Track & Field Sends Eight to NCAA West Preliminaries
5/21/2026 10:19:00 AM | Track and Field
Highlanders are ready and waiting for national stage
RIVERSIDE, Calif. - UC Riverside Track & Field will send eight student-athletes to the NCAA West Preliminaries in Fayetteville, Arkansas, it was announced Thursday morning.
The group will compete at Arkansas' John McDonnell Field, May 27-30. The eight student-athletes are the program's most at an NCAA West Prelim since 2016.
Kazu Kimura
Kimura will represent UCR in the high jump and long jump in his first trip to the NCAA West Prelims.
The San Jose native won UC Riverside's first-ever Big West high jump title with a 2.12m/6-11.50 that ranks 10th in the Division I West Region.
Kimura also posted a qualifying 7.56m/24-09.75 in the long jump at the Steve Scott Invitational that ranks 16th in the Division I West Region.
Women's 4x100m
Raykiyat Olukoju, Kamea Hunter, D'Lainey Nakamoto, and Kendall Dorton will run the women's 4x100m in Arkansas, marking UCR's first women's 4x100m in an NCAA West Prelim since 2022. Olukoju is also running the 200m.
The quartet set the program's 4x100m record this year with a 44.75 at the Steve Scott Invitational.
Aaron Fruge
Fruge will compete in the long jump to make his NCAA West Prelims debut. He is the first men's triple jumper to represent UC Riverside on the stage since Ondrej Rapp in 2019, and earned All-Big West status in the event with his qualifying mark coming at the RCC Invitational (7.58m/24-10.50).
Andrew Robinson
Robinson earned his qualifier after securing an All-Big West nod in the triple jump with a 15.54m/51-00.00, which ranks 11th in the Division I West Region. The redshirt freshman makes it three straight years for UCR with a men's triple jumper at NCAA West Prelims.
Chelsea Aninyei
The Big West women's triple jump champion will make her second straight NCAA West Prelims appearance in Arkansas, competing in the triple jump for the second straight year. Aninyei, a two-time Big West Women's Field Athlete of the Week in 2026, ranks fifth in the Division I West Region and 16th nationally with a 13.39m/43-11.25 set at the Steve Scott Invitational.
Raykiyat Olukoju
Olukoju is making her third straight NCAA West Prelims appearance after qualifying in the 200m, the same event she's run in her past two trips, including the 2024 Prelims in Arkansas. The Riverside native ranks 19th in the Division I West Region after running a school-record 23.29 at the Mt. SAC Relays in April.
Stay tuned to GoHighlanders.com for more information on how to follow UC Riverside at the NCAA West Preliminaries.
