Abaka-Amuah, McGovern and Palmer Selected to Compete at NCAA First Round

INDIANAPOLIS – Senior throwers Yoofi Abaka-Amuah (Worcester, Mass.) and Liam McGovern (North Kingstown, R.I.) and freshman jumper Ethan Palmer (Bowdoin, Maine) of the University of New Hampshire men's track & field team have been selected to compete at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field East First Round that will be held May 27-30 at the University of Kentucky.

The announcement was made Thursday by the NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Track and Field and Cross Country Championships sub-committee.

Abaka-Amuah will compete in both the hammer and shot put. McGovern joins him in the hammer and Palmer is in the triple jump. In chronological order, hammer is scheduled for May 27 at 10am, shot put is May 27 at 6:30pm, and triple jump is May 29 at 6pm.

The First Round is split into two regions – East and West; both regions have 48 competitors in every event. The top 12 finishers from both the East and West advance to the national championship meet June 10-13 at the University of Oregon.

"I'm very excited to see what our student-athletes will do on a national stage. Go 'Cats!" said Anna Magle-Haberek, the director of the women's and men's track & field and cross country programs.

Abaka-Amuah, who missed qualifying for the NCAA indoor national championship meet by one place, enters the First Round ranked 13^th in the East in the shot put and 27^th in the hammer.

He has excelled through the 2026 outdoor season and broke the school record in the shot put with a mark of 18.92 meters (62 feet-1 inch) at the UNH Wildcat Invitational on April 25. Abaka-Amuah also recorded a personal-best throw of 52.65m (172-9) in the discus at that meet.

Abaka-Amuah earned a total of 22 team points at the 2026 America East Outdoor Track &
Field Championships, which were held May 9-10, with a gold medal in the shot put and bronze medal in both the hammer and discus. It was a half-point behind the top scoring men's athlete at the meet.

Abaka-Amuah won the conference shot put title for the second consecutive year with a throw of 18.85 meters (61 feet-10.25 inches). He led from start to finish after recording a mark of 17.26m in the first round and became the eighth man to win back-to-back America East shot put titles.

Earlier that day, Abaka-Amuah was the top 'Cat and third overall in the discus at 51.32m (168-4). On the first day of the conference meet, he recorded a personal-best effort of 65.03m (215-1) on his last hammer throw and finished in third place.

He has been named America East Male Field Performer of the Week twice during the 2026 outdoor season. Earlier this month, Abaka-Amuah was announced as a nominee for the America East Man of the Year award and received UNH's prestigious Jim Urquhart Outstanding Student-Athlete award.

This is the second consecutive year Abaka-Amuah will compete at the outdoor First Round. He finished 37^th in the shot put in 2025, when the meet was held at the University of North Florida (Jacksonville, Fla.).

McGovern, who has been a hammer (outdoor) and weight throw (indoor) specialist, enters the East region ranked 16^th in the hammer with a personal-best mark of 66.60m (218-6) at the America East Championships – he became only the second man to win three consecutive hammer titles.

McGovern has competed at seven meets during the 2026 outdoor season and has won the hammer event six times – he was runner-up at the Virginia Challenge.

He demonstrated the ability to excel under pressure at the America East meet, where he sat atop the standings from the second through fifth rounds and topped 65 meters for the first time in his career with a mark of 65.16m on his fifth attempt. The second-to-last competitor ascended to the top of the standings on his final throw but McGovern responded immediately with his best-ever hammer throw to win the event.

McGovern has topped 64 meters eight times this season, including two efforts better than 65 meters – his fifth and sixth throws at the conference championships.

This is the third consecutive year McGovern has advanced to the First Round. He placed 26^th in the hammer last year and did not record a mark in 2024.

Palmer enters the First Round ranked 38^th in the triple jump with a mark of 15.51m (50-10.75). That effort, which earned second place at the America East Championships, is longer than the school record of 50-5 but did not officially enter the record book because it was not wind legal with a +2.4 meter/second wind (must be less than +2.0).

Palmer also had leaps of 15.36m (+1.5) in the fourth round and 15.25m (+0.4) in the second at the conference meet. His second-best effort was only one-quarter inch short of the school record.

It was Palmer's second silver medal at the America East Championships. He was also runner-up in the long jump with a personal-best leap of 7.37m (24-2.25).

Palmer competed in the triple jump four times during the outdoor season. He won the event at the first two outdoor meets – the Jaylin Rainford Invitational (at Bryant University) and the UNH Jim Boulanger Invitational. The rookie also placed 11^th in the triple jump at the Virginia Challenge.

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