The Tulane Green Wave track and field team has had a strong start to their 2026 campaign, as highlighted by the American Conference track and field coaches polls. The Green Wave women are predicted to finish fourth, with the men slotted in seventh. The women (102 points) are behind Charlotte, North Texas, and Rice, while the men (32 points) are behind South Florida, Wichita State, North Texas, Tulsa, and Rice. One of the women headlining the Wave is Tulane’s Blezzin Kimutai, who was named the American Track Athlete of the Week for the competition over March 23-29. It’s the first career track weekly honor for Kimutai, who had a cross-country weekly honor last October.
She’s the first weekly honoree for the Green Wave since Janae Dean, who won it on April 22 last season. Kimutai impressed in the 5,000m at the Raleigh Relays last weekend, posting a 15:54.81 despite the rain-soaked event. It was good for a 13th place finish, and her time is the ninth-best mark in the NCAA this season. Only Kimutai blocked her own time from being the best in program history – she owns that with a 15:52.12 mark last season. Kimutai is the only athlete in school history to run the event in under 16 minutes.
The Raleigh Relays were the second outdoor competition in the Wave’s campaign, starting with the Louisiana Classics. The team has made the record books quite often already, starting with the women. Zaria Parker’s 11.76 in the 100m is seventh all-time in program history; Nahema Dumonteil Cabanas’ 1:00.69 in the 400m hurdles is eighth all-time; Alex Sharp (10:29.91) and Allison Hall (11:05.69) are the third and eight-best times in the 3,000m steeplechase; Cara Salsberry’s 48.22m in the discus is third all-time, while her hammer throw of 57.79m is second.
The men are also well decorated. Gilbert Rono’s 3:47.67 in the 1,500m earned the seventh all-time mark in program history. Silas Kiptanui finished as the runner-up in the 3,000m steeplechase last week; his 8:29.21 mark is second in not only the NCAA, but in the world this season.
Tulane will continue their campaign with back-to-back trips to Texas, the first of which is for the Bobcat Invitational hosted by Texas State from Thursday, April 2 to Saturday, April 4.