COSTA MESA – The second dose of NCAA Division II competition has arrived for Vanguard Track & Field, as the Blue and Gold have fortified their ranks for the 2026 season with the largest roster in program history. The 64-player brigade is perfectly balanced between newcomers (32) and returners (32) and aims to refine the building blocks from their inaugural D2 campaign last year.

The Lions closed the 2025 slate with a seventh-place finish on the women's side and an eighth-place finish for the men in the at the Pacific West Conference Championships. The new PacWest landscape offered rekindled rivalries but also newfound adversity amid a different caliber of competition.

"We were ready to take that step forward," started Head Coach Bryan Wilkins, "It was a challenge, yes, but I felt the teams performed well in our first season." Wilkins's inaugural NCAA DII squad set new strides in the Vanguard record books and also graduated longstanding pillars in the program's success in the decade so far.

Luckily, Coach Wilkins and the Lions have refueled the team, adding to its already well-experienced core, forging an inviting narrative for the 2026 season.

"I feel like every single event area in our program is going to have an impact this year, so we're excited."

Time to take a plunge into the deepest Vanguard roster in program history.

SPRINTERS
The last member of the record-breaking 2024 4x400 NAIA National Championship relay team, Elizabeth Betten, will be geared to set the pace one last time in her senior season. Last campaign, Betten's 4x400 relay teams notched top-five finishes in all but one of their outings, which included three first-place nods. The Lions can also expect her to represent well in the 200m event, a stage where she was .04 seconds shy from a new personal-best (24.82) last April.

Betten's joined by sophomore Megan Charley, another key piece to the 4x400 relay team, who clocked in at 3:43.80 to mark the second-fastest Blue and Gold time ever in the event and pin a third-place finish at the PacWest Championships. Individually, Charley's debut season was highlighted at the UC Riverside Classic with a personal-best result in the 800m (2:16:59).

Mary Sawczuk is also back for her junior season, another quality contributor to the VU's relay teams. Sawczuk will look to build off an electric March last season, where she posted PR's in the 800m (2:22.86) and 400m (1:01.90) in back-to-back events.

DISTANCE
Leading the pack are the 2026 captains Hannah Finch and Madyson Nakamura. Having competed in 12 different events in her longstanding career, Coach Wilkins anticipates the "do it all type" Finch will be VU's mainstay in the heptathlon during her senior season, with a possibility to also go after the 400m hurdles. Finch's last heptathlon was a second-place finish (3711) at the GSAC Championships in 2024, and her 400H time of 1:08.36 at the 2025 PacWest Championships was a personal-best race.

Nakamura, meanwhile, claimed top-five finishes last year in the DMR (13:22.96), 5k (18:19.67), and 2 Mile (11:49.73), and this year will focus primarily on the 5k and 10k.

Emily Noyes and Kaitlyn Barragan are another pair of returners in the distance category, both have claiming their best outings at the UC Riverside Spring Classic last March and also packing on personal bests in the Fall Cross Country season. Noyes competed in the 5k (19:43.97) to take sixth at the Classic, while Barragan ran a quickfire 2:45.73 in her only 800m race in during her debut track season.

Adding to the squad depth are returners Sydney Sydney, Jillian Orm, and Giselle Rubio. In total, VU will bring in 10 freshmen and one transfer to the distance team.

Coach Wilkins will also have the 2025 PacWest Freshman of the Year for Cross Country, Ella Murray, who snared the first major award for VU in the program's history after finishing second at the PacWest Championship. Murray was a standout in the 6k and sported a program-best 21:06 at the West Regional.

JUMPERS
Alongside distance, Wilkins believes VU's jump squad will see the most drastic advancements on the women's side.

Sectioning off the main returners is Briana Martin and Kolena Apana. Martin started the Spring with a triad of podium finishes through February. The freshman climbed her highest peaks during the homestretch of meets, PR'ing in triple jump (10.31m) and long jump (5.14m) in successive meets. Apana also had a red-hot start to her collegiate career with first-place finishes in LJ and TP in all three of her first meets, including her PR 5.19m in the long jump in February.

Coach Wilkins also notes that newcomer Kaylee Best is going to be "a high impact performer for [the team] in the long and triple jump," with the freshman out of Norco holding multiple CIF-Southern Section titles, including the first player in Norco High School history to win Big VII league titles in both long and triple jump in the same year. Best was also named a CIF D2 Triple-Jump Champion and was 7th-place finisher at the CIF State Championships in 2024.

