Idaho shines at NCAA track finals with 16 All-Americans and a surprise silver
Nampa native Logan Hammer extended Idaho’s hot streak at the NCAA track and field championship last week.
The 2020 Columbia High grad took second in the men’s pole vault, clearing 5.75 meters (18 feet, 10 ¼ inches) to set a new personal best and a new Mountain West record.
Hammer finished 0.1 meters (4 inches) behind Nebraska’s Dyson Wicker. Hammer made three attempts to keep up with Wicker but could not clear 5.8, 5.85 and 5.9 meters on successive tries.
“The elephant in the room is he never made more than one bar at the University of Oregon anytime we’ve gone there,” Utah State jumps coach Erik Rasmussen told The (Logan, Utah) Herald Journal. “I think he just came in and finally had a meet this year that we didn’t have any expectations. We were just going out to do what he does, and I think he was just able to settle in and find a groove.
“And, I mean, he was jumping better than I’ve ever seen him jump at those jumps at 5.70 and 5.75. He just did what he’s been working on for the last four years, and it just kind of all paid off all at once.”
Hammer entered his third straight NCAA outdoor championships seeded 17th. But the silver medal makes Hammer an All-American for the fifth time and continues a run of podium finishes for Idaho natives in Eugene, Oregon.
Borah grad Nathan Green (2021) won his second national title in the men’s 1,500 meters last season. Kimberly grad Peyton Bair (2020) also brought home a national title last spring in the men’s decathlon.
MORE IDAHO ALL-AMERICANS
Six more Idahoans were first- or second-team All-Americans, including:
- Boise High grad Mason Lawyer earned first-team All-American honors by taking seventh in the men’s 100 meters in 10.04 seconds. The Arizona senior was also a second-team All-American with his ninth-place finish in the 200 (20.34).
- Lawyer and Bishop Kelly grad James Onanbuosi also teamed up for second-team All-American honors in the men’s 4x100 relay with their 10th-place finish (38.79).
- Boise High grad Rosina Machu became an All-American for the third straight year with her 11th-place finish in the women’s 10,000 meters in 32 minutes, 26.18 seconds. The Gonzaga senior also finished 20th in the 5,000 (15:59.25).
- Idaho junior Constanze Paoli took 11th in the women’s steeplechase. Her time of 10:08.28 made the Germany native a second-team All-American.
- Idaho State senior Axel Tirado-Sanchez was a second-team All-American in the men’s discus. The Emmett High grad’s throw of 59.21 meters (194 feet, 3 inches) landed him in 12th place.
- Former Northwest Nazarene athlete Steven Schmidt finished 13th in the men’s decathlon for Oklahoma State, scoring 7,479 points. His second-team honors made him Oklahoma State’s first All-American in the event.
- Idaho’s Blake Sturgis unleashed a throw of 70.59 meters (231 feet, 7 inches) for a 14th-place finish and second-team honors in the men’s javelin.
Honorable mention All-American status also went to Centennial High grad Twaddle-Dunham (men’s discus), and Boise State’s Kaiya Robertson (women’s 1,500), Abby Kendrick (women’s steeplechase), Emily Jobes (women’s steeplechase) and Raekwon Weatherspoon (men’s long jump).
This story was originally published June 15, 2026 at 1:13 PM.
