Wildcats Set for USA Track and Field Championship

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Nine K-State track and field athletes, coaches and alumni are ready to make their mark on the USATF Outdoor and Para National Championships hosted by Toyota in Eugene, Ore., on July 31 to August 3 at Hayward Field.

The first two days of events will be streamed exclusively on USATF.tv, a paid subscription, while Saturday and Sunday's events can also be viewed on NBC and Peacock from 3-5 p.m. CT.

The USATF Championships serve as a selection meet for Team USA for the NACAC (North American, Central American and Caribbean) Championships, from August 15-17 in Freeport, The Bahamas, and the World Athletics Championship, September 13-21 in Tokyo, Japan.

In the field events three Wildcats qualified in their respective events, Kade McCall in the men's hammer throw, Janee' Kassanavoid ('18) in the women's hammer throw and assistant coach Tara Davis-Woodhall in the women's long jump.

Seven other Wildcats were also accepted to compete, Jourdin Edwards in the women's 400 meter hurdles, Kassidy Johnson ('22) in the women's 800 meters, Lauren Taubert ('21) in the women's heptathlon, Riley Marx in the men's javelin throw and Tavon Underwood and assistant coach James Milholen in the men's 400 meters.

The women's heptathlon starts on Thursday, July 31 and continues through Friday, August 1. The field events will compete in just one round while the track events start with the first round before advancing to the semifinals and finals. Hunter Woodhall will be competing in the Para National Championship in the 100 and 400 meter dash, looking to advance to the World Para Athletics Championship on September 26 to October 5 in New Delhi, India.

Two of the four current Wildcats competing found success at the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Championship. Marx earned Second Team All-America honors in the javelin in 11^th place at a distance of 70.71m (232' 0"). Edwards finished 18^th in the 400 hurdles in 58.16 seconds for All-America Honorable Mention.

At the NCAA West Preliminary (May 28) Underwood finished just shy of qualifying for the 400 meters semifinal race in 46.29 seconds. McCall redshirt the entire 2024-25 season but while competing unattached at the Ward Haylett Invitational (May 9) he won the hammer throw with a distance of 72.55m (238' 0").

Some Wildcats have already competed this summer in international competition. Tejaswin Shankar ('22) broke his own decathlon India national record with 7,826 points at the Wieslaw Czapiewski Memorial meet in Poland on July 27. Vanessa Mercera represented the Netherlands in the European Athletics U23 Championship on July 17, finishing 25th in the women's 400 meter hurdles in 58.15 seconds. At the Jamaican National Championship on June 28, Safhia Hinds finished 5^th in the women's senior 400 meter hurdles in 57.45 seconds.

Emil Uhlin will be competing in the decathlon at the Swedish Championship at Sola Arena in Karlstad, Sweden, also on July 31 and August 1. Uhlin earned First Team All-America honors last month after finishing 3rd in his personal best decathlon of 7,859 points. Three incoming Wildcats also plan to compete internationally before making their way to Manhattan in August-- Anastasiia Kretova and Anna Pozdeeva will compete in the Russian Senior Championship on August 7-10 while Angie Estrada will be at the NACAC Championships.

USATF Championship Schedule (all times listed in central)
Thursday, July 31
3:20 p.m.- men's javelin throw
3:30 p.m.- women's hammer throw
5:37 p.m.- women's 800 meters (first round)
6:30 p.m.- men's hammer throw
8:00 p.m.- women's long jump

Friday, August 1
6:24 p.m.- men's 400 meters (semifinals)

Saturday, August 2
3:19 p.m.- women's 400m hurdles (semifinals)

-- k-statesports.com --

How to follow the 'Cats: For complete information on the K-State Track and Field and Cross Country Teams, visit www.kstatesports.com and follow the team's social media channels on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Facebook.

Kansas State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Jourdin Edwards

Safhia Hinds

Riley Marx

Kade McCall

Vanessa Mercera

Emil Uhlin

Tavon Underwood

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