The WashU women’s track team celebrates their 10th straight University Athletic Association Title. (Courtesy of WashU Athletics)

In the last decade, the University Athletic Association (UAA) has only known one champion in women’s outdoor track and field: WashU. 

On April 25 and 26, the No. 2 women’s track and field team successfully defended 10 years of history to claim the 2026 UAA title with 221 points. After securing the indoor championship earlier this year, their victory marked the 15th back-to-back indoor-outdoor conference win in program history.

But headed into the meet, the Bears were fixated on the present, not the past.

“The word ‘compete’ is kind of our main word that we’re focused on,” first-year Kate Delia said. “It’s definitely really exciting to run in [the UAA championship], but we put the past behind us and just go out there and compete.”

On the men’s side, No. 16 WashU finished in third place with a total of 148 points, returning to the podium after a fourth-place finish in 2025.

The women’s team started strong with four first-place finishes on the first day of competition. The 4×800-meter relay team of junior Caroline Echols, senior Cate Stevens, sophomore Lauren Raley, and Delia took the UAA title with a commanding time of 9:00.08, over 10 seconds faster than the runner-up.

“The 4×800 was not long after the 800 prelims,” Delia said. “So everyone who was in the 4×800 had just run in the 800. So it’s very hard to go all out, but also make sure you’re saving a bit for the next day. But I think all of us managed to balance that pretty well.”

On the individual side, senior Riley Clark won the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 10:38.19, improving on her second-place finish last year by 22 seconds. 

The Bears secured two more victories in field events, with senior Jenae Bothe winning shotput and senior Mackenzie Walker taking the pole vault title. WashU took three out of the top five spots in pole vault, with first-year Campbell Pallera coming in second and junior Meredyth Barr finishing fourth.

Day two brought only more success for WashU, which claimed another first-place finish in the 4×100-meter relay, propelled by performances from junior Julia Coric, junior Maya Davis, sophomore Hailey Weir, and senior Jasmine Wright. 

Wright continued to dominate on the individual side, winning the field in both the 100- and 200-meter dash. WashU swept the 200-meter dash podium, with Weir taking second and senior Kylie Spytek securing the third-place finish.

The 4×400-meter relay team of sophomore Quinn Bird, junior Cate Chrisopher, Coric, and Spytek took the UAA title with a time of 3:47.92.

Spytek also finished second in the 400-meter race, while Weir was close behind at third. The Bears continued to impress in the middle-distance races, with Delia winning the 800-meter run with a time of 2:08.57.

The Bears secured three more first-place finishes. Sophomore Lucinda Laughlin dominated in long-distance events, winning the 1,500-meter run and securing her second UAA title in the 5,000-meter run. Junior Olivia Theisen also took the high jump victory, clearing 1.65 meters.

The men’s team finished third, finding their success mostly on the field and in the middle and long distance races. WashU began the meet on a high note with first-year Charlie Houck taking third in the 10,000-meter run and junior Will Liu finishing second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

The Bears continued to overpower the field in pole vault, with senior Hayden Kunkel winning the title and junior Peter Lichtenberger securing second place, both clearing 4.88 meters — Kunkel cleared in fewer attempts.

WashU wrapped up the first day with a narrow win in the 4×800-meter relay. The team of senior Brandon Brazil, senior James Corbett, first-year Rishi Shadaksharappa, and junior William Frohling won by only six-tenths of a second, recording a time of 7:41.20.

But Frohling wasn’t done yet. The next day, he backed up his indoor title of 1:54.24 with a 1:54.54 first-place finish in the outdoor 800-meter race. Frohling was also the second leg of a 4×400-meter relay team that, along with performances by Brazil, senior Dayton Lasack, and senior Alek Zavadoski, took third place.

The Bears concluded the meet with four more third-place finishes in the 4×100-meter relay, the 1,500-meter run, javelin, and high jump to secure the overall third-place title.

After the UAA Championships, both teams’ focus will now shift to the NCAA Championships from May 21 to 23. While the standings are still subject to change, currently the women have 13 individual qualifiers as well as the 4×100 and the 4×400, while the men have five.

WashU has three more meets on the schedule to continue improving and qualify more athletes. Their next opportunity will come on May 2 at the Gary Wieneke Memorial meet in Champaign, Illinois.

“It’s definitely good to have these meets before nationals, to just stay in that competing mindset,” Delia said.  “Even anyone who is already qualified for an event is trying to secure their spot and knock a couple seconds off to make sure that they’re going into nationals in a good spot.”