SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – Shippensburg University All-American Josh Herbster '22/'23M has accepted an invitation to compete in the hammer throw Thursday night at the 2026 USA Track & Field (USATF) Outdoor National Championships.
 
Competition will take place at 8:05 p.m. at Icahn Stadium, which is located on Randalls Island in Manhattan.
 
Broadcast coverage of this year's championships will be held on live and on demand through NBC and USATF.TV – links are available at https://www.usatf.org/events/2026/2026-toyota-usatf-outdoor-para-national-championsh.
 
Herbster's qualifying mark of 227 feet, 3 inches (69.28 meters) afforded him the chance to accept one of the 16 invitationals to compete at this year's USATF Outdoor National Championships. That mark was achieved just nine days ago at the 22nd Annual Long & Strong Throwers Classic, a meet orchestrated by former Raider assistant coach and SU Hall of Famer Glenn Thompson '85.
 
Herbster competes professionally as a member of the New Day Track Club, which is directed by Raider All-American shot putter Grant Smith. He has also worked with Adam Thielemann, a former Penn State thrower who coached Herbster at Cumberland Valley High School.
 
As a collegian, Herbster developed into a two-time NCAA All-American and conference record holder in the hammer under the direction of current throws coach Alison Freas – who herself was a two-time NCAA All-American in the event as a Kutztown thrower.
 
His record-setting senior season included a third-place finish in the hammer throw at the 2024 NCAA Division II Men's Outdoor Track & Field National Championships and resulted in two major postseason awards: the 2024 U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Atlantic Region Men's Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year and the 2024 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Men's Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year.
 
Overall, spanning outdoor and indoor track & field, Herbster completed his Raider career as a nine-time USTFCCCA All-Atlantic Region award winner, a 17-time PSAC Championships place winner, an eight-time All-PSAC (Top 3) performer, and a five-time PSAC Champion (four times outdoors in the hammer throw, once indoors in the weight throw).
 
Herbster earned his bachelor's degree in biology (with an ecology, environmental and conversation concentration) from Shippensburg, graduating cum laude in May 2022. He later earned his master's degree in biology from Shippensburg in May 2023.
 
His career bio is available at https://shipraiders.com/sports/mens-track-and-field/roster/josh-herbster/12688.
 
PSAC Notes: Herbster is not the only individual with PSAC ties who will be competing at the 2026 USATF Championships. Slippery Rock throws coach Jordan Geist will be competing earlier Thursday (12:15 p.m.) in the men's shot put finals. Geist, a two-time NCAA Division I shot put national champion at Arizona, is among the Top 3 seeds in this year's competition. A Western Pennsylvania native, Geist is the son of SRU Hall of Fame throwers and current volunteer assistant coaches Jim and Judy Geist. Herbster finished one qualification spot ahead of current Bloomsburg University assistant coach Marcus Disbrow, who was a standout thrower collegiately at Lock Haven.