Tulane track and field star Silas Kiptanui competes in the NCAA steeplechase semifinals Wednesday as he looks to make program history.
Tulane Green Wave track and field star Silas Kiptanui has a chance at making real program history this week as he is set to compete in the 3,000m steeplechase semifinals at the 2026 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Wednesday at 7:38 p.m. CT at Hayward Field in Eugene, Or. Should Kiptanui finish in the top 12 athletes who advance to the finals to race for the national title, those will take place on Friday at 7:24 p.m. CT on ESPN2.
The sophomore from Rift Valley, Kenya is positioned to shatter a ceiling of program records this weekend. No Green Wave athlete has ever finished better than third in any event at the NCAA Championships for track and field. A national title would crown him as the first Tulane individual NCAA champion in any sport since Ava Andersen won the national championship sailing title back in 2023. Prior to that, the last Wave NCAA individual national champion was Jose Aguero, who won the title in men’s tennis back in 1955.
Kiptanui entered the NCAA East Regional ranked fifth nationally. By the time it wrapped up, he had broken his own record and the American Conference record with a time of 8:18.09 in the steeplechase. That mark is good for seventh in NCAA Division I history as it set a facility record out in Lexington, Ky. He is a two-time gold medalist at the American Outdoor Championships, winning the steeplechase in back-to-back seasons and the 5,000m this spring.
It will be the second consecutive NCAA Championship appearance for Kiptanui, who had an impressive ninth-place finish as a freshman. He now returns with a markedly faster time and a much more elevated national presence as he looks to chase history for himself and Tulane.
The road for Kiptanui to the NCAA Championships has been part of a stellar campaign for the Green Wave track and field team, who set many program records throughout their 2025-26 campaign, notably by discus and hammer throw star Cara Salsberry and by Kiptanui.
This year’s NCAA Championships will be the fourth straight to feature a Tulane athlete who qualified for the national meet. But Kiptanui sets a standard for the track and field team, and an elevated one at that as he heads into the most critical part of the postseason stretch.
Upon the conclusion of the competition on Friday, Tulane's 2025-26 outdoor track and field season closes in tandem, and they’ll set their sights on the 2026-27 cross country and track and field seasons that will have real, program-defining momentum.
