 8 Christian Jackson Virginia Tech Sr A high school phenom four years ago at Newbury Park CA, Sahlman had some success in college but no championships, so it came as a surprise in February when he broke Paul Ereng’s 37-year-old collegiate indoor record in the 800, running 1:44.70, a distance thought to be too short for him. A month later he got not one but two NCAA gold medals, winning the 3,000 and anchoring the winning DMR, a first for his Northern Arizona squad. Now he’s back for his final NCAA outdoor meet. What should Colin run? The 5k, where he’s run 13:23? The 1500, where he’s run 3:36? Nope, back to the future, the 800, where he’s improved to 1:44.42 this spring. He’ll have his hands full with the Arkansas pair, Taylor (1:43.74 PR) and Marshall (1:45.59), who went 1-2 indoors, just ahead of Clay (1:45.11). Clay won the Big Ten, Sahlman the Big Sky, Tinoda Matsatsa (1:45.12) of Georgetown the Big East, Socarras (1:46.28) the Heps, Carlson (1:45.20) the Big 12. 1,500 6 Nicholas Plant Virginia Tech Sr Birnbaum has had a spectacular season, breaking the collegiate record by running 3:31.69 on his home track, then handling the Michigan pair of McFarland (3:33.17) and Herger (3:34.06) with ease at the Big Ten. Masai came out of nowhere to run 3:33.17, then took the SEC by outkicking Florida’s Allaoui. Martin (3:34.12) was 2nd to Plant (3:37.12) at the ACC while Cutting (3:35.88) won the indoor mile. The last Michigan victory in the event was in 1995 by Kevin Sullivan, the school’s current coach. Washington, which has four qualifiers, has won this event four years in a row. No school has ever won five. Steeplechase 1 Geoffrey Kirwa Louisville So James Corrigan (8:13.87 PR) of BYU, the defending champion, qualified for Regionals only by virtue of the altitude adjustment for the 8:55.10 he ran in Provo April 30. Kirwa, runnerup a year ago, ran 8:08.10 at Azusa in April, just 2 ½ seconds from Henry Rono’s nearly 50-year-old collegiate record. Kimaru ran 8:18.26 to win the Big 12, while in the ACC, Gardner upset his teammate Mountain, beating him by 5 seconds. Mountain, the 2024 runnerup, had run 8:11.92 this spring, Gardner 20 seconds slower. In 2025 Kirwa was followed by two other Kenyan freshmen, Ruto (8:20.47) and Kipngok (8:22.67). 5,000 4 Ernest Cheruiyot Arkansas Jr 5 Brian Musau Oklahoma State Jr 6 Elsingi Kipruto Louisville Fr Musau (12:59.82 PR) is defending champion, in 2025 taking the measure of Samuel, Langon (13:05.21) and Hansen (13:07.77). His condition in 2026 however is hard to discern, as his lone race at Big 12 was a 13th-place finish in the 10k. His 5k qualifier of 13:23.86 came in early April. Then over the weekend, in an Open race in Los Angeles, days prior to Regionals, Samuel hammered a 12:57.22, fastest ever run outdoors by a collegian, making him the favorite. Cheruiyot (13:15.30) and Kipruto (13:15.74) were 3-4 indoors this winter behind Samuel and Langon. Langon beat Samuel by thousandths in a race in Boston in December, then lost to him in the NCAA indoor final. Samuel broke Henry Rono’s historic collegiate record for two miles at this year’s Millrose Games. Birnbaum (13:19.73) would be doubling back from the 1,500, searching for team points for the host Ducks. Martin is planning the same double while Samuel and Cheruiyot are planning the 5/10. 