Out of the 25 Penn athletes who qualified for the NCAA East Regionals, four moved on to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, which took place from June 10-13 at the legendary Hayward Field.
Rising senior hurdler Ryan Matulonis was the first Quaker to take to the track. The hurdler’s 49.25-second performance in the 400-meter hurdles quarterfinals at NCAA East Regionals — just one-hundredth of a second off the program and Ivy League record in the event — sent him to Nationals for the third time in three seasons.
Matulonis came into Wednesday’s race looking to make his first career appearance in an NCAA final. Set to race in the third heat, the Scotch Plains, N.J., native had his work cut out for him going up against North Carolina A&T’s Isaiah Taylor and Texas A&M’s Ja’Qualon Scott, the latter of whom had been leading the NCAA Division I since April 18.
Running from lane eight, Matulonis got out well but did not manage to finish in the top two in his heat, which meant that a spot in the finals hinged on his time. Though he ran a solid 49.90, the fastest the rising senior had ever run on the national stage, he fell just three spots short of qualifying for the final. Matulonis’ season and performance did not go unnoticed, as his 12th-place finish in the semifinal earned him his third career second-team All-America selection.
Rising sophomore Jessica Oji took to the mound on day two of the meet. The Livingston, N.J., native has been nothing short of phenomenal in her first collegiate season, notably taking the shot put title while setting an African record at the Ivy League Heptagonal Indoor Championships. She was also one of two Quakers to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships, making her the only Penn athlete to qualify for both indoor and outdoor Nationals.
After she won gold in the shot put at both Outdoor Heps and the NCAA East Regional, Oji was back on the national stage for the second time in her collegiate career. As the world watched, Oji performed.
After a foul throw in the second round, Oji responded with a solid 17.92-meter lob in the third. But the best was yet to come. On her fifth attempt, Oji put the shot 17.98 meters, her best throw of the day, landing her an impressive fourth place in the final.
Even though she didn’t walk away with the gold as she had in her previous two meets, Oji made a statement as the only freshman to finish in the top 15 in her event. The performance also made her Penn’s only first-team All-American at Nationals.
RELATED:
Four national qualifiers for Penn track and field at NCAA East Regionals
Penn cross country standout Anna Weirich commits to Providence
Later that day, 2026 College graduate Lily Murphy toed the line in the 10,000-meter final. The 2026 Outdoor Ivy Heps champion was set to face off against the powerhouses of women’s distance running, lining up alongside current outdoor NCAA record holder Jane Hedengren of BYU and 2025 Bowerman finalist Pamela Kosgei of New Mexico, who won the event last year.
This was Murphy’s second trip to outdoor nationals, having qualified for the same event two seasons prior. However, in 2024, Murphy did not finish the race. Now, the Summit, N.J., native was looking for redemption under the bright lights of Hayward Field.
After the majority of the racers came through the first 1600 meters at a modest 5:30, the pace got hot quickly as Murphy faded from the top pack. Although she finished in a speedy 33:13.58 — over a minute faster than her 34:24.26 finish at Heps in May — the time was not as competitive in a race which saw four student-athletes finish in under 32 minutes.
The 2026 College graduate closed out her Penn career with an honorable mention All-America nod. She walks away from the track as a two-time nationals qualifier in a total of three events, a two-time Outdoor Ivy Heps champion, and the program record holder in both the 10,000-meter and 5,000-meter run. The final chapter has closed for one of the greatest distance runners in program history.
The last Quaker standing was 2026 Wharton graduate Kampton Kam. Following a second-place finish in the high jump at Outdoor Heps, the jumper finished fifth at NCAA East Regionals, marking his second consecutive trip to outdoor nationals.
After clearing 2.11 meters on his first attempt, the Singaporean was unable to clear the crossbar at 2.16 meters. Kam finished 16th overall in the competition that marked the end of his collegiate career, and was named to the second team All-America. Kam, like Murphy, leaves Penn as one of the most decorated jumpers in program history. A four-time national qualifier and a three-time conference champion, Kam plans to continue his athletic career at the professional level.
Although only four Quakers took the trip to Hayward Field, nationals also saw successful performances for familiar faces in new places. 2025 College graduate James Rhoads took to the national stage in the men’s pole vault.
In his three seasons competing for Penn, Rhoads qualified for the NCAA Championships every outdoor season, made the first team All-America multiple times, and broke both the indoor and outdoor pole vault program records. After transferring to the University of Washington for his final year of eligibility, Rhoads continued to find success, showing out in his fourth NCAA outdoor nationals. The Baltimore, Ohio native cleared 5.60 meters for a ninth-place finish.
The Penn track and field season came to an end as all Quakers received All-America honors with four performances that elicited a range of emotions for Penn track fans. From the heartbreak of watching Matulonis come just short of making the 400-meter hurdles final, to the excitement of Oji’s dominance in her freshman season, to the bittersweet feeling of seeing the final collegiate performances of program greats like Murphy and Kam, the last competition of Penn’s 2025-26 season had it all.
