The University of Minnesota track and field program competes at the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., from June 11-14. Ten Gopher men will compete in seven different events while two women will compete in one event each in the final NCAA competition of the 2025 season.
ABOUT THE 2025 NCAA OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
The 2025 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships will take place over four days this Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Live results are available, and live championship coverage will be broadcast on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU. Additionally, specific events can be streamed on ESPN3 throughout the four-day event.
MINNESOTA’S HISTORY AT NCAAs
The University of Minnesota is sending nine or more event entries for the fifth straight season. The Maroon and Gold’s last outdoor individual championship came in 2018 when Obsa Ali won the 3000m steeplechase. The men have won a total of 10 NCAA individual outdoor championships while the women are still searching for their first outdoor individual title. The last time the women won an individual title indoors was in 2018 when Kaitlyn Long won the women’s weight throw event. Minnesota’s highest team finish on the men’s side is first (1948) and the women have finished 18th three times, the last time being in 2009. The Minnesota’s highest men’s team finish in the last 76 years is eighth (1971).
TOP CONTENDERS FOR THE MAROON AND GOLD
The Maroon and Gold bring five total entries to the NCAA Outdoor Championships that enter the meet inside the nation’s top 10 performances this season. Of those five sophomore Angelos Mantzouranis holds the highest individual ranking at No. 1 in the men’s hammer throw. Mantzouranis has a season best, which is No. 3 all-time in NCAA hammer throw history, of 78.61m (257-11) in the men’s hammer throw while fellow Greek international Kostas Zaltos is just behind him at No.2 nationally at 77.91m (255-7), which is No. 8 all-time in NCAA hammer throw history.
Hakeem Ford and Charles Godfred both hold the No. 2 spot nationally this season in the triple and long jump. Godfred, who is just a sophomore, won the Big Ten Championship for the second straight year and has a wind-aided season-best of 8.13m (26-8 1/4) that he set at the Drake Relays while Ford’s wind-legal triple jump of 16.54m (54-3 1/4) came back at the Florida Relays on April 4.
Additionally Minnesota’s 4x100m relay team of Zion Campbell, Kion Benjamin, Aaron Charles and Devin Augustine have the No. 7 time at 38.54, which came at the 2025 Big Ten Outdoor Championships on May 16. The 2025 Big Ten Championship record-breaking quartet is led by NCAA veterans in Benjamin and Augustine, who have both ran on the 4x100m relay and as individuals at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in their careers. Campbell and Charles, two first-year Gophers, will make their NCAA Outdoor Championships debut at Hayward Field.
MINNESOTA’S MEN RANKED TENTH NATIONALLY
The University of Minnesota men’s track and field team came in at the No. 10 spot in the penultimate U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) team rankings. The No. 10 ranking for the Gopher men marks a program-record 10-straight weeks the program has been inside the nation’s top 10.
Minnesota’s men have been as high as No. 2 this season, which was the second highest ranking in program history. The only other time the men have been ranked higher in the current USTFCCCA ranking system was back in 2023 when the team opened the first outdoor ranking at No. 1. That season the Golden Gopher men finished the season ranked No. 20 and finished tied for 20th at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Additionally since 1921, according to the USTFCCCA, in the final national poll Minnesota has been ranked No. 1 once (1948).
MANTZOURANIS AND ZALTOS ON RADAR FOR ‘THE BOWERMAN’ AWARD
Hammer throwers Kostas Zaltos and Angelos Mantzouranis are receiving votes on the Men’s Pre-NCAA Outdoor Championships Watch List for The Bowerman. The honor for the Greek throwers is the third time both have at least received votes for the MVP of collegiate track and field. In the latest IAAF World Rankings Zaltos is 22nd overall in the world while Mantzouranis is 23rd. In the ‘Road to Tokyo’ rankings, which pull performances from a smaller window of time compared to the overall rankings, Mantzouranis is No. 9 and Zaltos is No. 21.
Gophers’ NCAA Outdoor Championships Schedule
Wednesday, June 11
Angelos Mantzouranis – Men’s Hammer Final (3:30 p.m. CT)
Kostas Zaltos – Men’s Hammer Final (3:30 p.m. CT)
Men’s 4x100m Relay Semifinal (6:05 p.m. CT)
Jak Urlacher – Men’s Pole Vault Final (6:35 p.m. CT)
Christian Martin – Men’s 110m Hurdles Semifinal (7:08 p.m. CT)
Charles Godfred – Men’s Long Jump Final (7:40 p.m. CT)
Thursday, June 12
Dyandra Gray – Women’s 400m Hurdles Semifinal (8:14 p.m. CT)
Ali Weimer – Women’s 10,000m Final (8:56 p.m. CT)
Friday, June 13
Hakeem Ford – Men’s Triple Jump Final (7:10 p.m. CT)
Men’s 4x100m Relay Final (7:02 p.m. CT)
Saturday, June 14
Dyandra Gray – Women’s 400m Hurdles Final (9:27 p.m. CT)
Entries by Individual
– Angelos Mantzouranis, men’s hammer throw
– Kostas Zaltos, men’s hammer throw
– Charles Godfred, men’s long jump
– Hakeem Ford, men’s triple jump
– Jak Urlahcer, men’s pole vault
– Christian Martin, men’s 110m hurdles
– Dyandra Gray, women’s 400m hurdles
– Ali Weimer, women’s 10,000m
– Men’s 4x100m relay (Campbell, Benjamin, Charles, Augustine)
For more information on the Gophers, continue to check back with GopherSports.com. Keep up with the University of Minnesota cross country and track and field team on X.com (Twitter) and Instagram (@GopherCCTF) and on Facebook, so you do not miss any content during the season.
(info and stock photo courtesy of Gopher Sports)