10,000 2 Denis Kipngetich Oklahoma State Jr 3 Elsingi Kipruto Louisville Fr 4 Ernest Cheruiyot Arkansas Jr 5 Evans Kurui Washington State So 8 Sanele Mosondo Iowa State Sr The first-year collegian Ishmael Kipkurui, of New Mexico, won last year’s race and immediately turned pro. Fellow Lobo Samuel (26:51.06 PR), the runnerup, becomes the favorite as a result. Kipngetich (27:21.10), Cheruiyot (27:45.65) and Kurui (27:27.32) were all also in last year’s final. Newcomer Kipruto ran 27:39.83 this spring, while Thompson (28:08.37) took the Big 12. 110 Hurdles Tharp (13.01 PR) is defending collegiate and U.S. champion. He hasn’t lost a race since finishing 6th in last year’s World Championships in Tokyo, including the NCAA indoor and the SEC, where he ran 13.05, defeating Smallwood (13.12) and the freshman Le’Ezra Brown (13.22), who was dq’d. A year ago at this time Brown was running over the high school hurdles for Dudley High School, in Greensboro, N.C. Franklin (13.07w) was runnerup indoors and won the small Southern Conference, winning by nearly a second. Snow (13.08w) won the Big 12, defeating Prince (13.14w). Brann (13.18w) won the Big Ten by a tenth over Oregon’s Kai Graves-Blanks. The Syracuse sophomore Jamir Brown (13.25) won the ACC over last year’s NCAA runnerup, Zach Extine (13.13) of Florida State. These eight are part of a very deep college hurdle field that also includes Josh Parrish (13.17w), American Conference champion for Wichita; Ja’Qualon Scott (13.09) of Texas A&M, and Isaiah Taylor (13.30) of North Carolina A&T. 400 Hurdles 2 Ja’Qualon Scott Texas A&M Sr 6 Jason Parrish Wichita State Jr 7 Xzaviah Taylor North Carolina A&T Jr Scott, list leader most of the year (48.22), finished a well-beaten 4th at SEC in a race won by Blackwood (48.26) as Adoini (48.75) and Nilsson (48.77) finished 2-3 and broke into the 48s for the first time. Scott and Blackwood were 2-3 a year ago at Nationals. There are other sub-49.50 hurdlers, including Parrish (49.17), Taylor (49.18), Langston (49.24) and Matulonis (49.38). Taylor won the Colonial Conference, Langston the ACC, Matulonis the Heps. Wichita’s Parrish had a crazy American Conference triple, winning the highs (13.17), intermediates (49.58) and long jump (26-3 3/4w). 4x100 1 Auburn 2 LSU 3 Minnesota 4 Houston 5 Oregon 6 Tennessee 7 Arkansas 8 Ole Miss Auburn has won the last two titles, running 38.33 in 2025 and 38.03 in 2024, and leads the college list so far in 2026 by winning the SEC in 38.07, defeating LSU (38.35) and Tennessee (38.51). Coach Leroy Burrell’s Tigers did so without using one of their stars, Israel Okon. Minnesota (38.44) edged Oregon by .03 at the Big Ten. Houston (38.51) won Big 12. 4x400 1 Georgia 2 LSU 3 Florida 4 South Carolina 5 Alabama 6 Texas A&M 7 Ohio State 8 Princeton LSU ran a spectacular 2:58.47 to win the SEC, a school record for Coach Dennis Shaver’s Tigers. But they did not have the lead at the last exchange; that honor belonged to Georgia (3:01.15 seasonal best), our pick to win it all when the chips are down, led by their brilliant freshman newcomer, Jonathan Simms. South Carolina (3:00.86) won indoors over Alabama (3:01.63). If the Crimson Tide get Tarsis Orogot back, they will be a contender. Ohio State (3:03.23) beat Purdue (3:02.15 seasonal best) at the Big 10; Princeton (3:03.72) won the Heps. High Jump 2 Gage Voyles Kennesaw State Fr 8 Jonathan Kapitolnik Illinois Fr This is the first American college season for Jack, the solid favorite off his SEC win and his 7-7 clearance this spring. In England Jack attended St. Albans School, a school founded in the year 948. He tied for 3rd in this winter’s indoor NCAA, a competition won by the Ivy