INDIANAPOLIS — Milaina Almonte's 2026 season will continue, as the Santa Clara University women's track junior had her name listed Thursday on the participants for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships West First Round meet, where she'll compete in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
The NCAA West First Round meet will be held Wednesday through May 30 at the University of Arkansas' John McDonnell Field in Fayetteville, Ark. Almonte will race on May 30 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase quarterfinal, with the top-12 finishers advancing to the semifinals at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on June 10-13 in Eugene, Ore.
Almonte becomes the fourth Bronco on the women's team to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships West First Round and first since 2024 when Katie Castelli also qualified in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Almonte posted a time of 10 minutes, 23.35 seconds, at the Franson Last Chance meet on May 9. Her mark ranks second all-time at Santa Clara, only 13 hundredths of a second off Grayson Murphy's school-record performance of 10:23.22 in 2016.
Almonte's qualification for the NCAA West First Round meet adds to an already decorated 2025-26 year for her. She delivered one of the strongest cross country seasons in program history in the fall, earning first team all-West Coast Conference honors with a sixth-place finish at the conference championship and adding all-region recognition with a 20th-place finish at the NCAA West Region Championship. Santa Clara's No. 1 runner in all five of her races, Almonte won the Bronco Invitational on Oct. 18 in a school-record time of 20:06.5. She was also named WCC All-Academic Honorable Mention, carrying a 3.803 cumulative GPA.
Almonte ran four top-five all-time marks in 2026 for the Broncos' indoor and outdoor track programs. Her 16:25.89 indoor 5,000 meters she ran in December was nearly the fastest 5,000 ever run by a Bronco in indoor or outdoor. She ran 16:35.04 at the Stanford Invitational on April 3 that ranks fourth on the all-time outdoor list. She narrowly missed the school-record with her aforementioned 3,000-meter steeplechase performance two weeks ago, and she posted the third-best time in the indoor 3,000 at 9:44.40 in February.
