Winston-Salem State Track Wins CIAA Title

The repeat also gives the Rams their fifth CIAA outdoor championship in program history. Winston-Salem State previously won outdoor titles in 2017, 2019, 2022 as co-champions, 2025, and now 2026. That run shows the program has moved beyond a single strong season and into a true championship window.

Rams Used Depth To Win A Close Meet

Winston-Salem State entered the final day in second place after Fayetteville State led the opening day of competition. The Rams had 56 points after day one, trailing Fayetteville State’s 59.26. But they stayed close enough to make a move on day two.

That move came through balance. Winston-Salem State collected points across sprints, hurdles, distance, jumps, throws, and relays. The Rams finished the championship with eight podium finishes, giving head coach Antonio Wells the kind of team performance needed to repeat.

Wells was named Women’s Coach of the Year after leading Winston-Salem State to back-to-back CIAA outdoor titles. That honor reflected not only the final score, but also how the Rams handled pressure. Repeating is never easy. Every team knows who the defending champion is, and every point becomes harder to earn when the target is on your back.

For Winston-Salem State, the championship was not about sneaking up on anyone. It was about defending the standard the program set last season.

Rainn Sheppard Helped Lead The Charge

Rainn Sheppard delivered one of the biggest individual performances of the meet for Winston-Salem State. On day one, she won the 1500 meters with a season-best and school-record time of 4:31.94. That performance gave the Rams an early lift and showed that Sheppard was ready for a championship-stage weekend.

Sheppard kept producing on day two, winning the 800 meters with a time of 2:09.75. Those two victories gave Winston-Salem State critical points in the distance events and helped keep the Rams in position as the team race tightened.

Her performance mattered beyond the points. School records at championship meets create momentum. They also remind the rest of the field that the team is not just trying to survive the meet. It is pushing the standard higher while chasing a title.

For a program defending its crown, Sheppard’s weekend gave Winston-Salem State a major spark.

Long Jump And Hurdles Added Key Points

The Rams also made a major statement in the long jump. Lanyjah Gunter won the event with a mark of 5.93 meters, while Charnessa Reid finished second with the same mark. That one-two finish gave Winston-Salem State a huge boost in the field events and showed the depth that made the difference across the meet.

Reid also added points in the hurdles and high jump. She finished second in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.09 and placed fourth in the high jump. Layla Simpson added more value with a sixth-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles and a seventh-place finish in the triple jump.

Those performances are the kind that win conference championships. They may not all become viral moments, but they stack points. In track and field, that is the formula. One athlete wins an event. Another finishes second. Someone else grabs sixth. Together, those results build a championship total.

Sprints And Relays Kept The Rams In Control

Winston-Salem State also got important sprint points from Asheika Smith, Olivia Cosby, Leigh Wills, and Brianna Benloss. Smith finished third in the 400 meters with a time of 55.77. Cosby followed in fourth, while Wills added another point-scoring finish in eighth.

Benloss placed third in the 100 meters with a time of 11.97 and later finished fifth in the 200 meters with a season-best time of 24.81. In a championship meet where Claflin was close behind, those sprint points mattered.

The Rams also earned a second-place finish in the 4×400 relay. The quartet of Cosby, Sheppard, Jaynissa Cauthen, and Smith crossed in 3:47.07, giving Winston-Salem State another key podium result.

Cauthen added another major individual finish in the 400-meter hurdles, taking second with a time of 1:02.31. That result helped the Rams keep pressure on the rest of the field late in the meet.

Field Events Helped Seal The Championship

Winston-Salem State’s throws group also contributed to the title push. Leila Henderson finished second in the discus with a mark of 43.40 meters. Kaylee Thomas added a seventh-place finish in the same event, helping the Rams gain points outside of the running events.

Henderson also scored in the shot put, finishing eighth with a mark of 12.21 meters. Maeghan Wallace added an eighth-place finish in the javelin. Those results show how complete the Rams were across the championship.

Track fans often focus on sprints and relays, but conference titles are won everywhere. The Rams needed points from throws, jumps, hurdles, mid-distance, and relays. They got them.

That balance is why Winston-Salem State was able to hold off Claflin, which stayed close throughout the meet. It also explains why the Rams have become so difficult to beat in the CIAA.

A Bigger Moment For HBCU Women’s Track

The Winston-Salem State track title is also a strong moment for HBCU athletics. Women’s track and field programs across the CIAA continue to produce elite athletes, strong team races, and championship moments that deserve more visibility.

HBCU track often does not get the same attention as football or basketball, but the level of competition is real. Athletes train through long indoor and outdoor seasons, balancing academics, travel, injuries, and pressure while representing their schools. Championship weekends are the reward for that work.

For Winston-Salem State, this repeat title adds another chapter to the university’s athletic tradition. The Rams have built a program that can win in multiple ways. They can score in the sprints. They can win distance races. They can dominate jumps. They can get points from throws and relays. That kind of full-team strength is hard to create and even harder to maintain.

Winston-Salem State Keeps Building A Standard

Back-to-back championships create a new expectation. Winston-Salem State is no longer just chasing the top of the CIAA. The Rams are defending it.

That is the real story behind the 2026 championship. The Rams did not need a perfect meet to win. They needed a complete meet. They needed athletes to answer in every event group. They needed leadership from their coaching staff and competitive focus from athletes who knew the team race would come down to small margins.

They delivered.

Winston-Salem State track now leaves Petersburg with another CIAA trophy, another Coach of the Year honor for Wells, and another reminder that the Rams’ women’s outdoor program is one of the conference’s strongest. After winning in 2025 and repeating in 2026, the question is no longer whether Winston-Salem State can reach the top. The question is how long the Rams can stay there.