Men's Track & Field Team Heading to National Championships for The First Time

For the first time, the UNT Dallas men’s track & field team is competing on the national stage. Student-athletes in the 4x100 and 4x400 meter relays secured their spot in the NAIA Track & Field Championships, which will be held next month in North Carolina.

“Competing at the national level is a challenge and an opportunity for this team," said head coach Darvis "Doc" Patton. "They’ve shown amazing talent, grit and commitment throughout the season and it’ll be no different at the NAIA Championships. We are thrilled and optimistic."

The Trailblazers' milestone follows historic, record-breaking performances at the Red River Athletic Conference Championships last week in New Orleans, in which the program won:

• Its first conference championship ever – in the 4x100
• The first two gold medals ever – in the 4x100 and long jump
• Seven all-conference awards for individual finishes

Several UNT Dallas track & field program records were broken and many personal records and season-best times were set.

Bryson Mcrae became the first men's track & field athlete to win a conference postseason event, as he won the long jump with a record-breaking mark of 7.24m.

The winning 4x100 relay team of Jackson Danner, Ernest Ayanugo, Markevian White and Ben Perin ran a 40.91 time, just 0.03 seconds shy of the program record of 40.88 set on April 11 at the War Hawk Classic.

The 4x400m relay team of Jahaden Jackson, Devin Page, Ben Perin and Ernest Ayanugo ran a 3:13:15 time.

This was the first Red River Athletic Conference Championships in which UNT Dallas track & field competed; the university joined the RRAC last year.

New Head Coach, New Heights

This is also the first season for Trailblazers cross country and track & field head coach Darvis “Doc” Patton, who joined UNT Dallas Athletics last year.

“It’s a privilege to coach at UNT Dallas. We’ve made remarkable progress and I’m incredibly proud of our student-athletes," said Patton. "Their performance this season has been outstanding. The best is yet to come for our track & field program.”

Patton is a three-time Olympian and two-time world champion sprinter, as well as a talented horizontal jumper. A two-time Olympic silver medalist, two-time World Championship Gold medalist, and World Championship silver medalist, Patton also has 10 NCAA All-American titles to his credit during his time TCU.

Patton is a DFW native and graduated from Lake Highlands High School in Dallas.

Recently, Athletics named two new assistant coaches to the Cross Country and Track & Field program: Tenisha Jones and Cedric Stewart. Jones was named Director of Operations, while Stewart was named Recruiting Coordinator. Both have extensive coaching experience and a deep passion for collegiate sports.

National Championships In Sight

The NAIA competition will be held May 20-22, 2026, at Karl Straus Track in Asheville, North Carolina, on the campus of UNC Asheville.

NAIA Track & Field is not a bracketed tournament. Teams don't earn seeds and aren't placed into a draw. Instead, the team national title is decided by points scored across all events at the championship meet.

Athletes qualify individually, then are seeded by mark/time within events. For relays, schools qualify as a unit based on the team's season-best time, again ranked against the field.

Before nationals, the track & field team will compete in two other meets: The SMU Invite on May 2 in Dallas and the Trinity Last Chance in San Antonio on May 9.

Campus Honors

Earlier this month, members of the men’s and women’s track & field and cross-country teams were among student-athletes honored in the university’s annual Campus Awards ceremony and banquet, part of the “Blazer Days” activities.

The track team members recognized were:

Most Valuable Player 
Men's Recipient – Santos Vega
Women's Recipient – Naomi Peregrina

Character 
Men's Recipient – Devin Page
Women's Recipient – Rebekah Muños

Performance 
Men's Recipients – Major McGill IV,  Skylar Evans
Women's Recipient – Madison Blanch

Newcomer of the Year 
Men's Recipient – Korey Grant
Women's Recipient – Quintasia Isby

Honorable Mention  
Men's Recipients – Ernest Ayanugo, Keilond Wright
Women's Recipient – Jarina Williams

RRAC All-Conference – Placed top 15 at RRAC Championships 
Men's Recipient – Santos Vega
Women's Recipients – Naomi Peregrina / Madison Blanch

Season of Success

The 2025-26 season has been one of incredible success for the track & field team and individual student-athletes – both men and women. Here are some of the additional highlights and achievements:

• Ashli Barron won the 100m and 200m at the RRAC Championships, as she became the first women's track athlete to win multiple conference titles
• Madison Blanch performed in two events for the first time at the Bill Schmidt Invitational held at UNT in Denton. Blanch set UNTD records on the high jump (1.29m) and javelin throw (19.88)

With less than a month until the men’s track & field team is in the national spotlight, everyone from the student-athletes to the coaches to the Athletic leadership is focused. “We are literally making history right now,” said Keenah Lambert, Athletics General Manager. “Everyone on campus should know, so we can send them off to nationals with an elevated fan base.”

So be ready. You’ll be hearing a lot more about our Trailblazer track athletes in the days and weeks to come!

Be sure to follow the team on Instagram, X and untdathletics.com.