ASHEVILLE, N.C. – It's a new year in a new location but the challenge for the UBC Thunderbirds remains the same this week: compete for both team and individual titles at the 2026 NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships which begin Wednesday, May 20 in Asheville, North Carolina.
Hosted at the Karl Straus Track on the campus of the University of North Carolina, Asheville, the T-Birds are dealing with a whole new set of circumstances at an unfamiliar venue along with what's forecasted to be wildly varied weather patterns. But for the men's and women's teams who both enter as defending champions, the blue and gold are confident they're as prepared as they possibly can be on the biggest stage of the season.
"Things have gone smoothly so far and I think whenever we are exploring a new location for nationals there are a greater number of unknowns," said UBC head coach,
Laurier Primeau, who has guided the 'Birds to a combined eight NAIA banners since 2017. "I'd really like to emphasize Warren Buffett's 'good thing rule' where, when a hurdle arises, it's incumbent on the person who feels challenged to come up with three things that are good regardless of the situation. For example, the bus (Sunday evening) leaving UBC refused to take our pole vault poles. Good thing we found out early enough that we could make alternate plans, good thing (vault coach Cristina Weir) has an SUV and the poles can go on the roof. And good thing she has a neighbour who could drive her SUV back to the house so she doesn't have to leave it curbside at the airport. And if we can keep doing that whenever a hurdle arises, just think of the three good things despite the hurdle, it really shifts the mindset and I think we'll be in a good place."
Entering this week's meet as the four-time defending NAIA champions, the UBC women's squad has the opportunity to become just the second school in history to claim five straight banners and the first since Prairie View A&M (Texas) rattled off nine in a row between 1982 and 1990.
The T-Bird women enter the week with four number one ranked athletes (
Elysse Fleming – 3000m steeplechase,
Sonya Urbanowicz – pole vault,
Amelia Cha – long jump,
Nunu Ishaka – triple jump) and another eight in the top five. The team is projected to put up an astounding 94 points, but as everyone knows, projections don't mean much.
"We've been the underdog and won and so we know pieces of paper don't determine outcomes," said Primeau. "We need to run, jump, hurdle and throw the way we can to win this thing. One of the big metrics for us is the plus/minus equation: what we go in ranked as and can we beat that ranking? For every place we beat a ranking, that's a plus and for every place we lose a ranking, that's a minus. If we can be plus at the end of the day, we have a very good shot at repeating as national champions on the women's side."
Despite also coming in as defending NAIA champions, it's been a season of transition for the UBC men's team who are also dealing with a number of injuries preventing several athletes from competing. However, last year's 3000 metre steeplechase silver medallist,
Maximilien Filion, currently holds the number one ranking this season along with the ninth ranked time in the 5000 metres. Junior T-Bird
James Kerr comes in ranked first in the 400 metre hurdles and defending 5000 metre race walk champion
Lowell Solmes holds the number three spot.
"Not dissimilar (to the women), we're ranked seventh, we're projected at 26 points and if we can beat that ranking I think that'll be a successful meet. I think it's also important for us to look at personal bests, I think it's important for us to give our younger athletes who are here some exposure if it's at all possible so that when we come back a year from now with some people who have redshirted and with some incoming recruits we'll be in a stronger position to vie for that championship title again."
Along with the competition from across North America on the track and in the field this week, UBC's other main challenge could come from the weather: Day one of the meet Wednesday is forecasted to hit 31 degrees under sunny skies.
"I'm just really happy that we have three members of our medical team here because we do think heat will be a factor. Especially on the endurance side it will be really important to consider all body temperature cooling modalities and strategies for being able to step on the track three, four, possibly even five times and being in a state of readiness."
The 2026 NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships officially begin Wednesday in Asheville with UBC's first event appropriately featuring
Sonya Urbanowicz in women's pole vault starting at 11:30 a.m. ET as the senior looks to become the first four-time winner.
A full schedule of the meet can be found
HERE with live results available
HERE. A live stream will also be provided by the
Urban Edge Network.
