Photo by: Mallory Peak | Louisville Athletics
Track & Field Qualifies 17 Individuals for NCAA East Regional, Three for NCAA Outdoor Championships
May 22, 2025 | Track & Field
The regional meet, which will provide the opportunity for athletes to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships, will take place from May 28-31 in Jacksonville, Fla.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The University of Louisville track & field teams qualified 17 student-athletes to the 2025 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field East Preliminary Round, as announced by the NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Track & Field Committee on Thursday.
Additionally, three Cardinals officially punched their tickets to the 2025 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in the combined events, as KJ Byrd and Paul Kallenberg will contest the men's decathlon and Lucy Fellows will compete in the women's heptathlon at the national championship meet that will take place from Jun. 11-14 in Eugene, Ore.
Kallenberg won the second ACC title of his career in the men's decathlon at the ACC Outdoor Championships from May 15-16, setting a new program record with a total of 7,944 points that ranks fifth nationally thus far this season and qualified him for his second national championship meet in three seasons.
Byrd also qualified for the NCAA Championships in the decathlon to continue his historic freshman campaign, entering the meet with the 11th-best point total in the nation after accumulating 7,849 points to finish as the runner-up at the conference championship meet behind Kallenberg while shattering his own Louisville freshman record in the decathlon by 500 points.
Fellows rounds out the trio of qualifiers for the Cardinals in the combined events, clinching her first spot at a national championship meet in the women's heptathlon. The sophomore, who captured the bronze medal in the event at the ACC Outdoor Championships a week ago, will enter the competition in Eugene with a personal-best and school-record point total of 5,625 points that she recorded at the Jim Freeman/Clark Wood Invitational from April 26-27.
In addition to the three national qualifiers in the combined events, the Cards will look to punch more tickets to the NCAA Outdoor Championships next week at the regional meet, which will be held from May 28-31 in Jacksonville, Fla. at Hodges Stadium on the campus of the University of North Florida. The full list of Louisville athletes by event slated to compete at the regional meet can be found listed below.
The field in Jacksonville will include athletes with the top-48 marks in each respective event among schools in the East Region, following injury or withdrawal, with the only exceptions being the top-24 times for relays and direct qualification to the national championship meet for the top-24 marks nationally in both the decathlon and heptathlon.
The top-12 event finishers from each region at the preliminary meets will advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene.
After capturing a pair of ACC titles at the ACC Outdoor Championships for the second consecutive season to earn Women's Field MVP honors, Jayden Ulrich will lead the charge for the Louisville women coming into the NCAA East Regional, as the senior qualified in both the women's shot put and women's discus throw.
The 2024 Paris Olympian and NCAA runner-up in the discus will enter the competition with the top seed mark in the discus with her toss of 66.14m (217-0) from the Pacific Coast Invitational on March 22. She has also recorded the second-best throw in collegiate history this season with her mark of 69.39m (227-8) at the Oklahoma Throws Series World Invitational on April 12. Ulrich will also contest the women's shot put in Jacksonville, coming into the meet with the second-best mark in the event this season with her toss of 18.52m (60-9.25) at the Jim Click Shootout & Multis on April 5.
Jade Whitfield will join Ulrich in the women's discus throw, coming into the regional with a mark of 58.80m (192-11) that she recorded in her season debut at the Pacific Coast Invitational on March 22 that ranks her sixth in the field.
The Cardinals also advanced a pair of athletes in the women's long jump, as Synclair Savage will enter the meet with the third-best mark in the field, leaping 6.61m (21-8.25) (+2.2) at the Jim Freeman/Clark Wood Invitational on April 26. Sophia Day will join Savage on the runway, boasting a season-best mark of 6.22m (20-5) (+2.3) that the sophomore recorded on March 28 at the Bobcat Invitational.
