Silas Kiptanui is one race away from making Tulane track and field history in the men's steeplechase final in the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
The Tulane Green Wave track and field team are chasing history this season, and sophomore star Silas Kiptanui is one step closer to realizing those dreams after qualifying to compete for a national championship. Kiptanui officially qualified for the finals of the 3,000m steeplechase in the 2026 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships with his semifinals finish on Wednesday.
In Heat 1 of the 3,000m steeplechase, Kiptanui won his heat at Hayward Field, advancing to the finals with a time of 8:26.74. Kiptanui didn’t start the race in first – he was much closer to the back of the pack. But Kiptanui kept calm and steady and seemed in control of his heat the whole way through, quickly making his way to the front of the group, often in the lead, and making his final push at the right time.
The top 12 athletes advanced to the finals, and winning the heat didn’t guarantee that finish, but Kiptanui slotted in at eighth on the overall leaderboard with the conclusion of the second heat. Each heat was split into 12 men each.
Now, Kiptanui is chasing real history, as no athlete in program history has a better finish than third in any event in the NCAA Championships for track and field.
Even a runner-up finish would make the record books, but if he is champion and wins the national title, he would be the first individual national champion for the program since Ava Andersen in 2023, who won the singlehanded national championship in sailing. The last Wave athlete to be an NCAA individual national champion was back in 1955 with Jose Aguero of men’s tennis.
The sophomore from Rift Valley, Kenya entered the NCAA East Regional with a fifth national ranking as he raced to qualify for the semis, breaking his own record, setting a facility record, and breaking the American Conference record with a time of 8:18.09 in the steeplechase. And he immediately followed it up with a confident win in his heat and an advancement to the finals.
Kiptanui won the steeplechase in back-to-back seasons at the American Outdoor Championships. And now, he’ll compete in the national meet for the finals of the 3,000m steeplechase for a second year in a row as well, hoping to finish better than ninth as he did in 2024.
That will all be on the line on Friday night for the final, which will take place at 7:24 p.m. CT and will air on ESPN2 as Kiptanui races for history among the 12 finalists.
