MOUNT VERNON – Two of Cornell's all-time track & field competitors will conclude their collegiate careers at the
NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships, held May 21-23 at Veteran's Memorial Field Sports Complex in La Crosse, Wis.
Isaac vanWestrienen will go for gold in the men's 10000- and 5000-meter races as the top seed in both. The 10-time NCAA track qualifier and 5-time all-American runs the 10000 at 7:15 p.m. Thursday. The 5000 is scheduled for 3:25 p.m. Saturday.
Ava Claussen-Tubbs is seeded 15th out of 22 qualifiers in the women's 800. Three rounds of prelims heats start at 2:20 p.m. Friday. The top two finishers in each heat, in addition to the next three fastest times, advance to the finals at 1:50 p.m. Saturday.
Fan can follow the action via
live video and
live results throughout the Championships.
VanWestrienen enters the 10000 with the eighth-quickest time in Division III history. He clocked the country's season-best mark of 28:52.66 in Azusa, Calif., on April 17. VanWestrienen has run 14 seconds faster than anybody in this year's 22-man field.
Rowan's Seth Clevenger, the 2026 NCAA indoor champion in the 3000 and 5000, is seeded second in 29:06.90. VanWestrienen (third) and UW-La Crosse's Aidan Matthai (fifth) are the only returning all-Americans in the 10000 from last year's NCAA Outdoor Championships. Seven qualifiers are back.
VanWestrienen owns the seventh-fastest 5000 outdoor mark all-time in Division III of 13:53.13. He's a three-time all-American in the event, placing fifth at 2025 outdoors, seventh at 2026 indoors and fifth at 2025 indoors.
This year's stacked 5000 field features six returning all-Americans from indoors, including defending 2025 outdoor champion Chasen Hunt of Lynchburg. Matthai (13:54.56), NYU's Theo Udelson-Nee (13:56.49) and Wartburg's Isaiah Hammerand (13:59.93) have all gone under 14 minutes this season.
Claussen-Tubbs qualified for the 800 with a school-record time of 2:10.12 at UW-La Crosse on May 14, running on the same track which she'll be competing Friday. The 14-time Midwest Conference champion made her NCAA Championships debut at 2026 indoors, taking 16th in the 800.
Six of the top seven indoor finishers return to the 800 field. Wash U's Kate Delia, the 2026 indoor champion, is the top seed in 2:06.46. She's among four qualifiers who have broken 2:08 this spring.
