2026 NAIA OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
Asheville, N.C. | Karl Straus Track | May 20-22
Meet Program | Live Results | Watch Live 

COMPLETE SOU SCHEDULE (All times Pacific)
Wednesday, May 20
8:30 a.m. – Women's Pole Vault (Martinez, Perkins)
5:20 p.m. – Women's 10,000m (Johnson)
6:10 p.m. – Men's 10,00m (Weisgerber)

Thursday, May 21
1 p.m. – Women's 400m prelims (Pickett)

Friday, May 22
12:40 p.m. – Women's 400m final (Pickett)
1:35 p.m. – Women's 5,000m (Johnson)
1:55 p.m. – Men's 5,000m (Stedman, Weisgerber)

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Southern Oregon begins competition at the 74th men's and 45th women's NAIA Outdoor National Championships, hosted by Explore Asheville and Airstream Ventures at the Karl Straus Track. 

The meet runs Wednesday through Friday and will feature six Raider athletes across six events, with Mason Weisgerber and Alyssa Johnson being the only returning All-Americans from last year's championships.

The meet will be streamed for free on both the Urban Edge Network and NAIA Network. 

Below is a competition overview in order of event schedules:

WOMEN'S EVENTS
POLE VAULT
Final: 8:30 a.m. Wednesday
SOU Entries: Katherine Martinez (7th of 20, 3.89m), Sydney Perkins (t-12th, 3.78m)
Of note: Both Raiders earned their first All-CCC honors in La Grande and look to continue the momentum with All-America finishes at Wednesday morning's final. 

No. 7-seeded Martinez improved upon her school record in the first meet of the season by clearing 12 feet 9 inches at the Chico Wildcat Invitational. She placed 11th in the 2025 Outdoor Championships with a height of 3.50 meters. 

Perkins looks to strike while the iron is hot. In her last four meets, the senior has set or matched a personal best, progressing from 11 feet 11.75 inches in late March to the 12 feet 4.75 inches height that earned her second place at the CCC Championships. 

10,000 METERS
Final: 5:20 p.m. Wednesday
SOU Entry: Alyssa Johnson (6th of 20, 35:13.88)
Of note: Johnson isn't expected to defeat Taylor's (Ind.) defending two-time NAIA champion Jaynie Halterman or Montreat's (N.C.) top-seeded Heather Murphy (33:38.48), but an improvement of her sixth-place seeding is a definite possibility. In her only 10K this season, Johnson ran a 30-second personal best and moved to second on the SOU all-time list after finishing in 35:13.88 at the Bryan Clay Invitational. 

She earned her first All-American award on the track by finishing seventh in last year's 10K Championships and is one of four All-Americans from that race to return to Wednesday evening's final. The junior is also coming off a 10th place finish at the NAIA Cross Country Championships. 

400 METERS
Prelims: 1 p.m. Thursday
Final: 12:40 p.m. Friday
SOU Entry: Lilly Pickett (14th of 25, 55.36)
Of note: Pickett is in heat 2 of 4 of the prelims and will need to either win her heat, earning the big 'Q', or run one of the next four fastest times out of all the heats, earning the little 'q', to advance to Friday's final. The freshman is the only Raider underclassman to make the trip to North Carolina after she posted the NAIA 'B' standard in her first 400 of the year at the Linfield Jenn Boyman Memorial Invitational. She ran a personal best of 55.36 at the Nancy & Norm Berney Classic and won the 400 title at the CCC Championships. 

Pickett showed depth in her first collegiate season. In early March, she became the first Raider in SOU history to earn an All-America honor in the 600-meter at the NAIA Indoor Nationals, where she placed fourth in 1:32.18. She continued another rung up the distance ladder by competing in three 800-meter races during the outdoor season, culminating in a 2:13.98 finish at the CCC Championships, just eight-hundredths of a second off the 'B' standard. 

There are five other competitors in her heat, with Hannah Reid of Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) holding the top time with 53.64. 

