Cincinnati will send three Bearcats to compete in Eugene
June 03, 2024
Henry Lenhardt Assistant, Communications and Strategic Brand Engagement
EUGENE, Ore. —University of Cincinnati track and field athletes freshman Juliette Laracuente-Huebner and juniors Dominique Hall and Abby Knouff will head to Eugene, Ore., for the 2024 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships this week.
Combined event athletes Hall and Laracuente-Huebner will compete in the men's decathlon and women's heptathlon, respectively, while Knouff will compete in the pole vault.
// 2024 NCAA OUTDOOR TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS (June 5-8)
The 2024 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships will be held at Historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., from June 5 to 8.
The men's decathlon will begin on Wednesday and conclude on Thursday, while the women's heptathlon will start on Friday and end on Saturday. The women's pole vault competition will be held on Thursday at 7 p.m. The complete meet schedule can be found here.
Fans can watch the Championships on the ESPN family of networks. The first three days of the meet (June 5-7) will be aired on ESPN2, while Saturday's coverage will air on ESPN.
Fans can also follow along with all the action from Oregon via live results found here.
// JULIETTE LARACUENTE-HUEBNER
Juliette Laracuente-Huebner (LAIR-a-quen-tay HUEB-ner) has had one of the most dominant freshman seasons in program history. After earning indoor All-America honors in the pentathlon earlier this year, she will now make her first appearance at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the heptathlon.
The Marengo, Ohio native qualified for the championship meet after breaking the school heptathlon record with a score of 5637 points at the Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championships, where she finished fourth overall.
Her score is tied for the 18th-best point total in the NCAA this season,and she will be the only freshman entered in the heptathlon at the meet.
To put into perspective how dominant she has been this past year, Laracuente-Huebner qualified for the NCAA East First Rounds in three other separate events, but chose to just focus solely on the heptathlon. The three other events in which she qualified were: long jump (23rd, 6.25m), triple jump (34th, 12.70m) and high jump (45th, 1.76m).
Laracuente-Huebner's name also appears multiple times throughout the UC outdoor record book. In addition to holding the school record in the heptathlon, she currently ranks third in the long jump, fifth in the triple jump and ninth in the high jump.
Making history has been nothing new for the freshman as she will be the third Bearcat woman in program history to compete in the heptathlon at the NCAA Outdoor Championships and the first since Jasmine Cotten did in 2012. Laracuente-Huebner also has a chance to join Ashley Wilhelm as the only Bearcats to ever earn All-America honors in the event. Wilhelm earned second-team honors in 2007
// DOMINIQUE HALL
Dominique Hall will head to the NCAA Championships for the first time in his career after qualifying in the men's decathlon.
Hall punched his ticket to Eugene after recording the second-best decathlon score in program history (7649) after battling lengthy weather delays at the Big 12 Championships. He was the UC men's highest podium finisher at the Big 12 Championship, as he placed second overall.
He enters the competition ranked 16th in the nation and will be the first Bearcat to compete in the decathlon since Damien Berthenet did in 2021. The last Bearcat to earn All-American honors in the decathlon is current associate head coach Chris Wineberg (2004).
// ABBY KNOUFF
Abby Knouff (Nuff) has a chance to become the first Bearcat woman ever to earn outdoor All-America honors in the pole vault after she advanced out the NCAA East First Round last week.
She will head to the NCAA Championships ranked 16th in the country. At the East First Rounds she placed fifth overall after clearing an outdoor personal best mark of 4.30m / 14' 1.25". Her new outdoor best mark is the second-best bar clearance in program history. Knouff broke the indoor school record this past season, clearing a bar height of 4.32m / 14' 2".
The Tallmadge, Ohio native earned All-Big 12 honors in the pole vault as she placed fifth overall at the Big 12 championships,
Knouff qualified for the NCAA Championships last season but did not compete. She will be the first Bearcat to compete in the pole vault at championships since Alyssa McBride did in 2016.
In total, 39 different Bearcats have earned 75 All-America honors since 1964, 40 of which have occurred at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
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