Blue Demons Split for Three-Meet Weekend in Florida, Illinois

Thursday, April 9

Elmhurst, Ill.

DePaul University

Chicagoland Championships

Blue Demons Split for Three-Meet Weekend in Florida, Illinois

4/8/2026 4:32:00 PM | TRACK AND FIELD

Elmhurst, Miami, South Florida host meets Apr. 9-11

FLORIDA/ILLINOIS – After a week away from competition, DePaul track and field returns in full force this weekend, splitting for three separate meets, two in Florida and one in Illinois, to open the second half of the outdoor season.

The Blue Demons travel to the Chicagoland Outdoor Championships in Elmhurst, Ill. (Apr. 9-11), the Hurricane Alumni Invitational in Coral Gables, Fla. (Apr. 10-11), and the South Florida Invitational in Tampa, Fla. (Apr. 10-11). Live results, schedules and more can be found here.

The Story So Far
DePaul has made a strong impression through two meets to open the outdoor season. At the UCF Black & Gold Invitational (Mar. 20-21), Alex Bernstein won the hammer throw with a personal-best 68.00m, Jaiden Gary placed second in the shot put (17.60m), and Katelyn Welsh established DePaul's first female outdoor pole vault mark (3.57m). On the track, Claire Dunn (54.02, 400m), Demetrius Rolle (10.42, 100m), and Jaiah Hopf (12.45m, triple jump) all turned in standout performances. The weekend produced three BIG EAST weekly honorees in Bernstein, Dunn, and Hopf.

At the Joyce Morton-Keif Invite (Mar. 27-28), the Blue Demons recorded five event victories and a program record. Helen Baumgarten swept the 100m hurdles (13.69) and 200m (24.51), Harper Bryan won the men's 400m hurdles (54.76 PR), Aisha Kazeem took the women's 400m hurdles (1:04.23), and Welsh reset her own program record in the pole vault at 3.83m.

Top-10 Status
Bernstein remains DePaul's lone top-50 NCAA performer after back-to-back hammer throw victories to open the season. His personal-best 68.00m from the UCF opener currently ranks No. 10 nationally and tops the BIG EAST. The graduate student, an 18th-place finisher at the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Championships, will look to push further up the leaderboard this weekend.

Weekend Breakdown (All times in Central Standard Time)
Chicagoland Outdoor Championships | Elmhurst, Ill. | Apr. 9-11 | Elmhurst University
Throws competition opens Thursday at Wheaton College's Lawson Field at 10 a.m. Action shifts to Elmhurst University's facility Friday for field events, distance races, and hurdle prelims, before a full championship running card closes the meet Saturday beginning at 10 a.m.

Hurricane Alumni Invitational | Coral Gables, Fla. | Apr. 10-11 | University of Miami
Field events open Friday at 9 a.m. with the hammer. Saturday's running finals begin at 2 p.m., featuring a full track card from the 4x100 relay through the 4x400 to close. The meet also hosts a full decathlon and heptathlon across both days.

South Florida Invitational | Tampa, Fla. | Apr. 10-11 | USF Track & Field Stadium
The meet splits competition by gender, with men's events Friday and women's Saturday. Field events begin at 9 a.m. each day, with running finals starting at approximately 4 p.m.

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