Sharvari Parulekar will contest the women's triple jump in Jacksonville, entering the meet with a seed mark of 13.02m (42-8.75) (+2.7) that came in a field series at the ACC Outdoor Championships on May 17 that culminated in a silver medal and a windy final mark of 13.46m (44-2) (+4.7) that stands as the best all-conditions mark in program history. Day will also double back for her second event of the regional, having earned a spot in the triple jump with a personal-best mark of 12.69m (41-7.75) at the Bobcat Invitational on March 29.
In the women's pole vault, ACC silver medalist Ashley Callahan qualified for the meet with a personal-best clearance of 4.42m (14-6) at the ACC Outdoor Championships on May 15, which ties her for the fourth-best mark in the field. Iliana Triantafyllou also clinched a spot at the regional meet for the second straight season, holding a personal-best mark of 4.30m (14-1.25) from the Bobcat Invitational on March 28.
Soledad Jean earned a spot in her fourth consecutive regional meet in the women's high jump, clearing a season-best bar of 1.79m (5-10.5) at the Jim Freeman/Clark Wood Invitational on April 26.
The Cards will also be represented on the track by Kiyah Yeast in both the women's 100m and 200m, as the graduate student will enter the competition with season-best times of 11.16 (+2.1) in the 100m that she recorded at the Jim Freeman/Clark Wood Invitational on April 26 and 22.73 (+3.7) from the ACC Outdoor Championships on May 17. Yeast will come into the competition with the fifth-best 200m time in the field and the ninth-best 100m time as she looks to advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships individually for the first time in her career.
Additionally, Layla Roebke will toe the line in the women's 3000m steeplechase, moving up to fifth in the region this season with her school-record time of 9:54.20 that earned her the silver medal at the ACC Outdoor Championships on May 16.
Freshman Olivia Alessandrini rounds out the regional qualifiers for the Louisville women, advancing to the meet in the women's 5000m on the strength of her freshman-record time of 16:02.47 from the Stanford Invitational on April 4.
On the men's side, Geoffrey Kirwa will come into the regional with the best mark in the nation in the men's 3000m steeplechase, as the freshman boasts a jaw-dropping time of 8:13.89 that came at the Bryan Clay Invitational on April 16, the second-fastest time in NCAA history.
Roman Kuleshov will contest the men's triple jump, coming in with a personal-best mark of 15.91m (52-2.5) that earned him the bronze medal at the ACC Outdoor Championships on May 17 and ranks him 10th in the field. The junior will be joined by Miller Jones, who punched his ticket with a massive season-best mark of 15.46m (50-8.75) that also came at the ACC Outdoor Championships.
A pair of Cards will also compete in the men's pole vault, as Lucas Couron, who won the silver medal at the ACC Outdoor Championships, enters the meet with a personal-best and program-record clearance of 5.36m (17-7) that came at the Jim Freeman/Clark Wood Invitational on April 25, while Ty McPhail will come into the competition with a seed height of 5.30m (17-4.5) from the Bobcat Invitational on March 28.
Noah Koch stands as the final representative of the Louisville men's squad in the field, earning a spot at the regional meet in the men's shot put with a personal-best toss of 18.44m (60-6) that earned him a runner-up finish at the ACC Outdoor Championships on May 16.
The full list of Louisville athletes by event that are set to compete at the East Region Preliminary Round are listed below:
Women
100m: Kiyah Yeast
200m: Kiyah Yeast
5000m: Olivia Alessandrini
3000m Steeplechase: Layla Roebke
High Jump: Soledad Jean
Long Jump: Sophia Day, Synclair Savage
Triple Jump: Sophia Day, Sharvari Parulekar
Pole Vault: Ashley Callahan, Iliana Triantafyllou
Shot Put: Jayden Ulrich
Discus Throw: Jayden Ulrich, Jade Whitfield
Men
3000m Steeplechase: Geoffrey Kirwa
Triple Jump: Miller Jones, Roman Kuleshov
Pole Vault: Lucas Couron, Ty McPhail
Shot Put: Noah Koch
For the latest information on Louisville Cross Country/Track & Field, visit GoCards.com, or follow the team's Instagram and Twitter account at @louisvilletfxc or on Facebook at facebook.com/LouisvilleTFXC.
