The NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Track & Field and Cross Country Committee announced on Tuesday that UCLA will send three individual athletes and one relay team to the 2026 NCAA Indoor Championships.
Graduate student Yanla Ndjip-Nyemeck, a sprinter and hurdler, qualified for her third appearance at the national indoor meet in the women’s 60-meter hurdles. Senior Michael Pinckney will compete in the men’s weight throw, while sophomore Valentina Fakrogha earned a spot in the women’s high jump. Both Pinckney and Fakrogha are making their first appearances at this championship.
The women’s 4×400 meter relay team—composed of Ava Simms, Taylor Snaer, Kayla McBride, and Naomi Johnson—also secured qualification.
Ndjip-Nyemeck holds UCLA’s top seed at No. 8 in the women’s 60m hurdles. She set a school record with a time of 7.96 seconds during the finals of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Invite in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She finished second in this event at the Big Ten Indoor Championships and was ranked as high as No. 1 nationally earlier in the season.
Pinckney is seeded tenth in the men’s weight throw after setting a school record with a mark of 22.72 meters at the Big Ten Championships, where he won silver. This was his third time breaking his own school record this year.
Fakrogha enters as the No. 14 seed in women’s high jump after clearing 1.86 meters (6-1.25) at the Arkansas Qualifier—a performance that ranks second all-time at UCLA. She also medaled at the Big Ten Indoor Championships by finishing third with a clearance of 1.81 meters (5-11.25).
The women’s relay team comes into nationals as the No. 11 seed following their third-place finish at Big Ten Championships with a time of 3:30.93.
The NCAA Indoor Championships are scheduled for March 13-14 at Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
