ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The first day of the 2026 NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships couldn't have gone a whole lot better for the UBC Thunderbirds who put together an historic Wednesday on the campus of the University of North Carolina, Asheville.
Sonya Urbanowicz set a new meet record clearing 4.23 metres in women's pole vault to claim her fourth consecutive gold medal while
Amelia Cha claimed her first career NAIA title victory in women's long jump as the defending national champion T-Bird women launched out to an early lead with 20 total points.
Senior javelin thrower
Jordan Dickhof earned All-American status with an eighth place finish to get the T-Bird men on the scoreboard while a bevy of preliminary heats on the track set both the men and women up for success in the days to come.
Scoring the first team points for the defending champion T-Bird women, Urbanowicz' record setting pole vault performance has the Nanaimo product join some pretty exclusive company in UBC alumnae
Olivia Lundman (race walk) and Liz Gleadle (javelin) as the only ones in program history to be named NAIA champion in four consecutive seasons.
Urbanowicz managed to clear a full 30 centimetres better than the silver medallist, Bryann Wandle from Carroll (Montana).
Easily making her way into the long jump final, the number one ranked Cha found herself in silver position until her last of six attempts on the afternoon when the junior from Calgary launched herself forward 6.25 metres, 10 centimetres further than the silver medallist. It was yet another gutsy performance by the T-Birds who put together many on the day.
Cha's 10 points combined with those gained by Urbanowicz gives the 'Birds an early 10 point lead atop the women's scoring table.
Dickhof used the last of his three initial round javelin throw attempts to reach 60.90 metres which stood up for eighth and a key point for the T-Bird men's squad, a tremendous way for the senior from Langley to close out his collegiate career.
Bella Hall finished 11
th in women's hammer throw, outpacing her 14
th place ranking heading into the competition, her best attempt on the day reaching 51.89 metres. Sophomore T-Bird
Katelyn Putz finished 14
th, four places better than her ranking.
All events on the track Wednesday served as qualifying heats for final races either Thursday or Friday. Unfortunately for both
Elysse Fleming and
Maximilien Filion, their steeplechase heats were postponed to early Thursday afternoon due to thunderstorms in the vicinity, the second such delay on the opening day of the meet with all activity suspended for 90 minutes in the mid-afternoon with localized lightning strikes.
Three Thunderbird women got themselves into Friday's 1500 metre final with
Sarah MacGillivray running the fastest time of the day with a 4:33.77.
Rachel McDonald earned an automatic qualification finishing fourth in the fast second heat, setting a new personal best time of 4:34.05.
Mackenzie Campbell also qualified with a 4:38.85.
James Kerr lived up to his number one men's 400 metre hurdles ranking by breaking his own program record once again with a 50.21 qualifying time, the fastest on the day by nearly half a second. The junior from Ontario will now get a prime lane assignment for Friday's final.
Haley Martin came within three one-hundredths of a second of her personal best time in the women's 400 metre hurdles, clocking in at 58.98 to earn a spot in Friday's final.
The UBC women's 4x800 metre relay team will have the chance to win the event for a fifth straight year having secured a berth in Thursday's final.
Brea Gillette,
Alexandra Smith,
Rachel McDonald and
Haley Martin combined for a 9:01.32.
Debbie Suleman set a new personal best in the women's 200 metre heats with a 24.42, but came short of advancing on a fast afternoon track.
Day two of the Championship meet for UBC will now begin with the women's 3000 metre steeplechase featuring defending champion and T-Bird senior,
Elysse Fleming at 1:00 p.m. ET.
NAIA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS SCHEDULE AND RESULTS
