11 things we loved about D3 Track and Field Nationals

11 Things We Loved About Nationals

Everyone at their best

One thing I’m always in awe of at the national meets is seeing everyone at their best. In the booth, we try to highlight when athletes PR or set a season’s best. The new graphics make that a lot easier by denoting it in the results. This year, the PBs kept showing up in the results. It was so frequent that we tallied it up: 238 PBs over the three day weekend. 238! Highlights include: 7/12 women in the 1500m final and 6/9 men in the 400m final. As staunch supporters of D3, it’s so fun to see everyone at their best at the biggest meet of the year. Each year, performances are elevated because of what happens at this meet. To become the best, you need to be at your best.

Schroeder wins at home

In 2024, we saw UWL’s Luke Schroeder give his body for his team. He left Virginia Beach on crutches after being DQ’d in the 60mH. Flash forward to outdoors and he fell over the first hurdle to finish last. He then missed all of 2025 due to injuries. That left a lot of question marks of where Schroeder would be this indoor season. He set the 60mH hurdle record at the WIAC meet but fell short of a national title, finishing fourth. With all the highs and lows, all eyes were on him to see if he could finally win a national title at home–afterall, he set the 110mH record during the regular season and entered nationals as the favorite. As he cleared the seventh hurdle and pulled away from the field, the crowd erupted. His arms stretched out wide, and Luke Schroeder finally was an individual national champion. Things you love to see.

Tassey gets his title

After the DQ heard around the running world, the D3 community rallied around Nathan Tassey. Three steps on the inside rail of the final turn cost Tassey his 10k title. He deployed the same tactics this year of sitting back in the pack and slowly moving up. Unfortunately for him, favorite Isaac vanWestrienen was having a day. Running sub 29 minutes, it made the task tough for Tassey to catch him. On Saturday, Tassey positioned himself towards the front of the pack ensuring he would match every move. With a lap to go, everyone began their kick. Tassey was right there. With 100m to go, he made the decision to go and slipped between lapped runners and vanWestrienen. The gutsy move worked, and he sprinted down the home stretch toward his national title. The best part was everyone congratulating him. His excitement was shared with his competitors. Tassey finally got his.

Last Jump Magic, again

What is happening in the women’s triple jump? Three of the last four competitions have been won by the winner’s last jump! Elysse Cumberland won on her jump at 2025 indoors. Imani Ogrunribido took notes because she’s now won back-to-back outdoor titles on her last jump! How clutch is that? Her 12.83 meter clearance bettered Centre’s Serena McNeilly’s 12.79-meter lead by just four centimeters. What a competition!

Shot Put U

If you think you’ve seen a UW-Eau Claire shot putter on top of the podium for a while, well you’re right. Since 2023 outdoors, a Blugold has stood atop of the podium looking down upon the rest of the country every season except 2024 outdoors! Yakob Ekoue won in 2023 outdoors and 2024 indoors. Adam Strouf swept in 2025, and Gage Stankiewicz swept 2026. That’s SIX national titles in the last seven attempts! It helps when you’re coached by world medalist Roger Steen. Also, watching them celebrate is probably my favorite thing to see. They’re fired up.

La Crosse sweeping at home

Listen, it’s freaking cool both teams came in as favorites and won on their home turf. AND it’s the first time both teams have won at home. So many things have to come together to win a track and field national championship. Think of all the variables, then add in being at home. The coolest part of it was the group picture they took with the fans that stayed for the trophy ceremony. Both programs came together to celebrate as one. Not many host schools are in title contention, so to see both do it was impressive.

Aryianna Garceau’s greatness

Watching Aryianna Garceau this weekend was so impressive. She was unchallenged in both of her hurdle races, and didn’t have any slip ups! She joked on the podcast that she always has a little adversity that she has to deal with but gets it corrected for the finals. This weekend, she was clean over every hurdle and looked unstoppable. On Saturday, you could tell she wanted to destroy her record, and she did just that. She ran 13.28 to break her D3 record and now owns the seven fastest times in D3 history. Her performances are going to be missed. My take is having performances like hers elevate everyone around her and shows D3 has room for elite talent. In fact, we welcome it.

Schoenegge challenged

When someone such as Vassar’s Haley Schoenegge comes into nationals with multiple national titles and a multiple-second lead over the field, it’s very easy for racers to mentally divide the race into two–us and her–sometimes before the race even starts. This, however, was not the case in this year’s women;s 1500-meter final. WashU’s Lucinda Laughlin and Williams’s Kate Tuttle were on a mission to snap Schoenegge’s two-year winning streak and the rest of the field followed suit. The field committed early to a quick pace, crossing through the opening 300-meters on pace for 4:15 or faster. By lap three, only three remained up front: Schoenegge, Laughlin, Tuttle. 

Laughlin’s push to overtake Schoenegge was one of the gutsiest performances of the weekend. The pair closed in 65 seconds, battling the entire way to the finish line, with Schoenegge’s kick and veteran ability to win ultimately preserving her now five-strong 1500m/mile winning streak, an increasingly impressive streak with increasingly deeper women’s 1500-meter fields. Schoenegge narrowly missed her PB and led the entire podium to set their own personal bests. 

With this win, she earned the sixth national title in Vassar history, her five titles following trailblazer Heather Ingraham, who won the program’s first national title with a 2015 victory in the women’s 400-meter dash. 

Postler breaks historical barrier

Though we aren’t in the business of saying who will and will not be an All-American or national champion, it came as no surprise to see No. 1 seed UW-Eau Claire’s Blake Postler win the men’s 400-meter hurdles. What we were absolutely not expecting was to see Postler go out and solo a sub-50 title performance and join ranks with legendary two-time Olympic gold medalist Edwin Moses, the only other D3 athlete to dip under this barrier in history. Postler showcased an impressive weekend of hurdling, finishing third in a loaded men’s 110-meter hurdle field an hour before his dominant 400-meter hurdle performance, which earned him his first hurdle national title. 

Trio of champs raise bar

It might be biased to have an ONU alum writing this, but Ohio Northern’s Avery Baker-Schlendering’s victory in the women’s high jump was one of my highlights of the weekend. To see her remain in the competition with two high jump national champions and then eventually become the champion herself was a really special moment. Indoor champion Serena McNeilly of Centre looked as if she would repeat her victory in Birmingham with clean clearances through 1.76 meters, but when Baker-Schlendering cleared 1.79 meters to tie her indoor PR and McNeilly missed all three attempts, only last year’s indoor and outdoor champ Wildsmith had a chance of stealing the victory. Wildsmith had somewhat of a rocky competition, clearing her last four bars on the third attempt, so when she passed her final attempt to 1.82 meters, just a centimeter over her PR, anything was possible. One miss later, and Baker-Schlendering became a first-time national champion and the sixth highest women’s high jumper in D3 history. 

Ander Julian is an All American

How cool of a story is Ander Julian? He gets entered into the meet after a medical scratch on Tuesday. And on Thursday he finished eighth to become an All American. This is why you can’t count anybody out. You never know who is going to have a day, that’s why you run the race! On top of becoming an All American, he closed out his career with a personal best of 29:48. He blitzed a 63 final lap! Wartburgggggggg Asssssemblleeeeeeee.