The Rutgers track and field program heads to Lincoln, Nebraska, this weekend for the 2026 Big Ten Outdoor Championships, starting this Friday, May 15, and continuing through May 17. This will carry as much momentum as it has had in years, if not more, given the state of Rutgers track this season. Across roughly six weeks of outdoor competition, the Scarlet Knights have broken multiple school records, swept the IC4A and ECAC team titles as host of the meet, and brought home four gold medals and a school record at the 130th
Penn Relays. As Director of Track & Field and Cross Country, Bobby Farrell put a number on it back in late March, after only the season’s third weekend: “We already put 22 athletes in position to qualify for NCAAs.” This showed the great confidence Farrell had in his program, and yet that total has only grown. Given his team’s performance, it would be unsurprising at this rate if Farrell underestimated the 22 that he had predicted. The men’s side has been driven by a family pole vault rivalry. Junior Brian O’Sullivan, of Hillsborough, N.J., broke the school record three separate times this spring, clearing 5.55 meters at the USF Alumni Invitational, 5.56m at the Rutgers Relays, and 5.57m at Penn Relays. His older brother Kevin, who originally set the program record at the 2025 NCAA Championships in Eugene, took it back at the IC4A Championships on April 19, clearing 5.60m. The brothers went 1 and 2 at both the Penn Relays and the IC4A. Sophomore Ryan Merlino has held the third spot in flights all season, finishing the IC4A meet third overall with a No. 4 all-time program mark of 5.40m. Despite the pole vaulting dominance, the headline performer, however, is graduate long jumper Sincere Robinson, a Newark native. Robinson set the school record at the IC4A Championships, leaping 8.13m. The mark currently sits No. 1 in the Big Ten and No. 2 nationally this outdoor season. He was named Big Ten Field Athlete of the Week on April 29, making him the first Rutgers men’s outdoor Field Athlete of the Week since Rudy Winkler in April 2018. The men have produced plenty of other highlights. The 4×100 relay of Daniel Duncan, Shamali Whittle, Greg McQueen, and Zach Love broke a school record at the season opener in Tampa, running 39.37 to take down a mark that had stood since 2021. Junior Bryce Tucker won the IC4A 400m hurdles. Junior Justin Kolpan won the IC4A javelin and threw 68.97m at the Hurricane Invitational. Sophomore Malachi Yehudah cleared 2.16m at IC4A, the No. 2 high jump mark in school history. And the men’s 5,000m put three top-five school times in a single race at the Larry Ellis Invitational on May 1, with junior Micah Lawson (14:04.53), sophomore Gavin Rossi (14:07.63), and senior Liam Tilton (14:07.89) finishing 2-3-4 on the all-time list. The women’s side has produced two of the season’s biggest record performances. Junior Llyric Driscoll won the College Triple Jump at the 130th Penn Relays with a school-record 12.82m (42′ 0.75″). Sophomore Kelseigh O’Neil ran a 10,000m in 34:20.94 at the Wake Forest Invitational on April 17, eclipsing a school record that had stood for almost 46 years since the April 1980 Rutgers Relays. The supporting cast runs deep as graduate javelin thrower Alianna Eucker broke her own school record on Senior Day at the Rutgers Relays, throwing 51.43m to win the event. Senior Celine-Jada Brown won the College Women’s Long Jump at Penn Relays the same weekend Robinson repeated his title, giving the Scarlet Knights a sweep of both long jump golds at the historic meet. Senior Tey’ana Ames won the ECAC shot put title with the No. 2 throw in school history. Freshman Riley Brazier sits at No. 2 on the program’s all-time list in the javelin after a near-record throw at the UCF Knights Invitational. And fifth-year sprinter Paige Floriea anchored Rutgers’ winning ECAC 4x100m relay while taking the 200m title with the program’s No. 3 all-time time. Lincoln will be the next test, and the biggest so far this season for Rutgers. The meet runs Friday through Sunday at the new Nebraska Outdoor Track, with Day 3 airing on Big Ten Network beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET and all three days streaming on B1G+. Several Scarlet Knights, such as Robinson in the long jump, the O’Sullivans in the pole vault, Driscoll in the triple jump, and the men’s 5,000m trio, should enter among the conference’s top marks in their respective events. From there, the schedule turns to the NCAA East First Round in Lexington, Ky. (May 27-30), and potentially the NCAA Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. (June 10-13), where Rutgers sent a program-record eight Scarlet Knights last year. Records have fallen all spring, and there is still time for more to do the same. Rutgers will head to Lincoln looking to keep the momentum going and to hopefully bring some Big Ten hardware back to Piscataway.