Additionally, three Cardinals officially punched their tickets to the 2025 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in the combined events, as KJ Byrd and Paul Kallenberg will contest the men's decathlon and Lucy Fellows will compete in the women's heptathlon at the national championship meet that will take place from Jun. 11-14 in Eugene, Ore.
Kallenberg won the second ACC title of his career in the men's decathlon at the ACC Outdoor Championships from May 15-16, setting a new program record with a total of 7,944 points that ranks fifth nationally thus far this season and qualified him for his second national championship meet in three seasons.
Byrd also qualified for the NCAA Championships in the decathlon to continue his historic freshman campaign, entering the meet with the 11th-best point total in the nation after accumulating 7,849 points to finish as the runner-up at the conference championship meet behind Kallenberg while shattering his own Louisville freshman record in the decathlon by 500 points.
Fellows rounds out the trio of qualifiers for the Cardinals in the combined events, clinching her first spot at a national championship meet in the women's heptathlon. The sophomore, who captured the bronze medal in the event at the ACC Outdoor Championships a week ago, will enter the competition in Eugene with a personal-best and school-record point total of 5,625 points that she recorded at the Jim Freeman/Clark Wood Invitational from April 26-27.
In addition to the three national qualifiers in the combined events, the Cards will look to punch more tickets to the NCAA Outdoor Championships next week at the regional meet, which will be held from May 28-31 in Jacksonville, Fla. at Hodges Stadium on the campus of the University of North Florida. The full list of Louisville athletes by event slated to compete at the regional meet can be found listed below.
The field in Jacksonville will include athletes with the top-48 marks in each respective event among schools in the East Region, following injury or withdrawal, with the only exceptions being the top-24 times for relays and direct qualification to the national championship meet for the top-24 marks nationally in both the decathlon and heptathlon.
The top-12 event finishers from each region at the preliminary meets will advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene.
After capturing a pair of ACC titles at the ACC Outdoor Championships for the second consecutive season to earn Women's Field MVP honors, Jayden Ulrich will lead the charge for the Louisville women coming into the NCAA East Regional, as the senior qualified in both the women's shot put and women's discus throw.
The 2024 Paris Olympian and NCAA runner-up in the discus will enter the competition with the top seed mark in the discus with her toss of 66.14m (217-0) from the Pacific Coast Invitational on March 22. She has also recorded the second-best throw in collegiate history this season with her mark of 69.39m (227-8) at the Oklahoma Throws Series World Invitational on April 12. Ulrich will also contest the women's shot put in Jacksonville, coming into the meet with the second-best mark in the event this season with her toss of 18.52m (60-9.25) at the Jim Click Shootout & Multis on April 5.
Jade Whitfield will join Ulrich in the women's discus throw, coming into the regional with a mark of 58.80m (192-11) that she recorded in her season debut at the Pacific Coast Invitational on March 22 that ranks her sixth in the field.
The Cardinals also advanced a pair of athletes in the women's long jump, as Synclair Savage will enter the meet with the third-best mark in the field, leaping 6.61m (21-8.25) (+2.2) at the Jim Freeman/Clark Wood Invitational on April 26. Sophia Day will join Savage on the runway, boasting a season-best mark of 6.22m (20-5) (+2.3) that the sophomore recorded on March 28 at the Bobcat Invitational.
Sharvari Parulekar will contest the women's triple jump in Jacksonville, entering the meet with a seed mark of 13.02m (42-8.75) (+2.7) that came in a field series at the ACC Outdoor Championships on May 17 that culminated in a silver medal and a windy final mark of 13.46m (44-2) (+4.7) that stands as the best all-conditions mark in program history. Day will also double back for her second event of the regional, having earned a spot in the triple jump with a personal-best mark of 12.69m (41-7.75) at the Bobcat Invitational on March 29.
