(UW ATHLETICS) – The Wisconsin women’s track and field team wrapped up its 2026 outdoor campaign at the NCAA West First Round on Saturday at John McDonnell Field.
Zonica Lindeque led the Badger throwers in the discus as the sophomore just missed advancing to the NCAA outdoor championships, taking 14th with a heave of 176 feet, 4 inches.
Taylor Kesner capped off her Badger career with a 20th-place finish in the event with a toss of 170-4. Kesner won the NCAA title in 2025 in the indoor weight throw and collected first-team All-America honors in the event earlier this year as well.
Hadley Lucas and Vasiliki Samolada capped off their freshmen seasons finishing 21st (170-3 (51.89m)) and 33rd (161-7 (49.25m)), respectively.
Kylie Finger placed 20th in the 5000 meter with a 16:00.79. Leane Willemse finished in 16:30.89, good for 33rd.
Elissa Perkins set a personal best in the triple jump with a mark of 42-1 ¼ (12.83m) which ranks fifth in school history. The junior ultimately finished 35th in the competition.
Next up: The two National qualifiers in Matan Ivri and Josh Onwunili will head to Eugene, Oregon to compete at NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships from June 10-13.
Men’s track and field
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Wisconsin men’s track and field duo of Matan Ivri and Joshua Onwunili qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships thanks to stellar showings at the NCAA West First Round on Friday evening at John McDonnell Field.
INCREDIBLE IVRI
Sophomore Matan Ivri added another honor to his collection on Friday as he qualified for his first NCAA track championships.
Ivri placed fifth in the 1500 meters in 3:38.13, a personal-best time by .02 and a time that ranks No. 9 in program history.
The Shimshit, Israel, native was near the front of the pack early on in the race and led the field of 12 with 800 meters to go. After slipping toward the back of the pack heading into the bell lap, Ivri made his move along the rail down the homestretch and, thanks to his top-five finish, automatically qualified for the NCAA outdoor meet.
Ivri will race in the 1500 meter semifinal on Wednesday, June 10 at 7:21 p.m. CT on ESPN and ESPN2.
“Good shape, good momentum, great season. Let’s do it with Coach Byrne in his last season.”
ONWUNILI MOVES ON
A year after running on a relay squad at the NCAA outdoor championships, UW sophomore Joshua Onwunili qualified for the NCAA meet in an individual event, punching his ticket to Eugene in the 100 meters.
Onwunili placed 11th in the 100-meter quarterfinal in 10.20, a season-best by .02 and a time that ranks No. 4 on the Badger all-time list.
“I went last year, and this time it’s going to be something special.”
Onwunili will race in the 100 meter semifinal on Wednesday, June 10 at 8:25 p.m. CT on ESPN and ESPN2.
A pair of Badgers wrapped up their collegiate seasons in the 800 meters. Patrick Hilby took 15th in the 800 meters in 1:47.20 while Henry Risser was 20th in 1:48.33.
Jake Schaefer placed 33rd in the men’s discus with a heave of 173 feet, 8 inches (52.94m).
Nick Gilles wrapped up his junior season with a time of 9:01.61 in the steeplechase to finish 38th in the region.
In the 5000 meters, Archie Noakes led the Badger contingent, finishing in 14:28.40. Ivri crossed the line in 14:59.16 while Liam Newhart was unable to finish the 12 1/2 lap race.
Up Next: Seven women will compete in the final day of the NCAA West Regional on Saturday. Taylor Kesner, Zonica Lindeque, Vasiliki Samolada and Hadley Lucas will compete in the discus throw at 1:00 p.m. Elissa Perkins will take on the triple jump at 6:00 p.m., before the Badger duo of Kylie Finger and Leane Willemse will finish out the night with the 5000 meter at 8:10 p.m.
2026 NCAA West First Round
Friday, May 29, 2026
John McDonnell Field
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Men’s 100 Meter Final
- Josh Onwunili– 10.20
Men’s 800 Meter Final
- Patrick Hilby– 1:47.20
- Henry Risser– 1:48.33
Men’s 1500 Meter Final
- Matan Ivri– 3:38.13
Men’s 5000 Meter Final
- Archie Noakes– 14:28.40
- Matan Ivri– 14:59.16
Liam Newhart – DNF
Men’s Steeplechase Meter Final
- Nick Gilles– 9:01.61
Men’s Discus
- Jake Schaefer – 173-8 (52.94m)
Men’s rowing
GOLD RIVER, Calif. –The No. 12 Badger men’s crew wrapped up their second day of competition at the 2026 Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) National Championships on Lake Natoma on Saturday. Both the second varsity eight and varsity four boats won their semifinals.
