KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Nine Montana Tech student-athletes will represent the Orediggers at the 2026 NAIA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, the national office announced with its full field of qualifiers Wednesday.
Five Oredigger men and four women qualified for the meet, which will take place May 20-22 at UNC-Asheville's Karl Straus Track in Asheville, N.C.
Senior
Morgan McClernan leads the way for the Tech men. The Butte native qualified in three events. He boasts the third-fastest 110-meter hurdles time in the NAIA so far this season, a program-record 13.97 seconds. McClernan also qualified in the 400m hurdles; he'll head into that event seeded 16th (52.81). It will be McClernan's fifth-career national meet between the indoor and outdoor championships.
He will also represent the Orediggers in the 4x100m relay after joining
Jaxon Allery,
Matthew Moreni, and
Zach Merrifield as the first quartet ever to qualify for the national meet in the event. They did so with a time of 41.01, putting them 30th in the nation. Sophomore
Aidan Dorr will also travel with the relay.
Junior
Adam Schrader will also compete for Montana Tech. He will make his fifth-career nationals appearance and his second in the 400m hurdles after finishing 24th in the event in 2024. The Columbia Falls native heads into the 2026 championship ranked 27th in the race (53.43).
Three Oredigger women also earned spots in open events.
Junior
Tyra Opperman will make her second-career nationals appearance in the javelin, entering the meet seeded 19th at a career-best 42.39m. The Bozeman native finished 24th in the event as a freshman in 2024.
Joining Opperman in the javelin will be freshman
Brityn Stewart. The Butte High product will make her nationals debut seeded 33rd at 41.36m.
Senior
Jadyn Vermillion heads to her sixth-career NAIA championship meet in the long jump. The Myrtle Creek, Ore. native is a two-time indoor All-American in the event and enters her final collegiate meet ranked 12th in the country at 5.89m.
They will join sophomore
Ayla Janzen at the national meet. Janzen qualified in the heptathlon, the NAIA announced Monday.
Visit Montana Tech athletics' home online, GoDiggers.com, anytime for up-to-the-minute news and coverage of the Orediggers. Give Montana Tech athletics a like on Facebook, and follow the Orediggers on X and Instagram at @DiggerAthletics.
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