Hein, McNeilly capture national titles in historic weekend for Centre Track & Field

Last weekend, juniors Chloe Hein and Serena McNeilly wrote their names into Centre Athletics history at the 2026 NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships.

McNeilly claimed national titles in both the pentathlon and the high jump, and Hein won the long jump championship.

"This is a historic moment for Centre Athletics," said Director of Athletics Brad Fields. "Chloe and Serena have worked incredibly hard, and to see them both standing on top of the podium at the NCAA Championships is a moment this program will never forget. Hard work, amazing talent, great teaching and some of the best coaches in the country add up to incredible results.”

Hein spent the entire season breaking her school record in the long jump at every single indoor meet. Three national Athlete of the Week awards later, she arrived at the championships as the best long jumper in Division III history, having set the national record in the event just weeks prior.

In the national meet, Hein soared farther than anyone else in the field, and then did it again. And again. She was the only athlete in the championship to reach the 20-foot mark, accomplishing it three times and winning the event by more than a foot.

It was a performance that set a new championship meet record and cemented her place in Division III long jump history.

“When you get to the end of the season, everyone is tired, but they are all doing their best; they are on their game right now, and you have to be too,” Hein said. “To be able to walk away with not only the record, but also the national championship, it is so surreal. I’m going to have goosebumps for the next five days.”
 

McNeilly's road to a national title looked different. Sitting near the bottom of the leaderboard after the first of five events in the pentathlon, a grueling, all-day competition that tests athletes across multiple disciplines (hurdles, high jump, long jump, shot put and 800-meter run), she turned the meet completely around.

She took over in the high jump, setting a new Centre record, then kept building her lead through the long jump and shot put before holding on in the final event to win the pentathlon title. Her winning total broke her previous program record in the event by more than 200 points.

“There were so many incredible moments from this past weekend, and each of them will stay with me forever,” McNeilly said. “If I had to choose one, it would have to be the moment at the end of the 800-meter race, the final event in the pentathlon. After giving everything I had in that race, having my coaches and Chloe run up to me to congratulate me and tell me that I had done enough to win the event is something I will never forget.”

On Day 2, McNeilly stepped onto the track again and won a second national championship, this time in the high jump as an individual event, reaching a mark that matched the program record she had set just the day before.
 

Both athletes also competed in the triple jump to close out the meet. McNeilly set another Centre record and finished as national runner-up, with Hein earning All-America status once again with a 14th-place finish.

By the final event, the two juniors have a combined 18 All-America honors across their collegiate careers: 10 for McNeilly and 8 for Hein.

Both athletes will have their names added to the outer wall of Sutcliffe Hall, reserved for Centre's national champions. None of this happened by accident. Behind every broken record and every bar cleared this season was Champions Hall, Centre’s state-of-the-art center for wellness and athletic excellence, where Hein and McNeilly have trained since its opening in 2024.

"Chloe and Serena showed the entire country what Centre College is capable of,” said Centre President Milton C. Moreland. "When building Champions Hall, we wanted to create an environment where our students are empowered and prepared to compete at the highest level. These accomplishments are exactly what we envision and help students to achieve.”

In just the first three years of the facility, Centre’s Track and Field teams have dominated the national stage. At the first-ever Southern Athletic Association (SAA) indoor meet in February 2024, the men’s and women’s teams claimed conference titles while winning numerous individual events. They repeated their victory in 2025 and continued the streak this year, as the men’s team took first place and the women’s team second.

Last weekend was the latest and greatest proof of what Champions Hall was built to do. Despite fielding just two athletes, Centre's women's track program finished third in the overall team standings at the NCAA Division III Indoor National Championship.

Hein and McNeilly didn't just win national titles. They set a new standard for what is possible in Centre College Athletics.