League champion, Tito Alofe (7-4 ½), a junior at Harvard, a school founded merely in 1640. Troupe (7-5 ½), the defending outdoor champ, has not been a factor thus far this season, with a best of just 7-1 ½, but he is in the field. In addition to Jack, Georgia has Stephens (7-3 ¾) and Riyon Rankin (7-6), while Oklahoma has Kyren Washington (7-4 ¼), Tyson Ritz (7-4 ½), Trey Bartholomew (7-3) and Julian McCullough (7-1 ½). Voyles (7-5 ¼) won Conference USA, Mita (7-5) the Big 12, Kapitolnik (7-3) the Big Ten. Bassey (7-3 ¾) was SEC runnerup. Hayes (7-4 ¼) tied for 2nd a year ago but has had a lackluster season so far. Pole Vault 3 Ismaila Sawaneh Tennessee Jr 4 Aleksandr Solovev Texas A&M Sr 6 Ricardo Montes de Oca High Point So 8 Matthew Gray Appalachian State Jr Why is Meacham, one of numerous 19-footers in the field, the favorite? Because he won the Lottery! He also won the Big 12 and has two outdoor 19-foot clearances this season, while most others are thankful for once, including Wicker, who won the Big 10 on the countback over Rhoads, and Solovyov, the defending champion but just 3rd at the SEC, behind Sawaneh but ahead of Cade Gray. The other Gray, Matthew, from Appalachian State, snagged the season’s highest clearance, 19-2, in winning the Sun Belt Conference. When the season began, his outdoor PR had been a mere 17-9 ¾. De Oca won the Big South. Long Jump 1 Tafadzwa Chikomba Kansas State Jr 4 Tyler Nichols Southern Miss Jr 5 De’Aundre Ward Southern Miss Sr 6 Charles Godfred Minnesota Jr Twenty-seven feet always gets our attention. Chikomba jumped 27-1 ¾ to win the Big 12. Foster jumped 27-0 ½ indoors but was relegated to 4th indoors, behind Chikomba and Ward (26-8 ½) and ahead of Stringfellow (27-2 ½ indoors). There are many other 26-foot jumpers this year, including Masikane (26-7 ¼), who won the SEC; Nichols 26-10 ½ to win Sun Belt over his teammate Nichols; Turner (26-6 ¼), the SEC runnerup; Godfred (26-6 ¼), who won the Big Ten over the IC4A champion, Sincere Robinson (26-8 1/4w) of Rutgers, and Latif (26-4 ¼), runnerup to Chikomba in the Big 12. This event will be a matter of inches. Triple Jump 1 Jonathan Seremes Texas Tech Jr 2 Selva Prabhu Kansas State So 6 Theo Mudzengerere Kentucky Sr 8 Aaron Antoine Kansas State Jr Seremes (56-7 ¼), who redshirted the 2025 season, won the indoor title this winter on his final jump, over Prabhu (56-4 3/4w), Daniel (54-8 ¾), Antoine (55-0 ¼) and Mudzengerere (55-2 3/4). Green (55-7 ¾) is defending champion, making this an all-Midwest affair. (Note the absence of anyone from a coastal state on this list.) The big new name is Smith, a freshman from Arizona who had a big 55-7 jump to get 3rd at the Big 12. Shot Put 6 Dillon Morlock Michigan State So 7 J.L. Van Rensburg Tennessee So Not long after his double win (shot, hammer) at the SEC, Tarik Robinson-O’Hagan of Ole Miss was withdrawn from the postseason because of injury. He had been in all seven prior NCAA meets, indoors and outdoors, doubling in each, 14 competitions in all, but now his stellar college career has come to an end. With his departure, the new Big Kid on the Block is a freshman. Has the baton been passed to Ben Smith of Oregon? A Wisconsin prep from two seasons ago, he put a PR 68-6 to win the Big Ten and now sit atop the season’s list. It may now become a dual meet between two throwers each from Oregon and Nebraska. Lamberts, a freshman from South Africa, PR’d at conference (66-7) in defeating his teammate Moran (66-3 ¾ PR) and Lawrence (67-3 ¼) of the Ducks. The field is tightly bunched, including newcomer Michelini – 65-4 to win the Big 12 – Van Rensburg (65-0 for 2nd at SEC) and Morlock (65-10 ¼). Discus 1 Ralford Mullings Oklahoma Sr 6 Yekini Bowen Virginia Tech Jr 7 Christopher Crawford Alabama Sr Mullings (236-3) is the defending champion, having beaten the favored Mykolas Alekna by 8 feet in 2025. Since then Alekna, the world recordholder, transferred from Cal to Oregon and had season-ending shoulder surgery. Returnees Vlad Puchko of Virginia Tech (209-9) and Michael Pinckney of UCLA (216-2) are redshirting. That leaves the Trojans’ Broderick (207-8), who won the Big Ten; Reid (216-1), who won the ACC, and the Air Force’s Tanner. Tanner made a pilgrimage to the DT mecca at Ramona, Oklahoma, pushing his best way out to 228-2. Alabama has Gunzell (209-7), Crawford (198-5) and Christopher Young (201-4). Hammer 2 Angelos Mantzouranis Minnesota Jr 4 Travis Martin Cal Poly/SLO Sr Mississippi’s Tarik Robinson-O’Hagan, who opened his senior season with a PR 254-8 and went on to win the SEC, has been scratched with an injury. He had finished 6th, 7th and 3rd in his three earlier NCAA hammer comps. Tanner, a three-event thrower, has gotten all the way out to 258-9 this spring and thus is the favorite over Johnson (254-9), the indoor weight-throw champ, and Mantzouranis (257-6). Mantzouranis was 2nd to Minnesota teammate Kostas Zaltos in last year’s NCAA. Cal Poly’s Martin (242-2) is the newest member of the 240 club, as fellow Mustang Rory Devaney (243-4) is redshirting. Javelin 1 Chinecherem Nnamdi Prosper Texas A&M Sr 2 Keyshawn Strachan Nebraska Sr 4 Leikel Cabrera Gay Florida Jr Nnamdi threw for Nigeria in the Paris Olympics, finished 4th in the 2024 NCAA and redshirted last year, but he has had several big throws in the 270s this spring (277-10) and thus is favored. Davis (277-0), a 25-year-old redshirt senior, was Division 2 national champion two years ago for Southern Connecticut. He opened his lone D1 campaign with an excellent 263-8, then lost to Strachan (276-5) at Spec Towns, 257-6 to 254-6. The Cuban Gay threw a PR 259-4 to get 2nd a year ago, ahead of Strachan (5th) and Iowa’s Mike Stein (266-4). Stein hasn’t thrown since. Newcomers in the 250s include Shughart (254-0), Larriviere (258-1), Reynolds (254-5) and Oregon’s Thrana (256-11) and Pat Vialva (253-11), who threw a 20-foot PR to get 3rd at Big Ten. Decathlon 6 Zach McGlynn North Dakota State Sr 8 Carter Morton Northern Iowa Sr Peyton Bair (8323 PR) won a year ago by 435 points for Mississippi State before transferring in the off-season to Oregon, for whom he won the indoor heptathlon with a record total. But he has not competed outdoors. Perhaps he is injured. Till Steinforth (8287) was listed on the Nebraska roster but has not competed since winning the Drake Relays in 2025. That leaves us with Illinois, which has three of this year’s competitors, including the two young Dutchmen who may go 1-2, the 6-foot-8 Pelkmans (8004) and list leader de Greef (8039). Both had subpar discus marks in their decs this spring so have plenty of room to improve their scores. The third member of their group is Andreas Hantson (7733). Byrd (7891), 2nd to Bair indoors, scored 7849 last year as a freshman in finishing 4th. Barton has scored 7998, McGlynn 7922, Mooney 8033. Projected Team Scores 1 Arkansas 65 2 Georgia 50 3 Oregon 46 4 Auburn 34 Florida 34 Texas A&M 34 7 Nebraska 30 8 Minnesota 23 Texas Tech 23 10 Virginia 22 Alabama 22 |
