Meet Penn’s four NCAA outdoor track and field championship qualifiers

Penn will be well represented at the NCAA outdoor track and field championship this week.

Four members qualified to compete in Eugene, Ore., from Wednesday to Friday, including junior sprinter and hurdler Ryan Matulonis, freshman thrower Jessica Oji, senior long distance runner Lily Murphy, and senior high jumper Kampton Kam.

“We’re representing distance running, sprinting, jumping, and throwing,” said Murphy. “We have a pretty wide variety of personalities and grades going on this trip, but I think it’s very representative of the diverse community that Penn track is.”

Added Matulonis: “It’s definitely super motivating. We may all be from different training groups, and we don’t practice together. But at the end of the day, we’re all able to unite because of the fact that we all wear the Penn stripes. I think it just kind of goes to show how deep our program goes.”

All track events will air on ESPN or ESPN2, while field and combined events will be available to stream on ESPN+. Here’s what to know about each Penn athlete and the journey they took to get to outdoor track and field’s biggest stage:

Matulonis, a three-time Ivy League champion, was the only male Penn track athlete to advance past the NCAA’s East first round in Lexington, Ky. In the quarterfinals of the 400-meter hurdles, Matulonis achieved a personal-best of 49.25 seconds and second-place finish to punch his ticket to Eugene.

Although he qualified for the championship, Matulonis was hoping to break the Ivy League 400-meter hurdles record — held by former Quaker Bruce Collins — in the first round in Lexington.

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“It was great to make the national meet, but I missed the record by a 100th of a second,” Matulonis said. “[The Ivy League] record is 49.24, and I ran 49.25. So that one stung a little bit, but I still got another shot to race it.

“Winning was definitely very motivating. That competitive spirit really helped me get to where I am today, and obviously that never goes away. But as you start to get closer to some of these numbers — that when you’re a freshman, they’re not as in reach — and then you start to creep closer to them, and those are things that you start to have in the back of your mind as well that you’re going for.”

Matulonis will likely need to break the conference record to finish first in the 400-meter hurdles finals, which are held on Friday (at 6:27 p.m.). The national champion in the event has finished faster than his personal-record every year since 1996. First, he will have to advance past the semifinals, which are slated to begin Wednesday (7:14 p.m.).

In December, at her first collegiate meet, Oji broke the Ivy League indoor shot put record. During the indoor season, she broke her own record two more times. Then, in the outdoor season, she broke the Ivy’s shot put record.

Oji was the only Quaker to qualify for both indoor and outdoor NCAA championships this year. At the indoor championships, she placed seventh in the shot put.

After placing first at the Penn Relays, Oji said that her dominant start is just the beginning.

“I’ve always wanted to win [the Penn Relays] while wearing the Penn stripes,” Oji said in April. “It’s been a huge goal for me. When I committed here, I was like, ‘I have to win this meet all four years.’ This is just the start of it.”

She will have a chance for a championship finish in the women’s shot put final on Thursday (7:15 p.m.).

Last season, Murphy was injured and unable to compete in the East First Round. So, when it was her turn in Lexington, the senior had more nerves than usual.

“I was really nervous going into the regional meet, but once I got out there, once the gun went off, I was like a different person,” Murphy said. “I was just so happy to be back there … A switch kind of flipped, and I was just trying to enjoy it.”

Murphy finished fifth overall in the 10,000 meter with a time of 32 minutes, 53.30 seconds.

Now, she is back at the championship meet, she last competed in it in 2024. She will race in the 10,000 meter final on Thursday (7:56 p.m.) in a competitive heat. New Mexico sophomore Pamela Kosgei, the defending national champion in the event, qualified for this year’s race and is looking to defend her title.

But Murphy, who is running her final meet as a Quaker, is not letting her nerves get the best of her.

“I’ve surprised myself before,” Murphy said. “I think just being able to test the waters but also just go out there and give it my all and see how far I can go against this competition — there’s something uniquely exciting about that.”

Unless Matulonis advances to the final, Kam will be the last Quaker to compete in Eugene. The high jump final is slated for Friday (4:30 p.m.).

Like Murphy, the meet will mark Kam’s last at Penn. The six-time Singapore national high jump record holder graduated from the Wharton School three weeks ago. With the majority of his teammates and friends leaving campus, Kam has been looking for new motivation leading up to the national championship.

“It’s been four good years, and just to see some of my friends leave it kind of like — not drains you, but it just makes you feel not I don’t know what my purpose is, but just how can I keep going [if] I don’t see them anymore? It does affect you a little bit that way. But definitely super happy to make it to finals after regionals, and just have one last dance with the team.”

In Lexington, Kam defied projections. Clearing a 2.16-meter bar, he finished fifth overall in the meet despite being ranked 11 in the region going into the meet.

Through four years, Kam has put together an impressive career. Friday will mark his third consecutive appearance in the meet, but he has yet to take home a championship.