CULLOWHEE, N.C. (May 10, 2026) - The ETSU men's and women's track and field teams will culminate their season at the 2026 SoCon Outdoor Championships beginning Monday, May 11, and running through Tuesday, May 12. Action begins with the decathlon at 9:30am on Monday. Field events begin with the men's hammer throw finals at 12:30, and track prelims begin at 4:00pm with the women's 1500m. This is the second consecutive meet for the Bucs to take place in Cullowhee after they entered the Catamount Classic on April 24.
EVENT: SoCon Outdoor Track & Field Championships
DATES: May 11-12, 2026
VENUE: Catamount Athletic Complex (Cullowhee, NC)
LIVE RESULTS: Snap Timing
TV: ESPN+ (Tuesday 1:30pm)
The women boast the SoCon's unquestioned top sprinter in sophomore Micailah Cook, who owns the conference's fastest times in the 100m, 200m, and 400m sprints in the 2026 outdoor season and set the ETSU record in the 400m with a race time of 53.76 seconds at the Wake Forest Invitational on April 16. Cook is the reigning SoCon outdoor champion in the 200m and 400m sprints.
Other medal contenders include freshman Patty Kilkelly in the 400m hurdles, where she ranks second in the SoCon with a 1:02.75, while fellow freshman Katelyn Lemke is fourth with a 1:03.26 season best. ETSU's distance contingent is led by sophomore Deena Ludtke, who ranks third in the 3000m steeplechase with a school record 10:28.79 set at Wake Forest on April 16. She also ranks seventh in the 5000m run with a 16:51.66.
In the field events, the Bucs have two dark horse medal contenders with Tyla Nicholson ranking fifth in the discus and sixth in the hammer while freshman Maddie Winchester is fifth in the hammer and returns to Cullowhee after setting her season best mark at 48.04m in the Catamount Classic two weeks ago.
For the men, junior Brent Bell has entered the shot put after missing the entire season to date due to injury. Bell claimed silver in the shot put in the 2025 SoCon Outdoor Championships, and his personal best 15.98m throw would rank third in the SoCon in 2026. Junior Ben Smith leads the SoCon with a 7.34m long jump mark at the Catamount Classic on April 24 and ranks fifth in the 200m sprint and seventh in the 100m sprint. Sophomores Gavin Deery and Robby Slaughter enter the SoCon Championships ranked fourth and fifth in the pole vault, respectively.
On the track, Conner Overly ranks fourth in the SoCon with a season best 1:51.22 in the 800m run that sits less than seven-tenths of a second off the podium. Nathan Hillis is second in the 3000m steeplechase with a 9:20.52, and Milo Willets is third in the 400m hurdles with a best time of 54.27 in Cullowhee on April 24. Willets, Smith, Deery, and Overly form ETSU's 4x400m relay team that holds the third best time in the SoCon at 3:20.70.
SoCon gold does not guarantee qualification for NCAA championships. Student-athletes must have a season best among the top 48 in an individual event or be on a relay team in the top 24 of a relay event in the NCAA's East Region to qualify for the NCAA East Regional in Lexington, Kentucky, on May 27-30. The top 24 athletes nationally in the decathlon and heptathlon, respectively, will qualify directly for the 2026 NCAA Track & Field Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, on June 10-13.
For more information on ETSU track and field, go to ETSUBucs.com.
