ST. LOUIS – Indiana State Cross Country and Track and Field Program Director and Head Coach Angela Martin was selected as the 2025 MVC Men's and Women's Outdoor Track and Field Coach of the Year, as announced Tuesday afternoon by the conference office.
 
Martin was selected by the league's head coaches as the Coach of the Year on both the men's and women's side after guiding Indiana State to its second straight sweep of the MVC Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The Sycamores won three of the four MVC Track and Field Championships during the 2024-25 campaign (women's indoor, men's outdoor, women's outdoor).
 
Indiana State surpassed the 200-point mark on the men's side for the second straight season with 208, winning the MVC title by more than 50 points for a second straight year and completing back-to-back 200-point championship scoring totals for the first time in program history. The Sycamores finished with 140.5 points on the women's side and won the conference title by more than 20 points for a second straight season.
 
As a team, Indiana State had 10 conference champions and 29 all-conference performers as part of their title sweep. Included in those winning totals were a pair of repeat champions from Martin's hurdles group in Rachel Mehringer (100m hurdles) and Collin Forrest (110m hurdles).
 
Indiana State also qualified 16 entries for the 2025 NCAA East First Round, which starts Wednesday, marking the fourth straight year under Martin that the Trees have double-digit entries and athletes competing in the regional round. The 16 entries for the Sycamores are the most for the program since 2015.
 
For the season, Indiana State set 45 program top-10 marks, with 24 men's top-10 marks and 21 women's top-10 marks being set during the 2025 outdoor campaign. The Sycamores also had six program records broken, as Sloan Cox (shot put), Lillian Gibbs (javelin), Casey Hood Jr. (100m), Rachel Mehringer (100m hurdles), Will Staggs (pole vault) and the men's distance medley relay team of Emerson Fayman, Trent Jones, Caden Emmert and Jason Dworak all breaking school records for the Blue and White. In addition, Mehringer also broke the Missouri Valley Conference and MVC Championship record in the 100m hurdles.
 
Indiana State also took home multiple MVC specialty awards this season, continuing their trend of being among the best in the conference. Casey Hood Jr. was named the MVC Most Valuable Athlete at the MVC Outdoor Championships after scoring 20.5 points across three events, and he was also the MVC Most Outstanding Men's Track Athlete as the highest-ranked athlete among conference champions. Rachel Mehringer was the MVC Most Outstanding Women's Track Athlete for being the highest-ranked athlete among conference champions, while Justice Boston and Emma Yoder were MVC Co-Freshmen of the Year after both scored 12 points at the conference championships. Will Staggs was named the MVC Elite 18 Award winner, which goes to the student-athlete with the highest GPA to also medal at the conference championships.
 
Tuesday's announcement marks Martin's 15th career MVC Coach of the Year honor (seven men's, eight women's), with seven of those honors (four men's, three women's) being Outdoor Coach of the Year accolades.
 
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