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FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS - MARCH 13: JChristopher Serrao of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights leaps over the hurdles during the prelim heat of the Men's 60 Meter Hurdles during the Division I Men's and Women's Indoor Track and Field Championship held at the Randal Tyson Center on March 13, 2026 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. (Photo by Gerald Leong/NCAA Photos via Getty Images) | NCAA Photos via Getty Images
For a Rutgers track and field program that arrived in Lexington with the largest NCAA East First Round contingent in school history, the math at this stage of the postseason was always going to be unforgiving. Top 12 from each site, no margin, no second chances. Across four days at the University of Kentucky Outdoor Track & Field Complex from May 27-30, the Scarlet Knights’ record-sized 28-athlete trip ended with two tickets to Hayward Field, these were from Paige Floriea in the long jump and Jenovia Logan, the program’s outdoor high jump record holder. Both punched through on the women’s side, extending Rutgers women’s track and field’s streak of sending a representative to the NCAA Outdoor Championships to a fifth consecutive year.
“We had one of the largest groups at the meet this week with 28 athletes,” director of cross country and track & field Bobby Farrell said. “It was great to travel with such a large group. I’m very proud of this team and all we accomplished this year. This was a groundbreaking year and something to build on for next year.”
It is fewer than last spring’s program-record eight to Eugene, but it is not nothing either. Two athletes will represent Rutgers at the meet that closes the collegiate calendar, and one of them is making the trip for the first time.
Floriea was the first Scarlet Knight to secure her spot, putting together her qualifying jump on Thursday’s Day Two action. The fifth-year recorded a leap of 6.25m to advance out of the women’s long jump and book her second straight trip to Hayward Field after qualifying in the same event a year ago. Her 2025 appearance ended with honorable mention All-American honors, a finish she will be looking to build upon when the women’s long jump opens up at the 2026 NCAA Outdoor Championships on Thursday, June 11 at 9:40 p.m. ET.
The repeat trip caps an outdoor season in which Floriea has been at the center of nearly every Rutgers women’s sprint and jump scoring effort. She won the ECAC 200-meter title with the No. 3 all-time program time, anchored the Scarlet Knights’ winning ECAC 4x100m relay, was part of the women’s 4x100m podium quartet at the Big Ten Championships, and has been a fixture in the long jump pit dating back to the season opener.
The second ticket came late, and it came on a final attempt. Logan, the school record holder in the outdoor high jump, cleared 1.79m on her final try in Saturday’s women’s high jump to slip into the top 12 and qualify for her first NCAA Outdoor Championships. It will be the first taste of Hayward Field for an athlete who has put together one of the most decorated jump campaigns on the Rutgers roster this season, with event wins across the indoor stretch and a steady run of podium finishes throughout the spring. Logan will compete at the championships on Saturday, June 13 at 7:30 p.m. ET, the final day of the meet.
Not all of the buildup carried through however, and it is worth noting the valiant effort of the other Scarlet Knights. Graduate long jumper Sincere Robinson, the Newark native who set the program record at 8.13m at the IC4A Championships and entered Lexington as the No. 2 long jumper in the country this outdoor season, did not advance out of the men’s long jump in a surprising finish.
The O’Sullivan brothers, Brian and Kevin, who together tied the program pole vault record at 5.62m at the Big Ten Championships and shared the all-time mark heading into the postseason, also did not punch tickets in the men’s pole vault.
Celine-Jada Brown, the Big Ten women’s long jump champion who came in as the first Rutgers women’s outdoor conference champion since pole vaulter Chloe Timberg in 2024, did not get through in her event.
Junior Bryce Tucker did not break through in the 400-meter hurdles after a personal-best 50.54 in his Big Ten heat, the men’s 4x100m relay did not advance through the quarterfinals, and the men’s javelin duo of Justin Kolpan and Robert Paneque came home without tickets to Eugene as well.
That does not take anything away from the season they collectively produced. Rutgers swept the IC4A and ECAC team titles as the host program, brought home four gold medals and a school record at the 130th Penn Relays, broke multiple school records, and put 12 podium finishes on the board across three days at the Big Ten Championships in Lincoln. The 28 East First Round qualifiers shattered the previous program best of 22, set in 2024. The postseason floor moved up. The ceiling on Saturday just sat higher than the field could reach.
The 2026 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships run June 10-13 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. The ESPN family of networks will carry the meet, with the opening day on ESPN, days two through four on ESPN2, and select events streaming on ESPN+. Live results will be hosted on the NCAA’s flash results portal.
Floriea will take her runway approach in the women’s long jump on Thursday, June 11 at 9:40 p.m. ET. Logan will get her bar set in the women’s high jump on Saturday, June 13 at 7:30 p.m. ET to close out the Rutgers calendar.
After a year that broke records and pushed the program to heights it had not reached before, two Scarlet Knights will get the last word in Eugene, and we will only wish them the best as they look to chop their way to a potential individual national championship.
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