Weekend Track & Field Viewing Guide: Pre Classic, NCAA Regionals, NCAA D2, D3, NAIA Nationals: May 22-May 25
Read How to Watch All of the Action this Weekend Below
By Joseph CarrollAs temperatures heat up across the country, so does the domestic track & field season. Less than a month from the first day of the Olympics Trials, the season is in full swing. The main event on deck is the Prefontaine Classic at Hayward Field, one of the most anticipated meets every year. There are absolutely LOADED fields all around, including a historically deep Bowerman Mile. All of the collegians are in championship season and looking to add some hardware, score big team points, and potentially extend their seasons to the Olympic Trials and beyond, something NCAA champion Joe Waskom of Washington did last year. DI Regionals are this weekend, picking qualifiers for the national meet in two weeks, while DII, DIII, and NAIA athletes have their respective national championships this weekend.
| Day/Event | Time | TV | Streaming Link | Live Results |
| Thursday | ||||
| NCAA DI East Regionals | 6 p.m. ET | ESPN+ | Flash Results | |
| NCAA DI West Regionals | 4 p.m. ET | ESPN+ | Flash Results | |
| NCAA DII Nationals | 5:45 p.m. ET | Ncaa.com | Leone Timing | |
| NCAA DIII Nationals | 5 p.m. ET | Ncaa.com | Leone Timing | |
| NAIA Nationals | 2:00 p.m ET | Team 1 Sports | Cross Roads Timing |
| Friday | |||
| NCAA DI East Regionals | 5 p.m. ET | ESPN+ | Flash Results |
| NCAA DI West Regionals | 6 p.m. ET | ESPN+ | Flash Results |
| NCAA DII Nationals | 6:25 p.m. ET | Ncaa.com | Leone Timing |
| NCAA DIII Nationals | 4:05 p.m. ET | Ncaa.com | Leone Timing |
| NAIA Nationals | 1:00 p.m. ET | Team 1 Sports | Cross Roads Timing |
| Saturday | ||||
| Prefontaine Classic | 4 p.m. ET | NBC 4-6 p.m. Eastern | Peacock | Diamond League |
| NCAA DI East Regionals | 5 p.m. ET | ESPN+ | Flash Results | |
| NCAA DI West Regionals | 6 p.m. ET | ESPN+ | Flash Results | |
| NCAA DII Nationals | 2:40 p.m. ET | Ncaa.com | Leone Timing | |
| NCAA DIII Nationals | 4 p.m. ET | Ncaa.com | Leone Timing |
To keep on top of all the action, make sure to read below for the best ways to follow along.
Prefontaine Classic
When: Saturday 4-6 p.m ET
Where: Hayward Field, Eugene, OR
Streaming: NBC/Peacock (U.S), BBC Two (UK), YouTube (International) *Live Results
The Prefontaine Classic will be potentially the best meet of the year, outside of the Olympics. The Bowerman Mile is the overwhelming headliner, fans will have to wait till the end of the meet to watch, as it is slated to be the last event. Jonathan Gault has an in-depth preview of the Bowerman Mile here. The morning session (not televised) will feature two 10,000m races that will also double as the Kenyan Olympic trials. The Kenyan men have nine of the top 30 men in the world over the distance, which they will need to pare down to three. The Kenyans put all three of their runners in the top eight of Worlds last year, so whatever three men they send are poised to be a factor come the final laps in Paris.
The story in the women’s race is 2023 10k world champion Gudaf Tsegay targeting the world record, trying to surpass the 29:01.03 time set by countrywoman Letesenbet Gidey back in 2021. The women’s 800 will see Keely Hodgkinson and Mary Moraa square off. This raced was expected to feature Athing Mu, who pulled out on Thursday citing hamstring issues. This race still features most of the World Championship field from last year, and will still produce blazing fast times.
The men’s 200 field features a stacked lineup with the top three men in the world, Kenny Bednarek, Courtney Lindsey, and Letsile Tebogo all on the start list. That is not even mentioning US star Erriyon Knighton, the world silver medalist who will also be running. Superstar Sifan Hassan will be facing a strong field of Ethiopian 1500m runners in the 5k, look for her to potentially try to drop them before the bell. The men’s and women’s 100s will also be incredibly good as Sha’Carri Richardson will make her 100m debut against five-time Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah. In the men’s race, full fields have yet to be released, but we will be able to see how indoor 60m world champion Christian Coleman fares in the 100m for the first time since Diamond League Suzhou, a race that he narrowly lost to Akani Simbine.
