Charlotte 4x400M Men Set New Record At The 2026 NCAA Men’s And Women’s Track And Field East First Round
A second program record fell this week at the 2026 NCAA Men’s and Women’s Track and Field East First Round on Friday as Charlotte’s men returned to action on day three at the University of Kentucky Track and Field Facility, where the 4x400m relay team capped off the night by blazing a time of 3:03.71 to set a new top mark for the second time during the 2026 outdoor season.
Having previously combined for a then-record time of 3:04.77 at the Florida Relays in April, the quartet of Tal Hamel, Chase Harrison, Jordan Polk-Webb, and Michael Rice Jr. returned to action together for the first time since Gainesville to shatter that finish by over a second with a new best of 3:03.71 in the final event on Friday. Entering the East First Round seeded 19/24, the Charlotte unit would finish 15th among the men’s field in Lexington, missing a top-12 berth and ticket to Eugene, Oregon for the NCAA Outdoor Championships by just .54 of a second.
A new top mark on the program leaderboard is a fitting end to the season for the group of Hamel, Harrison, Polk-Webb, and Rice Jr., which owns both the indoor and outdoor program records along with winning the 2026 American Conference Indoor crown in the 4x400m.
The men’s throwers were also in action on Friday in the discus, where all three of Gates Hinton, Junior Payton-Kimble, and Jahnaul Ritzie took part. Ritzie was Charlotte’s top finisher on the day, coming in at 32nd with a distance of 53.16m (174’5″) after entering the competition seeded 36/48; Payton-Kimble matched his seed by finishing 35th thanks to a toss of 52.26mm(171’5″). Hinton finished the afternoon 45th, his first throw traveling 50.30m (165’0″) after coming in seeded at ninth.