THROWERS
The Lions are without the school record hammer (48.38m) and shotput performer Jaelah Butler, but bring back a well-balanced group to follow the path of the Third-Team All PacWest player.

Gimena Hurtado had claim to the highest finish among Lion  returners, locking in second place in shot put (10.25m) at the season-opening OFIDE Challenge in January. Her personal-best mark in the event came a month later, however, delivering a 10.45m throw at the 28th Rossi Relays. Hurtado also finished top 20 in the hammer at the PacWest Championships, PR'ing at 35.05m.

Andrea Espinoza Noriega excelled primarily in shot put and discus, earning a top-four finish three times throughout the season between both events. She PR'd for both shot put (11.09m) and hammer throw (34.25m) in February and peaked her discus prowess at the Pomona Pitzer Invite (39.54m) to take fourth.  

The Lions also have Aaliyah Espinoza back in the fold after an injury-riddled 2025, which limited her action. Espinoza was still able to breach a top 10 finish in discus throw (33.19m) in late March as the senior will look to fire on all cylinders in 2026.
 
MEN'S TEAMS
SPRINTERS AND HURDLES
Coach Wilkins had high remarks for his sprint and hurdle collective for 2026. 

"We're bringing in the most talented men's sprint group we've ever had in program history," beamed Wilkins, "And we've had some good ones."

The 37th year head coach credits the group's depth and adaptivity as the key to balancing their skillsets between sprints and hurdles.

"A great sprinter and even better leader," in Donovan Ralls is back in 2026, standing as one of the two team captains in his sophomore season. Ralls was a dutiful member of the relay teams, but individually made his mark most notably in the 200m and 400m events. He plotted two podium finishes in the 200m, including his personal-best run in February (22.39) at the Soka Indoor Qualifier. As for the 400m, Ralls improved in the event throughout the season, cracking into the sub-50-second club in each of his last two races, which included his 48.80 (seventh in program history) performance at the Pomona Pitzer Invite.

Jonathan Krynicki is another face Wilkins is confident will contribute, as the San Diego native was a frequent force in the 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams. With a competitive heat in his midst, the junior is poised to lay out his best times since his debut season in 2024.

The core of newcomers in the sprint department is spearheaded by the freshman duo of Andre Hackett and Lenier Pitts Jr.

Heckett is a freshman out of Arizona who was a standout at Williams Field High School, clocking in at 10.52 in the 100M, 49.46 in the 400m, and 21.64 in the 200M. Heckett was ranked within the top 10 in the state, closing out his high school career with a third-place finish in the 100m at the Arizona State Championships last May.

Pitts Jr., meanwhile, hails from Compton High school, and was regular atop the pack in the 100m and 200m sprints securing league finalist positions in both events in his junior campaign.

"If we stay healthy, we're confident this team can take down some school records," marks Wilkins.

As far as hurdles go, Vanguard has the sixth-year specialist, in the event Chris Watson at the helm of the group. The graduate student maintains his captaincy with the Blue and Gold, and continues to "excel in the hurdles," his trademark event as Lion faithful have become accustomed to. Coach Wilkins did share, however, that the Hesperia native is "going to have a big presence in the multi-events" for Vanguard, perhaps even suiting up for his first decathlon. Watson was a primary figure for VU in the multis back in his junior season in 2023, where he was the Westmont Sunshine Open Heptathlon champion (4287).

Another key returner is Cohen Swift , who found his groove in the event as the season drew on. Swift's breakthrough performance in the 400m hurdles came in mid-April, with his personal-best time of 57.55 netting him the fourth-best VU-time in program history.
In addition, VU brings on another two to three new hurdlers, with Joab Vela "being a guy who [Wilkins] thinks will have an immediate impact" despite being a freshman. Vela is from  Murrieta, where he ran the Inland Empire Conference, setting school records at Vista Murrieta in the 110m hurdles (14.12) and coming in at 40.46 for the 300m hurdles. Closing out some more notable freshman names is Robert Torrez, a 110m hurdles champion at Mater Dei during his high school career.

DISTANCE
The Lions will be reinforced by a large sample of returners and cross-country participants from the fall. Among these come well-known faces to the program such as Cooper Anderson, Ommar Arroyo, Jesse O'Campo, Josiah Kirby, Caleb Dickerson, and Rylan Starnes. The group presents various strengths depending on the event and will use the push of a solid cross-country season to set a course in the spring. Arroyo and Kirby were among the top finishers at last year's PacWest Championships, with Arroyo taking sixth (9:41.44) and Kirby claiming 13th (10:28.26) in the 3000m steeplechase event.

