ST. LOUIS – In the 2025 Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Track and Field Coaches Preseason Polls, Indiana State and Northern Iowa tabbed the top spots across the league. Indiana State secured the women’s spot with ten first place votes and a total of 142 points. Northern Iowa earned the top spot for the men with 94 points and six first place votes among The Valley coaches.

Between the indoor and outdoor seasons, Indiana State’s Casey Hood Jr., and Northern Iowa’s Carter Morton represented their institutions and The Valley at the 2025 NCAA Division I Indoor National Championships. Hood Jr., finished eleventh in the 60m dash with a time of 6.59 and Morton finished 5^th in the Heptathlon with a score of 5852. Both earning NCAA All-American honors.



The Sycamore women open the outdoor season coming off their second consecutive MVC Indoor team title scoring a total of 123 points at the 2025 MVC Indoor Championships. At the indoor championships, the Sycamores secured four individual titles and 24 top eight finishes across the meet. MVC indoor champions Niesha Anderson, Rachel Mehringer, Janiya Bowman, and Jahnel Bowman set the momentum for the reigning 2024 MVC Outdoor team champions. The Sycamores also made MVC track and field history in 2024 as one of only three programs in the league to claim both the men’s and women’s team champion titles at both the indoor and outdoor championships in the same year and the first programs to do so since 2017. The Sycamores claimed last year’s Outdoor title for the first time in program history since 2013 and aims for the programs ninth MVC women’s outdoor title, 14^th combined indoor and outdoor.

The Illinois State Redbirds claimed two first place votes among the coaches with a total of 132 points for second place predictions. The Redbirds earned runner-up honors at the indoor championships with 105 total team points with three MVC individual champion title in the Pole Vault, 60m and 200m. The Redbirds also claimed 23 top eight finishes across the indoor championships. MVC Champions Windsor Roberts and Lindsey Miller lead the Redbirds into the outdoor season.

Northern Iowa claimed third in the polls with 115 points followed by Murray State’s 103 points for fourth in the polls. Bradley, Belmont, and Drake earn the fourth, fifth, and sixth position predictions, respectively. In the eighth, ninth, and tenth positions Southern Illinois, Missouri State, and UIC, were polled in that order, with Valparaiso and Evansville rounding out the coaches’ women’s predictions.



Northern Iowa tabbed the top spot among the men coming off their first MVC team title, either indoor and outdoor, since 2021 where the Panther men secured both the indoor and outdoor team titles that year. At the MVC Indoor Championships, Northern Iowa claimed four individual titles alongside 28 top eight performances for 155.5 points scored as a team. Standouts Brendan Safely, Drew Bartles, Carter Morton, and Spencer Kessel generate the momentum for the Panthers heading into the outdoor season coming off top performance in the indoor season. The Panthers look to claim the program’s eleventh outdoor title and 26^th combined indoor and outdoor.

The Indiana State Sycamores close the narrow margin behind the Panthers with four first place votes amongst the coaches and 93 total points. The Sycamores finished second in the MVC Indoor Championships with a score of 146 team points with four individual champion titles in the Shot Put, Weight Throw, 60m dash, and 200m dash alongside 28 top eight performances. MVC Champions Noah Bolt, Wyatt Puff, and NCAA All-Americans Will Staggs and Casey Hood Jr. propel the Sycamores to the outdoor season.

Illinois State claimed the third-place positioning in the polls with 80 points among the coaches with Bradley earning 62 points in the polls for fourth place. Tied for fifth place, Drake and Southern Illinois earn 51 points each. Belmont and UIC claim seventh and eighth place, with 45 and 27 points, respectively. With Valparaiso and Evansville rounding out the polls.

The 2025 MVC Outdoor Track and Field Championships will be hosted by Southern Illinois and will be held in Carbondale, Illinois on May 17^th and 18^th.