The 2025-26 LSU athletics season closes at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, and the Tigers are looking to finish the season strong. From June 10-13, the men’s and women’s track teams will look to rack up enough points to claim a national championship for LSU. The men will compete on Wednesday and Friday, and the women will compete on Thursday and Saturday. The LSU men are looking for their sixth outdoor title and first since 2021, while the women are looking for a record-extending 15th non-vacated
title and first since 2008. These will be broadcast across ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN+.
How to win
For those unfamiliar, the track and field championship is determined by a combined points system. Teams do not qualify as combined units. Instead, individual competitors and relay squads from each team qualify out of regionals. Each person or squad is fighting to win a national championship for themselves and points for their team. The national champions score 10 points, the runners-up score 8, and third-eighth score 6-1 points in descending order. It’s possible to score multiple points on one event, and that’s the best chance for LSU to rack up points.
To clear up broadcast info, all field events will be broadcast on ESPN+. On Wednesday, all of LSU’s track events except the 4x400m semifinals will be broadcast on ESPN. The rest of the championship will be broadcast on ESPN2 for both the men and the women. To save space, here is a link to the full schedule of all four days. Add two hours to each time listed since those times are in Pacific.
#6 LSU men
The men have 11 points-scoring opportunities. At 7:05, the #12 seed 4x100m relay team of Jeremiah Walker, Jaiden Reid, Shakeem McKay, Joshua Caleb and alternate Jordan Turner will run their semifinal race. An hour later, #13 seed Matthew Sophia will run in the second heat of the 110m hurdles. Before LSU’s next runner steps on the track, the javelin finals start about a half hour after Sophia runs. #13 Jack Larriviere will be throwing in the second flight. All field finals are split into two sections. Field athletes have to be in the top nine at the cut-off to advance to the points-scoring round.
During the javelin finals, #10 Jaiden Reid will run in the third heat of the 100m dash. The long jump finals begin around the same time as the 400m heats, and #7 Jordan Turner will be jumping in flight two. LSU has a runner in all three 400m heats. #12 Malachi Austin will run first, then #11 Grant Buckmiller, and then finally #14 Amal Glasgow. About an hour later, the 200m heats start, and #2 Jaiden Reid will be in heat three.
An hour later, the #2 4x400m relay team of Amal Glasgow, Shakeem McKay, Grant Buckmiller, Malachi Austin and alternates Jermiah Walker and Joshua Caleb will round out the first night of competition. On Friday at roughly 4:15, #13 Chad Hendricks will compete in the first flight of the discus throw as LSU’s only guaranteed competitor on that day.
LSU has two very good chances at winning NCAA gold. Jaiden Reid is a great 200m runner, but his problem is that the #1 seed is perhaps the best 200m runner in the world outside of Noah Lyles: Auburn’s Israel Okon. As for the 4x400m team, they’ll be pushed to their limit in the final since Georgia broke the three-minute barrier in their qualifying heat in Lexington. Team-wise, they’re a dark-horse contender for the title, but current powers like Arkansas, Oregon, Georgia and Texas A&M are the strongest favorites.
#13 LSU women
The women have 12 points-scoring opportunities. First, the #3 4x100m relay team of Athaleyha Hinckson, Tima Godbless, Aniyah Bigam, Shawnti Jackson and alternate Nasya Williams kick things off in heat one. An hour later, the 100m hurdles heats begin, and #13 Adeyah Brewster is in heat three. After those heats, #17 Alexis Guillory competes as the second javelin thrower of the first flight. During the javelin final, the 100m heats begin. #5 Shawnti Jackson competes in heat one, and #22 Tima Godbless competes in heat three.
The 400m heats start about 20 minutes later, and #13 Skyler Franklin is in heat two. Roughly 35 minutes after that, the 200m semifinals begin, and #19 Shawnti Jackson is in heat two. After the 200m heats finish, #22 Abigael Chemnagei races in the 10,000m final, the only track final of the night. After that’s over, the #7 4x400m relay team of Kennedi Burks, Keliza Smith, Nasya Williams, Skyler Franklin and alternates Ella Onojuvwevwo, Rafiatu Nuhu and Shawnti Jackson run in heat three to round out the night.
LSU will have two other people competing in Saturday finals. At 1:30, the discus starts, and #9 Princesse Hyman will be part of flight two. At 8:55, #24 Edna Chepkemoi will compete in the 5,000m finals.
The women have their work cut out for them, but Shawnti Jackson kept herself on ice until now. She’ll be an integral part of the 4x100m relay team and will have her sights set on a 100m championship of her own. On the team front, the Tigers are highly unlikely to overcome the dominance of teams like Georgia, Florida, Oregon and Texas A&M. Finishing the season strong is the most important thing.