In the women's pole vault, ACC silver medalist Ashley Callahan qualified for the meet with a personal-best clearance of 4.42m (14-6) at the ACC Outdoor Championships on May 15, which ties her for the fourth-best mark in the field. Iliana Triantafyllou also clinched a spot at the regional meet for the second straight season, holding a personal-best mark of 4.30m (14-1.25) from the Bobcat Invitational on March 28.
Soledad Jean earned a spot in her fourth consecutive regional meet in the women's high jump, clearing a season-best bar of 1.79m (5-10.5) at the Jim Freeman/Clark Wood Invitational on April 26.
The Cards will also be represented on the track by Kiyah Yeast in both the women's 100m and 200m, as the graduate student will enter the competition with season-best times of 11.16 (+2.1) in the 100m that she recorded at the Jim Freeman/Clark Wood Invitational on April 26 and 22.73 (+3.7) from the ACC Outdoor Championships on May 17. Yeast will come into the competition with the fifth-best 200m time in the field and the ninth-best 100m time as she looks to advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships individually for the first time in her career.
Additionally, Layla Roebke will toe the line in the women's 3000m steeplechase, moving up to fifth in the region this season with her school-record time of 9:54.20 that earned her the silver medal at the ACC Outdoor Championships on May 16.
Freshman Olivia Alessandrini rounds out the regional qualifiers for the Louisville women, advancing to the meet in the women's 5000m on the strength of her freshman-record time of 16:02.47 from the Stanford Invitational on April 4.
On the men's side, Geoffrey Kirwa will come into the regional with the best mark in the nation in the men's 3000m steeplechase, as the freshman boasts a jaw-dropping time of 8:13.89 that came at the Bryan Clay Invitational on April 16, the second-fastest time in NCAA history.
Roman Kuleshov will contest the men's triple jump, coming in with a personal-best mark of 15.91m (52-2.5) that earned him the bronze medal at the ACC Outdoor Championships on May 17 and ranks him 10th in the field. The junior will be joined by Miller Jones, who punched his ticket with a massive season-best mark of 15.46m (50-8.75) that also came at the ACC Outdoor Championships.
A pair of Cards will also compete in the men's pole vault, as Lucas Couron, who won the silver medal at the ACC Outdoor Championships, enters the meet with a personal-best and program-record clearance of 5.36m (17-7) that came at the Jim Freeman/Clark Wood Invitational on April 25, while Ty McPhail will come into the competition with a seed height of 5.30m (17-4.5) from the Bobcat Invitational on March 28.
Noah Koch stands as the final representative of the Louisville men's squad in the field, earning a spot at the regional meet in the men's shot put with a personal-best toss of 18.44m (60-6) that earned him a runner-up finish at the ACC Outdoor Championships on May 16.
The full list of Louisville athletes by event that are set to compete at the East Region Preliminary Round are listed below:
Women
100m: Kiyah Yeast
200m: Kiyah Yeast
5000m: Olivia Alessandrini
3000m Steeplechase: Layla Roebke
High Jump: Soledad Jean
Long Jump: Sophia Day, Synclair Savage
Triple Jump: Sophia Day, Sharvari Parulekar
Pole Vault: Ashley Callahan, Iliana Triantafyllou
Shot Put: Jayden Ulrich
Discus Throw: Jayden Ulrich, Jade Whitfield
Men
3000m Steeplechase: Geoffrey Kirwa
Triple Jump: Miller Jones, Roman Kuleshov
Pole Vault: Lucas Couron, Ty McPhail
Shot Put: Noah Koch
For the latest information on Louisville Cross Country/Track & Field, visit GoCards.com, or follow the team's Instagram and Twitter account at @louisvilletfxc or on Facebook at facebook.com/LouisvilleTFXC.
Players Mentioned
Distance
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Multis
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Pole Vault
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Pole Vault
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Jumps
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Multis
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Jumps
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Jumps
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Multis
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Distance
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Throws
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Jumps
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Pole Vault
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Jumps
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Distance
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Jumps/Sprints
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Pole Vault
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Throws
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Throws
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Sprints
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