USTFCCCA News & Notes
By USTFCCCA Communications, USTFCCCA
February 20, 2026  
This time of year is very exciting for many fans as qualifying for the distance medley relay for the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships takes center stage.
From The USTFCCCA InfoZone: Meets & Results | Records & Lists
Some call it “DMR Season” – and for good reason as many programs reach their best DMR qualifying mark of the season on this weekend. In fact, for the three of the past four years, all 12 men’s teams that qualified for the NCAA DI meet raced on the third weekend of February and earned their eventual ticket to the nationals with that performance.
Looking Back at DMR Season | ||
| Times of the No. 12 program to qualify for NCAA DI Indoor Track & Field Championships. Note: The number in parentheses is the number of programs earning NCAA qualifying marks during DMR season. Also, the Alex Wilson Invitational wasn’t held in 2021. | ||
| Year | Men | Women |
| 2014 | 9:31.82 (6) | 11:11:69 (1) |
| 2015 | 9:32.36 (7) | 11:05.38 (4) |
| 2016 | 9:30.48 (6) | 11:05.34 (7) |
| 2017 | 9:31.26 (8) | 11:02.32 (7) |
| 2018 | 9:29.90 (10) | 11:02.01 (5) |
| 2019 | 9:29.35 (10) | 11:00.35 (6) |
| 2020 | 9:32.60 (9) | 11:04.00 (2) |
| 2021 | 9:36.41 (4) | 11:08.84 (2) |
| 2022 | 9:24.56 (12) | 10:58.81 (4) |
| 2023 | 9:22.74 (12) | 10:54.49 (8) |
| 2024 | 9:24.22 (12) | 10:50.58 (7) |
| 2025 | 9:21.23 (11) | 10:50.15 (5) |
DMR season has also been historically fast. Key word: historically.
Nine of the top-ten fastest women’s times and eight of the top-ten fastest men’s times on an all-conditions basis were clocked in mid-February, including both collegiate records – 9:14.10 for Washington’s men and 10:37.58 for BYU’s women. Both were run at the Husky Classic on the oversized oval inside the Dempsey Indoor Center.
Look even closer and you’ll see that women’s teams took full advantage of the Dempsey Indoor Center’s 307-meter track. Five of the seven fastest times in collegiate history came from the 2025 Husky Classic – the top four marks as well as the sixth-fastest.
Men’s teams have found great success at the Arkansas Qualifier dating back to 2023. Four of the six fastest marks in collegiate history came from that meet, including the record-legal collegiate record of 9:14.19 by Virginia’s men. The Cavaliers were pushed throughout by Oklahoma State, which owns the third-fastest performance on a record-legal track at 9:16.24.
Both the Alex Wilson Invitational and the Arkansas Qualifier are this weekend, as is the Colorado Last Chance. We fully expect the record book to undergo another makeover by the end of this weekend.
