NCAA Indoor Championships
Evans, Cornejo Qualify for NCAA Indoor Championships
3/4/2026 10:00:00 AM | Track and Field
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Lexi Evans and Tatiana Cornejo are officially headed to Arkansas to compete in the 2026 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships.
The two standouts on the Cal Poly women’s track and field team learned on Tuesday they had officially qualified for the event when the NCAA announced the full list of entries. The top 16 marks recorded this indoor season in each individual event qualified for the national meet which will be held on March 13-14 at the Randal Tyson Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Evans qualified in the women’s pole vault while Cornejo earned a berth in the women’s mile. This is the first time either has qualified for nationals. Evans and Cornejo are the first Cal Poly women to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships since three-time indoor All-American and Olympian Sharon Day-Monroe competed in the 2008 meet, taking second in the high jump.
This is the fifth time in the history of the Cal Poly women’s track and field program that the Mustangs have had multiple qualifiers for the NCAA Division I Indoor Championships during a season.
Evans secured a trip to Arkansas by recording the sixth-best mark in the nation this indoor season at the Husky Classic on Feb. 13. The San Diego native cleared an all-conditions lifetime best of 14 feet, 9.5 inches (4.51 meters) in the pole vault to break her own school record. Two weeks prior to that at the UW Invite, Evans obliterated the indoor pole vault school record for the first time, surpassing Brooke Tjerrild’s 2020 mark (13-9.25) by 11 inches.
Evans is the school record holder in both the women’s indoor and outdoor pole vault, and is a three-time NCAA West Preliminaries qualifier outdoors. The two-time Big West pole vault champion is the third Mustang pole vaulter all-time to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships, joining Paula Serrano (1999-2000) and Shannon Flett (2000).
Just over a week ago, Cornejo had a sensational performance at the Saucony Battle for Boston, shattering a 39-year-old school record in the women’s indoor mile with a blistering time of 4:29.90. It’s the 22nd fastest time ran in the NCAA this season, but thanks to scratches Cornejo was unable to earn the final berth to nationals in the event. The time was also an over 7.8-second personal best for the Elk Grove, Calif. native.
The mile school record was her second this indoor season after she broke a 43-year-old program record in the women’s indoor 3,000-meter at the Husky Classic on Feb. 14. Cornejo, the 2024 Big West Women’s Track Athlete of the Year, currently owns four school records as she is the program record holder in both the indoor and outdoor 5,000. The two-time West Prelims qualifier is the first Mustang in program history on the men’s or women’s side to qualify for indoor nationals in the mile. She is the first Mustang on the women’s side to qualify for indoor nationals in a distance event since Maggie Vessey in 2003 (800-meter).
The women’s pole vault final takes place at 2 p.m. PDT on Saturday, March 14. The semifinals of the women’s mile will begin at 3:05 p.m. PDT on Friday, March 13, with the top four runners in each of the two heats along with the next two fastest times advancing to the mile final at 2:10 p.m. PDT on Saturday, March 14.
Live results can be found HERE and entirety of the NCAA Indoor Championships will be streamed live on ESPN+.
