Colorado Springs, CO – Austin Peay State University (APSU)’s Tahmar Upshaw has been designated as an NCAA Elite Athlete for the 2026-27 academic year, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee announced.
The designation comes through the Elite Athlete Pathway Project, created to identify and remove obstacles faced by elite student-athletes who train and compete both collegiately and internationally.
Through Division I legislation passed in 2020, elite student-athletes may receive additional developmental training expenses from the USOPC, national governing bodies or their respective national Olympic committee, including travel for parents, guardians, coaches, training partners and sport experts. Those same elite athletes also may work out with coaching staff members without it counting against time limits, but only if the workout is initiated by the student and doesn’t cause missed class time.
The legislation reflects a priority of the USOPC Collegiate Advisory Council — a 12-member council comprising administrators and Team USA athletes — to identify and remove impediments faced by elite student-athletes who are developing, training and competing both collegiately and internationally. Before the Division I Council approved the legislation in 2020, more than 300 national team athletes, coaches and national governing body administrators identified key impediments and worked with compliance leaders to develop legislative remedies in three main areas: training flexibility, elite development resource access and Paralympic inclusion.
The legislation also underscores the commitment of the NCAA and its members to increasing opportunities in Olympic and Paralympic sports. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games — held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic — more than 1,000 current and former student-athletes from all three divisions competed for more than 100 countries. College sports are especially valuable to Team USA. Nearly 80% of Team USA’s Olympic medalists competed in the NCAA. Sixty-five U.S. Paralympians in Tokyo (more than 25% of the 2020 U.S. Paralympic team) competed collegiately as members of NCAA programs, including 30% of U.S. Paralympic medalists.
Most recently, Upshaw finished second at the 2026 Toyota USATF Para National Championships, July 25, in New York. He raced a 3:52.75 at the meet, the second-fastest mark of his career and just six hundredths of a second off his career-best
Upshaw broke the T46 1500M Americas record at the USATF LA Grand Prix, June 13th. He posted a 3:52.69 in Los Angeles, surpassing the previous record of 3:54.43 set by Brazil’s Alex Pres da Silva, October 22nd, 2015.
The April 24 USATF Athlete of the Week – the first Governor to ever earn the honor – Upshaw, also became the first known world record holder in Austin Peay State University Athletics history, racing a 1:48.80 in the 800-meter at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, California, April 17th. That mark bested the previous world record of 1:51.82 held by Australia’s Hunter Matzinger at the 2012 London Paralympic Games. It also is just 8.11 seconds off Kenya’s David Rudisha during the 2012 London Olympic Games.
A Murfreesboro native, Upshaw also led the APSU men’s cross country team across its final five meets of the 2025 season while also pacing the team in its 2026 season opener, September 4th.
Upshaw joined the Governors prior to the 2025-26 academic year, transferring from Middle Tennessee where he did not compete in intercollegiate athletics. Upshaw began his collegiate career at Cumberland, where he spent his freshman and sophomore seasons from 2022-24, winning six events during his time with the Phoenix.
