photo by: Kansas Athletics
Kansas junior Emmah Jemutai holds a lead in the 1,500-meter run, which she went on to win, at the Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championship on Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Tucson, Ariz.
The Kansas track and field season wrapped up on Saturday night at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon, with the Jayhawks’ men’s team finishing in a tie for 37th overall and the women’s team in a tie for 38th at six total points apiece.
Along the way, senior pole vaulter Anthony Meacham capped off his career with a bronze medal in the pole vault and junior distance runner Emmah Jemutai earned sixth-place finishes in both the 800- and 1,500-meter runs just over an hour apart to headline KU’s results at Hayward Field.
Meacham, who earlier in the outdoor season won the Big 12 title and set and reset the KU record, on this occasion recorded a mark of 5.70 meters for third place on Wednesday.
“Anthony’s season was unbelievable,” KU vertical jumps coach Tom Hays said in a press release. “I don’t think that he’ll understand for a while, but he moved into a world class vaulter and he dominated this meet. I can’t believe how much he has matured. He is super special and he can be a world class pole vaulter for at least another decade.”
He cleared 5.70 on his first try but was unable to get an additional clearance at 5.75, 5.80 or 5.85. Nebraska’s Dyson Wicker won the national title at 5.85, while Utah State’s Logan Hammer was second at 5.75.
“I’m kind of at a loss of words because he is so special to our program and because of everything he’s done,” Hays added. “It’s kind of like when you are a basketball team and you fall short but are ranked number one all year. I feel like that’s what he moved into this outdoor season because of how incredible he has been. He’s just a special kid and we are going to forever miss him being on the team and I hope he sticks around to train because he can vault professionally.”
Jemutai started the meet with a bang on Thursday by resetting her own school records in both of her events in preliminary competition. She completed the 800 in one minute, 59.62 seconds, winning her heat, and the 1,500 in 4:08.33, which was sixth in her heat but was enough to earn her a spot in the finals regardless.
In Saturday’s finals, she reset the 800 record at 1:58.55, as each of the top six participants earned personal bests and national champion Sanu Jallow of Arkansas set a new collegiate record. In the 1,500, Jemutai finished in 4:14.75. Both results were good enough for first-team All-American honors and sixth place.
“It felt so amazing and I was so excited to do both of the races,” Jemutai said in a release. “I think I have been training so hard that all I have to do is trust my training. They are completely different races, with the 1,500 being more endurance and the 800 being speed. I believe in myself and I’ve believed in my training all throughout the season.”
Added assistant coach Michael Whittlesey: “It was a very special day for Emmah to be able to go out and compete in an extremely competitive 1,500 meter race and then an hour later come back out and set over a second personal best in the 800 meters, it’s just extremely impressive. When we started the year it was never the plan to do both events at the National meet, just at the Conference meet … but the evolution of her, both physically and tactically, has been extremely, extremely impressive this year.”
Meacham and Jemutai were the top finishers among the Jayhawks in Eugene, but several others took advantage of their final chances to compete during the 2026 season.
Senior Sofia Sluchaninova earned second-team All-American honors at ninth place in the women’s discus on Saturday with a result of 55.94 meters. Junior Mason Meinershagen also made the second team by clearing 4.39 in the pole vault on Thursday.
Freshman Stephen Maroro, from Narok, Kenya, completed the 10,000 meters in 28:20.17 on Wednesday to come in 11th place as a second-team All-American. Graduate student Michael Joseph ended up 15th in the 400-meter dash at 45.75 for his second career second-team honor.
The women’s 4×400-meter relay team of Ethel Amissah, Deshana Skeete, Pearl Awanya and Sidney Smith came in 17th at 3:31.42 on Thursday, and John Swabik was 20th in the decathlon with 6,587 points.
