Providence, R.I.—Rhode Island College freshman Naibel Noriega (Providence, R.I.) was named the Little East Women's Rookie Track Athlete of the Year for her performance during the 2026 outdoor campaign.
 
She earned First Team All-Little East honors with first place finishes in both the 400m (57.28; personal best) and 4x100m relay (48.10; personal best) and earned Second Team All-Little East honors with a second place finish in the 4x400m relay (4:00.99; personal best) at the Little East Championship on April 25. Noriega was also a Little East All-Rookie Team honoree in the 400m. She also finished ninth in the 200m (26.54).
 
She finished first in both the 400m (58.48) and the 4x100m relay (48.60) at Eastern Connecticut's Bonnie Edmondson Classic on April 18. Noriega finished fourth in the 200m (25.78) and sixth in the 400m (58.72) at Southern New Hampshire's Ed Daniels Invitational on April 11. She finished fourth in the 4x100m relay (49.28) at Bryant's Ocean State Cup on April 4.
 
Noriega finished third in the 200m (25.78) and fourth in the 100m (12.72) at Bryant's Jaylin Rainford Invitational on March 27. She finished fifth in the 4x400m relay (4:01.81), 10th in the 400m (58.67), 12th in the 4x100m relay (48.95) and 36th in the 200m (25.88; personal best) and 42nd in the 100m preliminaries (12.56; personal best) at the Alan Connie Invitational on March 20-21.
 
Head Coach Timothy Rudd's Anchorwomen finished fourth (nine teams) with a team score of 102.0 at the Little East Championship on April 25.
 
In upcoming action, Rhode Island College will compete at the 2026 New England Div. III Championship, hosted by Springfield on May 1-2.