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Six Cincinnati Bearcats will be heading to the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. The men's and women's championships take place simultaneously and run from Wednesday, June 10, through Saturday, June 13.
Five of the six will be making return trips to Oregon.
The Bearcats sent 27 athletes to the NCAA East First Rounds in Lexington and had three Big 12 champions at the league meet in Tucson last month. Those three champions will be in Eugene with three of their teammates. The competition will be televised on ESPN/ESPN2 on June 10 and on ESPN2 June 11-13 with coverage beginning at 8 p.m. (Eastern).
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Kya Epps has overcome diabetes to qualify for Eugene for 2nd straight year
Epps was diagnosed with diabetes in eighth grade and has overcome it by becoming the Big 12 champion in the 100 meters with a time of 11.07, in addition to a third-place finish in the 200. In that event, she set a school record in the preliminaries, which she then broke in Lexington with a 22.55 to finish fourth and seal her spot in the NCAA Championships.
She nearly qualified in both the 100 and 200, but her 100-meter time of 11.15 missed qualifying by fractions of a second.
"My teammates know that I run pretty angry," Epps said. "After that 100, I gave it all that I had. Just missing by a hair, I used that grit and determination going back out there for that 200."
Epps is a senior from Akron and started her career at Division II Walsh, but had the proverbial "chip on her shoulder" and wanted to compete with the "big dogs." A two-time indoor All-American and outdoor conference champion at Walsh, she transferred to UC in 2024-25.
She looks forward to her second trip to Eugene, where she loves the coffee but must adjust to the time difference (three hours). Epps does admit to having a cup of black coffee before meets.
"I think they import the beans from up in Canada," Epps said. "I know they have good beans there."
UC's athletic trainers monitor her blood sugar, as she is diabetic. At the Big 12 meet in Tucson, she required insulin after winning the 100 meters, and that may have contributed to her third-place finish in the 200 meters. It wasn't an issue in Lexington as she qualified for Eugene in the 200.
Epps now holds UC sprint records in the indoor 60 meters and outdoor 100 and 200 meters.
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Juliette Laracuente-Huebner goes to Eugene for 3rd straight season
The junior from Marengo, Ohio, won the heptathlon at the Big 12 Championships with a school record 6,086 points, which is second in the nation. She was also the Indoor Big 12 champion in the pentathlon.
At Highland High School in Marengo, north of Columbus, Laracuente-Huebner single-handedly won an indoor state title by winning the high jump, long jump, triple jump and 60-meter hurdles as the only member of the team. At Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus, she also won the high jump, long jump, 100-meter hurdles and 200 meters to lead Marengo to a state runner-up title by herself.
Laracuente-Huebner now makes her third visit to Eugene, where the weather can be unpredictable.
"You just have to stay warm for everything," she said. "Last year, during the 200, it was pretty cold. The earlier events weren't too bad on day one, but the 200 got pretty cold. I just had to keep my muscles warm."
The women's heptathlon is seven events (100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200 meters, long jump, javelin, 800 meters). Four events go down on the first day, with three more on the second day. They get 30 minutes in between from the last person in the competition.
"The running events, they want us to get a little more TV time when the crowds are there," Laracuente-Huebner said. "We start those pretty late. We get like a two-to-three-hour break in between shot put and the 200 and the same thing on day two with the javelin and 800."
Not a thrower in high school, Laracuente-Huebner now benches 215 pounds. The last event of the competition is the 800 meters, which she says is a strength. She didn't run the event in high school but joined a club team in Columbus, the Ohio Speed Academy, to help.
"The coach trained me like a 400-meter hurdler, which, if you're a 400 hurdler, you can really run the 800 pretty well," Laracuente-Huebner said. "I had a really good base before coming to college and it's really turned into a strength. It's actually something I look forward to."
Often, success in the heptathlon comes down to the final event. Competitors know their projected score and then know what they need to do. Laracuente-Huebner also hopes to have some parental inspiration.
"It makes a difference when a parent is there," she said. "I've only had one meet where my parents weren't there. It was in the outdoor season at Texas A&M and I was really missing them. Just seeing them out there, it matters."
Larcuente-Huebner is the UC record holder in the pentathlon (4,442 points), indoor 60-meter hurdles (8.24), indoor long jump (6.36 meters/20.86 feet) and outdoor heptathlon.
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Orry Williams returns to NCAA Championships in Eugene for 2nd year in row
The Balen, Belgium native, threw a record 68.65 meters in the hammer to become Big 12 champion, then placed sixth in Lexington at 67.11 to return to Oregon. He's the first UC Bearcat to qualify for the NCAA Championships in the hammer throw more than once.
Macaria Moore-Bastide makes 1st NCAA Championships
The redshirt junior from San Diego high jumped 1.81 meters (close to six feet) to advance.
Abby Knouff is another UC Bearcat going to Eugene for 3rd time
Knouff finished eighth in the Big 12 in the pole vault, then placed seventh at 4.27 meters (just over 14 feet) to return to Oregon. She is a fifth-year grad student from Tallmadge, Ohio near Akron.
Macaela Walker now a 2-time NCAA Championships competitor
Walker returns to Eugene after finishing 10th in the NCAA East First Round in the 400-meter hurdles with a school-record 55.91.
Thrilled to announce that we have extended Head Coach Susan Seaton through 2029
https://t.co/VFJukK2OAr#Bearcatspic.twitter.com/acAkER3EJn
— Cincinnati TF & XC (@GoBearcatsTFXC) June 3, 2026
Cincinnati Bearcats track and field coach gets contract extension
The University of Cincinnati announced on June 2 that Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Susan Seaton has signed a contract extension through the 2029 season. Seaton, now in her 12th year as director and 22nd overall with the Bearcats program, is widely regarded as one of the most accomplished coaches in program history.
Under Seaton's leadership, the Bearcats have earned 64 All-Americans, 95 NCAA Finals qualifiers, 138 individual conference champions, and 10 relay titles. While competing in the American Athletic Conference, her program captured four team titles and recorded 14 top-two conference team finishes.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: 6 UC Bearcats are Oregon-bound for NCAA Track & Field Championships
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