ST. PAUL, Minn. — Selections for the 2026 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships were announced on Tuesday afternoon, with Concordia-St. Paul's Cam Mata (long jump) and Mehlayna Straub (heptathlon) each punching their tickets to the national meet. 

Student-athletes qualified for the championships by reaching a provisional standard established for each event. For each individual event contested, the top 22 declared student-athletes were accepted into the competition. For the heptathlon and decathlon, the top 16 declared student-athletes were accepted into the competition. Athletes who finish in the top eight in their respective events will earn First Team All-America honors, while those who place ninth through 16th will be named Second Team All-Americans. The complete list of qualifiers is available at https://results.leonetiming.com/?mid=8920

The NCAA Outdoor Championships are scheduled for Thursday, May 21 through Saturday, May 23 in Emporia, Kansas on the campus of Emporia State. The men's long jump is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, while women's heptathlon events will take place on Thursday and Friday. A full schedule of events can be found here. 

It marks the first career selection to the NCAA Outdoor Championships for both athletes. Mata, who was previously selected to the 2026 NCAA Indoor Championships where he earned All-America Second Team honors in the long jump, ranks 12th among the 22 competitors with a qualifying distance of 24' 10", a Concordia school record. Straub's qualifying score of 5218 points ranks 10th among the field of 16 heptathletes.