Day 2 of the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field Championships continued the trend of HBCU athletes qualifying for the finals of their respective events.
The star of the day was Xavier University of Louisiana’s men’s 4×400 relay team, posting the top time in the preliminaries of 3:09.42 to coast into the finals.
Karri Noel, the anchor for XULA’s 4×400 relay team, advanced to the finals of the men’s 400m earlier in the day, posting the sixth-fastest time of the event in a personal-best 46.84 seconds.
The best finish of the day for an individual athlete came from XULA’s Rochelle Jeffries, making it into the finals of the women’s 100m hurdles in a personal best time of 13.73 seconds.
Jeffries was one of two HBCU track athletes to finish in the top three of their respective event, joined by Huston-Tillotson’s Chaleica Booker, who clocked the third-best time in the women’s 400m field in 54.11 seconds.
Rust’s Kaden Andrus moved one step closer to claiming a National Championship, finishing fifth overall in the men’s 110 hurdles preliminaries in 14-seconds flat.
Rounding out the list of finals qualifiers is Talladega College’s Anthony Gentles, snagging the last spot in the men’s 100m field with a 10.48-second time, .01 seconds ahead of the first athlete out of contention.
The track events were not the only ones that were a source of pride for HBCU participants, as we also saw Voorhees’ Jaylen Burris produce a top-five finish in the men’s long jump.
Burris came within .01 meters of a National Championship, posting a 7.68m mark in his best attempt in the event, claiming the second-place spot on the podium.
Moving into the final day of competition at the 2026 NAIA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, here is a list of every HBCU athlete who will vie for a National Title.
Men
100m: Anthony Gentles, Talladega
200m: Zaireon Skinner, Voorhees
400m: Karri Noel, Xavier University of Louisiana
110h: Kaden Andrus, Rust
400h: Jaheene Bell, Xavier University of Louisiana
4×100: Dillard, Voorhees
4×400: Xavier University of Louisiana
Triple Jump: Jayden Burris, Jaylen Burris, Michael Tatnall, Muhammad Shareef, Voorhees; Kalil Murphy, Florida Memorial
Women
400m: Chaleica Booker, Huston-Tillotson
100h: Rochelle Jeffries, Xavier University of Louisiana
4×100: Dillard
High Jump: Sanaa Allison-Williams, Jarvis Christian