U.S. hurdlers Rai Benjamin and Grant Holloway will look to continue their dominance, while an Olympic Trials preview is set in the women’s 100m hurdles. World Indoor 3k gold medalist Elle St. Pierre will look to notch a first Diamond League victory against a strong field, while the women’s steeple will be a dress rehearsal for the U.S trials.
Races that would be headlining at any other Diamond League meet are just the appetizers at Pre. It is going to be one that you do not want to miss. Our full preview of the meet is here.
NCAA DI Regionals
When: 6 p.m. ET (East) 4 p.m. ET (West) Thursday, 5 p.m. ET (East), 6 p.m. ET (West) Friday and Saturday
Where: University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY (East)l University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR (West)
*Meet Hub *Live Stream (requires ESPN+ subscription) *Live Results (East) (West)
The NCAA regional meets will take place over the next four days, mimicking the schedule of the national meet with men and women competing on alternating days. The distance races will be heavily tactical affairs with all the top runners looking to save their legs for doubles and for the big show in two weeks. The sprinters, however, will likely produce some eye-popping times, as they have much less margin for error. The distance races in the West in particular will be extremely cutthroat, with athletes from each of the top five schools in cross country (Oklahoma State, NAU, BYU, Arkansas, and Iowa State) all competing.
A potential national preview in the 1500 will be one of the main events. Will the dominant Washington miler crew round back into form after getting beat by Elliott Cook at PAC-12s? How do NAU stars Nico Young and Colin Sahlman look after their incredible regular seasons? Ky Robinson is coming back to defend his double 5k title from last year but will not be in the 10k, which he also won in 2023.
In the East 5k, we will see NCAA XC champ Graham Blanks, who missed most of the indoor season due to injury after running a blazing fast 13:03.78 collegiate record in the 5k at BU back in December (since taken by Nico Young). Florida superstar Parker Valby is entered in both the 5k and 10k, where we could potentially see her take another shot at the Olympic standard in the 10k, which she narrowly missed at Bryan Clay earlier this year. Florida has used other athletes as a pacer for her before, and Florida athlete Allison Wilson is one of the last entries in the 10k, perhaps as a pacer? We will soon figure out if Valby has been given the green light, or if she will have a glorified tempo run on deck, but not until Thursday night.
How quick are the sprint times on both sides? Expect to see several world leads if conditions allow it.
NCAA DII Nationals
When: Thursday 5:45 p.m. ET, Friday 6:25 p.m. ET, Saturday 2:40 p.m. ET
Where: Emporia State University, Emporia, KS
*Meet Hub *Live Streams *Thursday *Friday *Saturday *Live Results
NCAA DII Nationals will be taking place this week out in the middle of the country at Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas. Pittsburg State will be looking to defend their title from indoors on the men’s side while the Adams State women will try and bring home the crown outdoors after a narrow two-and-a-half-point victory indoors. Top athletes on the men’s side include Issac Botsio of West Texas A&M who has run 9.90 for 100m at altitude and Jordan Davis of Southern Connecticut State University who is the leading American in javelin with an 83.77 m throw that ranks 11th in the world.
On the women’s side, Denisha Cartwright has run 12.60 in the 100 m hurdles, good for 17th in the world and Brynn King is ranked 13th in the world (5th American) with a vault of 4.68m. Only time will tell if another one of these DII athletes can make a U.S. team, just as DII record holder Cordell Tinch did in the 110 m hurdles last year. Stride Report has made predictions here.
NCAA DIII Nationals
When: Thursday 5 p.m. ET, Friday 4:05 p.m. ET, Saturday 4 p.m. ET
Where: Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium, Myrtle Beach, SC
*Meet Hub *Live Streams *Thursday *Friday *Saturday *Live Results
The men and women who go to school at the smallest colleges in the country will compete for glory down in sunny Myrtle Beach. Early team predictions have the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse repeating from indoors on the men’s side and Washington University avenging a close second-place finish indoors on the women’s side. The main story for fans is DIII 100m record holder Sam Blaskowski, who runs for team title favorite UW-La Crosse, who has run a wind-assisted 9.99 this year and could make the finals at the trials. D3 Glory Days has a full write-up and preview here. Stride Report has also made predictions.
NAIA Nationals
When: Thursday 2:00 p.m. ET, Friday 1:00 p.m. ET
Where: Indiana Wesleyan University, Marion, IN
*Meet Hub *Live Stream *Live Results
The NAIA championship is this week out in Indiana. NAIA has long been a development pool for talent that will eventually make its way to the NCAA. A top performer to look out for is Evert Silva, former Portland runner and top 100 NCAA XC finisher who now represents Oklahoma City University and has run 3:39.87 this year. The Stride Report has distance predictions here.
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