La Crosse, Wis. - Twenty-eight members of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's track & field team are set to compete at the 2026 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships scheduled for Thursday-Saturday, May 21-23 as the Eagles host the meet at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex.  This year marks the 44th outdoor track & field championship in NCAA Division III history.

UWL is hosting the NCAA III Championships for the fifth time (1986, 1997, 2013, 2018, 2026). 

UWL placed third at the 2025 NCAA III Championships in Geneva, Ohio. The Eagles finished with 38.0 team points while Massachusetts Institute of Technology captured the national title with 56.0. Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.) was second with 47.0.

It was UWL's 15th top-three finish at the national championships. UWL has won four (1983, 1984, 2015, 2023) NCAA Division III Outdoor titles while finishing runner-up six (1986, 1993, 1997, 2021, 2022, 2024) seasons. The Eagles have recorded 33 top-10 finishes at the NCAA III Championships in 43 all-time appearances, including 20 top-four showings.

UWL won the Association of Intercollegiate Athletic for Women (AIAW) title in 1982.  

The Eagles have crowned 24 individual outdoor national champions in school history. UWL has won four 4x400-meter relay national titles (1989, 1997, 2013, 2014) and four 4x100-meter relay crowns (2013, 2014, 2024, 2025).

With entries in 14 events at this year's national meet, UWL has multiple student-athletes in seven events.  

Both of UWL's relays are seeded second entering this year's national championships with Julie Yang, Anika Reiland, Makenna Zak in the 4x100-meter relay and Jocelyn Thomson, Macy Reybrock, Zoe Lain and Andie Otto in the 4x400-meter relay.

Yang, Reiland and Zak were members of the national champion 4x100-meter relay last season while Reiland and Zak were also on the first-place relay in 2024. Taylor Molling was also on the winning 4x100-meter relay in 2024. Reybrock earned All-America honors on the fourth-place 4x400-meter relay last season.

The Eagles have three athletes qualified in the 1,500-meter run this year with Molly Novotny, Brooklyn Luebke and Annika Elliott. Novotny is also in the 5,000-meter run. UWL's Becca Immer and Julia Zalewski have both qualified for the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Immer earned NCAA III Second Team All-America accolades with a 15th-place finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase last season.

McKenna Sedlacek has qualified in the 100-meter dash and Anna Plautz in the 400-meter dash. Plautz is seeded second. She earned All-America honors as a member of the fourth-place 4x400-meter relay in 2025.

Regan Scott is entered in the 100-meter hurdles and Otto in the 400-meter hurdles.

UWL has four student-athletes entered in the long and triple jump, including Maya Evans in both events. She is seeded third in the long and triple jump. Evans has earned three NCAA III outdoor All-America awards, including two in the long jump (second in 2024; 14th in 2025) and one in triple jump (11th in 2025). Josie Blum, Jenna Miller and Scott are also set to compete in this year's long jump while Samantha Barrett, Emily Blaskowski and Mackenzey Kronberg are in the triple jump. Barrett has a pair of All-America honors in the triple jump, finishing fifth (2022) and eighth (2024).

Araceli De Leo Lopez, Madison Habberstad and Nora Waddell have qualified in the pole vault this year. Habberstad is currently seeded second and De Leo Lopez ninth. De Leo Lopez has two career awards, finishing eighth (2023) and 15th (2025). Habberstad has earned one All-America honor, placing fifth (2025).

The Eagles' Ella Puls and Jadyn Roden are set to compete in the hammer throw at this year's national championships.

UWL's Amber Grosse and Madeline Thoreson have qualified in the heptathlon with Grosse currently seeded first. She earned NCAA III Second Team All-America honors in 2025 (10th-place).

Nickolas Davis, in his ninth season as UWL's head coach, led the Eagles to a sweep of the 2023 NCAA III Indoor and Outdoor Championships. UWL placed second at the 2021, 2022 and 2024 outdoor championships under Davis and second at the 2022 indoor meet.

He has led UWL to eight straight (2018-19, 2021-26) Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Outdoor Championships. The Eagles have won seven (2018, 2020, 2022-26) indoor conference championships. The 2020 outdoor meet and 2021 indoor championships were not held due to the COVID-19 public health threat.

Davis was selected the 2023 USTFCCCA National Indoor and Outdoor Coach of the Year. He has been named the USTFCCCA North Region Indoor Coach of the Year four times (2020, 2023-25) and Outdoor Coach of the Year three seasons (2021, 2023, 2025).

Action starts at 10 a.m. on Thursday, May 21 and Friday, May 22 and at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 23.  The top-eight finishers in each event earn NCAA Division III All-America honors while finishers ninth through 16th earn Second Team accolades. 

The top-22 times/marks in the individual events along with the top-16 relays teams in the nation qualified for the national championships.