MINNEAPOLIS —\u00a0The University of Minnesota\u00a0track and field program is scheduled to compete at both the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, Calif., as well as at the Tom Jones Memorial in Gainesville, Fla. The Golden Gophers will primarily have the distance team in California while the remainder of the travel squad will be in Florida.\u00a0<\/p>\n
ABOUT THE 2026 TOM JONES MEMORIAL ABOUT THE 2026\u00a0BRYAN CLAY INVITATIONAL GOPHERS IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS In the event squad rankings Minnesota’s depth on the men’s side shows in the hammer throw where they are ranked No. 1 nationally and also in the 100m where the team is No. 2. The men’s hammer group in Minnesota averages an NCAA-best 67.81m among its top four. The women’s team has two events that are ranked No. 5 nationally in\u00a0both the 10,000m group and the 400m hurdles. For the rest of Minnesota’s event squad rankings,\u00a0click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n LAST TIME OUT Another top 10 performance came\u00a0from\u00a0Waukeem Walters<\/a>\u00a0in the long jump. While the Jamaican did not reach a new lifetime best in the event, his 7.61m (24-11 3\/4) is his best leap as a member of the Maroon and Gold and puts him at No. 7 all-time. Walters is now the third active Gopher to sit on the current program top 10 list in the long jump joining\u00a0Charles Godfred<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Precious Opinion<\/a>.\u00a0Nontokozo Ncube<\/a>\u00a0continued her ascension in Minnesota’s outdoor 800m record book with the Zimbabwe international posting a 2:04.72, the No. 2 time in school history. The performance moves Ncube from No. 4 at Minnesota to No. 2. Ncube\u00a0now only trails Heather Dorniden’s\u00a0time of 2:01.05, which won the Gopher a bronze medal at the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Championships.\u00a0Ramy Ayoub<\/a>\u00a0moved up the all-time 800m top 10 list at Minnesota with his 1:47.94 on Saturday. The lifetime best time for Ayoub was good enough for eighth overall at Bernie Moore Track Stadium, and goes down as the fastest 800m by a Gopher man since 2017 (Mitch Hechsel and Nate Roese).\u00a0<\/p>\n On the straightaway the Maroon and Gold saw\u00a0Zion Campbell<\/a>\u00a0make his season debut outdoors. The Bahamas international clocked a 10.269 (+2.2 m\/s) to move from No. 7 to No. 6 all-time at the ‘U’, passing coach\u00a0Ibrahim Kabia<\/a>‘s 2009 time of 10.29. Also in the 100m, freshman\u00a0John Caleb<\/a>\u00a0finished fourth overall at the Battle on the Bayou with a lifetime best time of 10.13 (+2.2 m\/s). The time improves Caleb’s No. 3 all-time 100m spot at Minnesota, which allows for wind up to 3.0 meters-per-second.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nThe Tom Jones Memorial is a two-day meet from April 17-18, held at James G. Pressly Stadium at Percy Beard Track. Minnesota’s action begins on Friday at 11 a.m. CT with the collegiate men’s hammer. Day one will end for Minnesota after the women’s shot put invite that begins at 6:45 p.m. The second day will kick off around 8 a.m. CT for the Maroon and Gold with the women’s discus collegiate field with the final event entry for the Gophers being the men’s 4x400m relay at 5:07 p.m. The meet will be streamed via ESPN+ with live results provided by PrimeTime\u00a0Timing<\/a>. Accepted entries can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\nThe Bryan Clay Invitational is a three-day competition for Minnesota and runs from April 16-18. The action will be streamed via FloTrack<\/a>\u00a0with live results available via Finished Results.<\/a>\u00a0In total Minnesota is scheduled to have 10 entries compete in California. More meet information can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\nThe Maroon and Gold men and women were both ranked inside the USTFCCCA’s latest outdoor track and field rankings. The men came in at No. 8 nationally while the women were 19th, making Minnesota one of three Big Ten programs to have both teams ranked inside the top 20.<\/p>\n
\nMinnesota’s last action was at the Gene Glader Invitational<\/a> (April 11) at Bethel University, but the meet was cut short due to weather. The week prior, led by redshirt junior\u00a0Anthonett Nabwe<\/a>, the University of Minnesota track and field team produced a number of stand out performances at LSU’s Battle on the Bayou at Bernie Moore Track Stadium in Baton Rouge, La.\u00a0Nabwe tossed a 71.22m (233-8) on outdoor season-opening throw\u00a0to set the new Big Ten Conference all-time record. The conference record is Nabwe’s second of the 2025-26 season, with her hammer throw record at LSU joining her weight throw Big Ten record she used to win the 2026 NCAA indoor title (25.13m | 82-5 1\/2).\u00a0<\/p>\n