WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue Track & Field had two athletes, Seamus Malaski (weight throw) and Samuel Vessat (400m), qualify for the 2026 NCAA Indoor Championships held March 13-14 in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Vessat Notes
• Vessat enters the national stage ranked ninth in the 400m after he ran 45.38 in the Big Ten Championships prelims. He ended up finishing fifth in the finals (46.05).
• The prelims performance set a French short track national record, broke his own Purdue record and set a new Fall Creek Pavilion facility record. It was also the No. 9 all-time short track 400m performance by a European-born runner.
• In his first season as a Boilermaker, Vessat is poised to become Purdue’s second indoor 400m All-American joining Brian Faust (2020-21). Faust finished 12th in 2021 and was declared an All-American in 2020 due to the NCAA Indoor Championship meet cancellation due to COVID-19. Al Washington was a 440-yard dash All-American in 1965 and took fourth.
• Vessat is competing in his first indoor track season after he spent two years playing basketball at Division II Edward Waters. He was an 18th-place finisher in the 400m at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships last season.
• He is one of four Big Ten runners to qualify for nationals in the 400m joining Penn State’s Jake Palermo, Ohio State’s Edidiong Udo and USC’s Jack Stadlman.
Malaski Notes
• Malaski qualified for his first collegiate national competition after his Big Ten bronze medal-winning 22.52m (73-10.75) in the weight throw to hold the No. 14 position.
• He is the only freshman or redshirt freshman to qualify in the weight throw and is just one of two underclassmen, joined by Tennessee’s Aidan Ifkovits.
• The Crown Point, Indiana native continues Purdue’s rich history of success in the weight throw as he is putting together the 10th All-American campaign in the event. Most notably, Olympian Chukwuebuka Enekwechi was a four-time All-American in the event from 2013-16.
• He narrowly missed also qualifying for the national meet in the shot put after he finished No. 18 in the country.
• Along with his bronze medal in the weight throw, Malaski also finished fifth in the shot put at Big Tens. He was the only athlete to score points in both events.
Next Up
After nationals concludes, Purdue turns its attention to the outdoor season beginning March 20-21 at the USF Alumni Invitational in Tampa, Florida.