The varsity eight boat raced to a close third-place finish in 5:56.400 over 2000 mters. Navy and Columbia took the first and second-place spots, passing UW by just two and four seconds, respectively. That result was good enough to put the Badgers in Sunday’s Third-Level Final for places 13-18.
The second varsity eight boat won its CD semifinal in 6:03.110 and will race in Sunday’s Third Level Final for places 13-18. The Badgers surpassed the other four boats in the race, including Columbia, Holy Cross, Georgetown and Oregon State.
For the Badgers’ third varsity eight CD semifinal race, the crew placed fourth at 6:12.610. Columbia, Holy Cross and Drexel took the top-three spots. They will race Sunday in Final 4 for places 19-21.
The varsity four found great success in their final race with a first-place finish in 6:58.100 6t to take 25th overall. Drexel, Columbia, Bates, and Holy Cross placed second through fifth in that race.
Straight from the Shore
Head Coach Beau Hoopman
“For the most part, everyone had good races this morning. I know the 1V would like a rerow, but you only get one opportunity to prove it in the semi. The important thing is that they moved on to the C final. They still have yet to put a full race together; their start was better, but they’re still spotting everyone a lead, which you can’t do in this league. For the four seniors in that boat, they have one more opportunity to unleash a good piece. The 2V is progressing nicely; being a young boat that is figuring it out in the fly and improving each piece is a cornerstone of our program. They are doing their job. The 3V is doing the same. This morning was a vast improvement from yesterday; they found themselves in the race at the end, which is a good sign. Last but not least, the 4+ had a good final race. They looked much sharper than yesterday and were aggressive throughout the piece. Still a lot of work left for tomorrow in the eights, and the guys just need to be willing to go deep in the well to get every drop of water they can.”
Captain Elias Strassman on the varsity eight
“I think our finish went well. We were able to walk back and qualify for the C final. We will be coming to the course aggressively and not thinking about our previous races. We’re bringing a confidence that I know we have. We are going to race our race and focus on going fast. Keeping it simple.”
Benjamin Cook on the second varsity eight
“We got out hot and built up an early lead and held off any moves the other boats tried to make, tomorrow we need to hold more speed coming off the starting high strokes. Vibes are pretty good considering we took care of business this morning and know what we have to do tomorrow to make it a race.”
UP NEXT: Wisconsin will close out its season on Sunday for the final rounds of racing.
Sunday Schedule:
Third Varsity Eight Final 4 – 8:50 a.m. (Oregon State, Wisconsin, La Salle)
Second Varsity Eight Final 3 – 9:22 a.m. (Boston, Wisconsin, Drexel, Columbia, Navy, Holy Cross)
Varsity Eight Final 3 – 9:30 a.m. (Cornell, Navy, Georgetown, Columbia, Holy Cross, Wisconsin)
2026 IRA National Championships
May 30 (Day 2)
Lake Natoma
Gold River, Calif.
2000 meters
Varsity Eight – CD Semifinal 2 – Top 3 to C Final, Rest to D Final
1. Navy, 5:52.290; 2. Columbia, 5:54.330; 3. Wisconsin, 5:56.400; 4. Drexel, 5:59.280; 5. Oregon State, 6:05.260; 6. MIT, 6:07.390
UW Lineup – Coxswain Charles Ramquist, Ethan Schumacher, Joe Siddall, Lukas Weinhold, Andrew Soman, Elias Strasman, Thomas Leuty, Ruffin Bryant, Henry Griffin.