Isaiah Feaver's versatility in the 4x400 and the 800m will continue to be of use for the Blue and Gold. Feaver's rapid progression in the 800m was notable in the season's conclusion, as he cracked under two minutes in both his last two races, including his personal-best 1:57.25 run in the 800m.

JUMPERS
The jump team sees a sizable set of additions but does bring back Trevor Bode and Zachary Velasco. Bode returns as a regular in the long jump event, where he placed second in his debut event last year and cleared 6.30m for his farthest leap in mid-February. Velasco will also return to the landing pits after adding long jump to his event docket midway through the 2025 season.

Speaking of hops, the Lions also welcome Beau Swett, the 6'2" transfer out of Clark College, who was a dual sport athlete competing in both basketball and track and field. Swett never finished below fifth across all events during his track season last year. He was first in the high jump (1.98m) in his collegiate debut and took third place at the NWAC championships in long jump (6.76m) in May.

VU also adds Deyton Ford from Riverside City College. Time will tell how the Lions will utilize his services; however, as the transfer can show out both in sprints and also in the long jump.  Rounding out some newcomers are the El Diamante High School record holder in pole vault (11ft), Landon Ashford and the multi-sport high school athlete (Football / Volleyball / Basketball / Track & Field), Addison Altermatt who will suit up for high jump.

THROWERS
A newer cast forms the bunch, with another Riverside City product in Jack Slavin, coming into the mix. Slavin is a seasoned competitor with experience in pole vault, shot put and javelin throw to name a few. Last year he competed in four decathlons showcasing his ability to maintain a high standard in a wide range of events.  Freshman Blake Bazaldua is another welcome addition, competing as a javelin thrower at Riverside Christian.

COACHING STAFF
With the departure of longtime coach Johnny Deryeghiayan, VU leans into the services of Josh Cagwin, who has gone above and beyond since his arrival in the fall.

"Obviously, we miss Johnny, but Josh has done an amazing job," started Coach Wilkins, "He's picked up the pieces so quickly, and he's developing a great rapport with the athletes. He's been helping with administrative work, coaching the sprinters, and is also leading the programming for the hybrids and multi-event athletes as well."

VU also sees a familiar face in Kate Baranski, who graduated in December, trade out her spikes for trainers as she joins the volunteer staff for the Spring.

SCHEDULE
Vanguard's 2026 schedule offers a more local appeal with 8 of the 12 meets being within 45 minutes of campus, two of which are just 20 minutes away. The Lions start with the Rustbuster Meet on Jan 31, a one on three setup with partner programs Westmont and The Masters filling out the tri-meet.

"It's a great chance for us to get familiar with these teams and shake off some rust. Those programs are so similar to us in terms of missions and values, and I love that we'll connect early on in the season." The trifecta of the teams used to square off frequently in their NAIA days for GSAC titles.

Next is a trip to Claremont for the OIDFE Challenge on the first Saturday of February (7th), then a date with the Soka Indoor Events meet in Aliso Viejo on Valentines Day, and a return to Claremont at the Carl Rossi Relays (Feb. 28) to end the calendar month.

"The first four meets are unique, in that it's the 'indoor event season' even though we're competing on outdoor tracks," shared Wilkins. "But we get to do some unique indoor events like the 60m dash, 60m hurdles, the 600, the 1k, the mile, the DMR, the 4x800."

The Lions take a two-week hiatus before the Occidental Invitational on March 14. Then it's the RCC Open in Riverside and a chance for the multi-athletes to shine with the  Jim Klein/Barbara Nwaba Decathlon-Heptathlon at Westmont on March 26.

The outdoor season rolls through with a short trek to UCI for a two-day event to finish March, then Vanguard features in two more meets (Moorpark Open, Apr. 3 / Pomona Pitzer-Invitational, Apr. 11 ) before they take center stage with the PacWest Championships in San Diego (Apr. 23-25).

"We want to climb up the ladder," stated Wilkins, "I don't feel like top five is out of the question for this group."

Above all else, the new cast of Lions are ready to maintain the tradition of a Christ-based culture within the fibers of the program.

"We really want to rally around our theme of joy this season. Continue to keep Christ at the center of everything we do. Radiate joy, regardless of if our performances come up short of expectation or goals, we want to be full of the joy of Christ all year long."

There's plenty of joy to go around as the Blue and Gold spring off to the races January 31 at the Rustbuster Meet in Santa Barbara.