D3 Athletes at the 2025 USATF Outdoor Championships

17 D3 stars are slated to compete at the 2025 Outdoor USATF National Championship this Thursday Jul. 31 to Sunday Aug. 3 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

The 17 D3 athletes will feature four current D3 Athletes: Sam Blaskowski, Yakob Ekoue, Lauren Jarrett, and Josh Rivers. We’re unsure if they’ll bring their 2025 D3 Outdoor titles all the way out to Eugene.

This year’s championship is later than usual this year, a result of a late scheduled World Championships set for Sept.13-21 in Tokyo. Athletes competing after full college seasons had to extend their training for an entire two months after D3 NCAAs, while post-collegiate D3 alums have been awarded the chance to treat USAs as a true season championship, one that happens at or near the end of a full summer of competing.

One post-collegiate rookie to watch is recent UW-La Crosse grad Sam Blaskowski, who will run his last scheduled race in an Eagles jersey in both the men’s 100m and 200m dashes as he makes the transition from D3 athlete to professional.

Earlier this month, Blaskowski announced that he has signed with Total Sports Management, signaling the beginning of his pro career. The D3 sprinting standout remains unsponsored, but in a weekend known for sponsorship announcements, such may not be the case for long. Blaskowski acknowledges the importance of performing well at the championships to increase his chances of securing a contract, and, after a solid two-month training block, Blaskowski is ready to go.

“[I’m] most excited about this champs because the training we have done is at its best,” he said. “[The] body is ready to run fast.”

This race marks the end of a storied career in D3 for Blaskowski, who captured 14 national titles, 23 All-American honors, three national records, and became the winningest individual men’s athlete in D3 history. 2025 was his best year yet, as he lowered his 200-meter dash best to No. 2 all-time 20.33, his 100-meter dash national record to 10.05, and became the first athlete in D3 history to dip under the 10-second barrier in all conditions.

Reflecting on his time as a D3 athlete, this championship means a lot to Blaskowski.

“I was just a fast kid who ran to first base and tried track his senior year, and UWL developed me into a top sprinter in the U.S.,” he said.

Other athletes who just came off of a full college season are UW-Eau Claire’s Yakob Ekuoe, UW-Oshkosh’s Joshua Rivers, and Blaskowski’s UWL teammate Lauren Jarrett. The latter two are the only non-graduated D3 athletes competing this weekend.

Sprints star Jarrett will continue her year of dominance in the women’s 100-meter dash. Jarrett’s blistering national record of 11.23 was the last time into the championships, but as someone who could hardly be challenged by her D3 peers, we are excited to see what Jarrett can do against the nation’s best sprinters. She placed sixth in the final at the USATF indoor championships earlier this year.

Rivers placed fifth indoors and comes off of a season in which he literally made huge leaps. After finishing his 2024 season with a massive new long jump PB of 7.95 meters, Rivers opened up his 2025 indoor campaign with a national record of 8.13 meters. He found himself back over 8 meters when he cleared 8.04 meters outdoors, both marks setting new D3 national records.

While Jarrett and Rivers continue their collegiate careers and Blaskowski and Ekuoe launch the start of their post-collegiate careers, other D3 alums come into this weekend as savvy veterans. 2016 Baldwin Wallace grad Melanie Winters finishes her ninth year competing as a post-collegiate multi athlete and will compete in the USATF women’s heptathlon this coming weekend.

“It’s unique for athletes to continue competing for that long after graduating,” Winters said. “To be one of the few coming from D3 to now being competitive at the national level has really been a special journey.”

Winters is one of three multi athletes and 10 field athletes representing D3 in Eugene this weekend. The multis and the discus throw are tied for events with the most D3 athletes competing. The men’s discus throw has three former D3 athletes, including 2025 UW-Eau Claire grad Ekuoe (watch out, too, for Ekuoe’s coach, fellow UWEC alum and 2025 World Indoor silver medalist in the men’s shot put, Roger Steen!), recent Carthage grad Joseph White, and 2018 Christopher Newport grad Legend Hayes.

Hayes is excited to return to the U.S. national scene, a meet that he describes as having energy like no other, for the fourth time in his career. He’s excited to be in the moment and give it his all, but perhaps most excitingly, this year is about who is in the stands.

“This time around, my son can watch me throw and recognize me doing what I do,” Hayes said. “That’s a special feeling that’s hard to describe and means more than I can say.”

Another athlete heading to Eugene with experience but exciting new anticipations is Jenn Randall. Randall will be competing in the women’s 1500-meter run Thurs. evening in her fourth outdoor U.S. championship.

“This champs, I’m really excited to mix it up and put myself out there,” she said. “This is my fourth outdoor champs and I’m not just along for the ride this time. I feel like I really belong in this field and on this stage and can’t wait to mix it up in a very, very talented field.”

At a level to which few (but increasingly more) D3 athletes make it, Randall comes into this weekend with a certain edge that can only come from her own unique journey, one in which she saw lots of improvement years after her time in D3. A 2013 grad of Ithaca College, a younger version of Randall would have never imagined what she would later accomplish.

“I’m proud to rep D3 and show the D3 folks out there that there are many different paths to achieving your goals,” she said. “You don’t have to be a D1 superstar or even the best D3 runner to do big things. Everyone has their own path and timeline to get there and that’s pretty awesome.”

Randall is one of four former women’s D3 athletes who will compete in track events this weekend. She’s excited to watch other D3 women race this weekend, including Ohio Northern alum Emily Richards in the women’s 800m and Centre alum Annie Rodenfels in the women’s 5k.

In the men’s track events, keep an eye on sole D3 men’s distance competitor, 2024 Olympian and Carleton alum Matt Wilkinson, who will be vying for another spot on Team USA in the men’s steeplechase.

The 17 athletes coming together at the historic Hayward Field this week share a bond whether they’ve met each other or not–they come from charter buses instead of airplanes, campus jobs to pay off student loans, and a simple yet burning passion for the sport they love. Hayes perfectly captures what it means to be a D3 athlete competing at the country’s highest level in track and field:

“Coming from D3, it’s always a blessing to be able to qualify at the top stage knowing the odds were against you,” he said. “It’s a chip on your shoulder that never goes away.”

Day 1 and 2 will be of USATF.TV. Day 3 and 4 on NBC/Peacock.