Second Varsity Eight – CD Semifinal 1 – Top 3 to C Final, Rest to D Final
1. Wisconsin, 6:03.110; 2. Columbia, 6:05.650; 3. Holy Cross, 6:07.810; 4. Georgetown, 6:10.300; 5. Oregon State, 6:21.070
UW Lineup – Coxswain Taj Chunawala, Raul Gupta, Luke Lehmann, Benjamin Cook, Isaac Rockwell, Julian Kuehn, William Carey, Jeremiah Lesniak, William Harper
Third Varsity Eight – CD Semifinal 2 – Top 3 to C Final, Rest to D Final
1. Columbia, 6:06.460; 2. Holy Cross, 6:610.600; 3. Drexel, 6:11.210; 4. Wisconsin, 6:12.610; 5. La Salle, 6:26.550
UW Lineup – Coxswain Alexander Quinn, Maxwell McCartney, Henry Wurdell, Benjamin Whelan, Connor Treccia, Oliver Zanetich, Lincoln Boehm, Patrick Trihey, Haakon Rosholt
Varsity Four – Final 5 (Places 25-29)
1. Wisconsin, 6:58.100; 2. Drexel, 6:59.840; 3. Columbia, 7:02.990; 4. Bates, 7:10.410; 5. Holy Cross, 7:15.390
UW Lineup – Coxswain Dominic Schuster, Hunter Kokkinen, Jack Wagner, Alexander Schwartz, Bergen Peters
Women’s rowing
GOLD RIVER, Calif. — The Wisconsin lightweight rowing team opened the first day of competition at the 2026 Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) National Championships on Lake Natoma on Saturday morning. Two of Wisconsin’s three boats clocked runner-up finishes in their heats to advance to Sunday grand finals, while the lightweight eight will race in the petite final.
How it happened:
The Badgers opened the morning with a runner-up finish in heat two of the lightweight varsity doubles event, finishing just under a quarter of a second behind Radcliffe. The duo of Liliana Elliott and Becca Rasmussen clocked the fastest split in the last 500 meters of the course in their heat in 1:56.290, helping them to a 7:49.040 finish.
The lightweight varsity four crew, led by coxswain Charlotte Wise, followed suit with the fastest split in the last 500 meters in their heat in 1:54.140. The team earned a second-place, 7:40.040 finish, after trailing Princeton’s 7:34.01 mark to advance to tomorrow’s final session.
Wisconsin closed out the day’s competition in the lightweight varsity eight event. The crew notched a 6:58.480 mark for a fourth-place finish in their heat, just over 13 seconds off of Radcliffe’s leading time, to advance to tomorrow’s petite final.
From the Shore
Lightweight coach Hadzo “Hodge” Habibovic
“”We had some highs and lows today. We were proud with how our double and four performed and secured spots in the grand finals tomorrow with the chance of earning medals. The eight had a tough race and will be racing the petite final tomorrow where we will try to throw down the fastest time possible. We have some good focuses for all of our crews heading into tomorrow and we hope to earn some hardware.”
Up Next: Wisconsin hit the water at 10:08 a.m. (CT) Sunday morning for the second day of competition at the IRA National Championships.
SUNDAY SCHEDULE (Times are PT)
Women’s Lightweight Varsity 2x Final
8:08 a.m. – Final
8:16 a.m. – Award Ceremony
Women’s Lightweight Varsity 4+ Final
8:32 a.m. – Final
8:40 a.m. – Award Ceremony
Women’s Lightweight Varsity 8+ Final
10:30 a.m. – Final 2
10:46 a.m. – Award Ceremony
10:56 a.m. – Team Awards Ceremony
2026 IRA National Championships
May 30
Gold River, California
Lake Natoma
2000 Meters
Women’s Lightweight Varsity Doubles Heat 2 (Top three to Sunday Grand Final, rest to Petite Final)
1. Radcliffe, 7:48.800; 2. Wisconsin, 7:49.040; 3. Stanford, 7:59.37; 4. Georgetown, 8:03.97
UW Lineup: Liliana Elliott, Becca Rasmussen
Women’s Lightweight Varsity Four Heat 1 (Top three to Sunday Grand Final, rest to Petite Final)
1. Princeton, 7:34.010; 2. Wisconsin, 7:40.210; 3. MIT, 7:45.300; 4. Sacred Heart, 8:01.690
UW Lineup: Coxswain Charlotte Wise, Rylie Cordella, Charlotte Mirzaian, Adeline Hinkie, Libby Walker
Women’s Lightweight Varsity Eight Heat 2 (Top three to Sunday Grand Final, rest to Petite Final)
1. Radcliffe, 6:45.310; 2. Stanford, 6:50.830; 3. Georgetown, 6:53.420; 4. Wisconsin, 6:58.480
UW Lineup: Coxswain Emilie Rochon, Georgia Harlow, Alexandra Palmberg, Anika Hanson, Claire Rulyak, Romy McCarthy, Audra Chesny, Olivia Palmberg, Payton Bradford
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