5,000 METERS
Final: 1:35 p.m. Friday
SOU Entry: Alyssa Johnson (4th of 20, 16:47.35)
Of note: No. 4 Johnson represents the Raiders' highest-seeded entry at the meet. The junior is two seconds behind British Columbia's (B.C.) No. 3-seeded Sarah MacGillivray (16:45.58) and one second ahead of No. 5 Elysse Fleming (16:48.99), also from UBC. Four-time NAIA champion, Jaynie Halterman (Taylor, Ind.), looks to defend her title. Last year, Johnson earned her first All-America honor in the event after finishing eighth in 17:15.97.

Earlier this season, she became just the second woman in SOU history to break 17 minutes for 5K after finishing 17th in 16:47.35 at the Mike Fanelli Track Classic in San Francisco. This month, she won the CCC 5K title for the first time (17:46.20), earned an All-CCC honor in the 1,500 (3rd, 4:41.01) and nearly matched her lifetime best in a windy 5K at the Oregon State High Performance Meet (16:48.52). 

MEN'S EVENTS
10,000 METERS
Final: 6:10 p.m. Wednesday
SOU Entry: Mason Weisgerber (5th of 20, 29:49.30)
Of note: With the parity of top-end talent in the men's 10K, it might be easier to predict the order of finish by drawing names from a hat. The top five entries have all run faster than 29:50 this year (30 seconds faster than the rest of the field) and are separated by just six seconds. The NAIA's top-seeded athlete and Cascade Conference champion, Jack Gladfelter (Corban) — whom Weisgerber beat by 14 seconds over 5K at the Oregon State High Performance Meet two weeks ago — leads the chase after running 29:43.18 this season. 

The margin of difference between the next four athletes is even slimmer.  The reigning 10K champion and two-time NAIA Indoor 5K champion, Luca Madeo (Cumberlands, Ky.), is seeded second (29:46.32); Ryan Stade (Montreat, N.C.) is third (29:46.86); Tyler Jenkins (Rio Grande, Ohio) is fourth (29:47.93); and Weisgerber is fifth (29:49.30). 

Weisgerber finished 11th in his only 10K of the year at the Bryan Clay Invitational, obliterating the previous Southern Oregon program record of 30:24.90. He's enjoyed a string of success in the past year. In the winter, he earned his first indoor All-America honor by placing third in the 5K, where he raced Madeo (1st) and Gladfelter (2nd), and in the fall, he finished second at the NAIA Cross Country Championships. 

5,000 METERS
Final: 1:55 p.m. Friday
SOU Entries: Mason Weisgerber (6th of 20, 14:08.78), Carter Stedman (12th, 14:28.00)
Of note: In the last NAIA championship race the Weisgerber-Stedman duo ran together, the teammates turned heads by going two-four at the Cross Country Championships. Similarly, they'll toe the line for Friday's 5K final with All-American aspirations but it won't be a given. Top-seeded Ryan Stade (Montreat, N.C.) ran 13:53.97 at the Duke Twilight and two other men have broken 14 minutes this year. 

Weisgerber is coming off a third place showing in the 5K at the Indoor Championships (14:18.07) and earned his first All-America honor by placing eighth in the 5K at last year's Outdoor Championships (14:42.60). He posted a lifetime best of 14:08.78 at the Mike Fanelli Track Classic in early April. In that same race, Stedman finished with his PB of 14:28.00.  

The race offers the two Raiders a rematch between Jack Anderson (13:57.42) from The Master's (Calif.), who edged Weisgerber to the line at cross country nationals, and Trinity Western's Yemane Mulugeta (14:06.20), who beat Stedman in the 1,500 at the CCC Championships and both Weisgerber and Stedman in the 5K. 

Other Meet Notes:

• This is the first time the NAIA Outdoor Championships will be held in Asheville. The previous championships were recently held in Marion, Ind, from 2023-25 and in Gulf Shores, Ala., from 2014-22.
• The elevation of Asheville (2,130 ft) and Ashland (1,950) are similar, but the eastern humidity will provide additional challenge. 
• British Columbia is the defending team champions for both men and women. 
• The Raider men have won 14 event titles since 1952 and women have won 10 since 1981.