NEW ORLEANS – Indiana State Cross Country and Track and Field Program Director and Head Coach Angela Martin was selected as the 2026 USTFCCCA Great Lakes Region Women's Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year, as announced Friday afternoon by the association.

Martin, who is in her 16th season in charge of the women's track and field program and her 10th as the head coach of the men's program, picked up her second honor of the week after being named the 2026 MVC Women's Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year for the fourth time in the last five seasons Tuesday. She led the Sycamores to their third straight conference title and their fourth MVC Women's Indoor Track and Field Championship in the last four years (2022, 2024, 2025, 2026). It was the program's sixth women's indoor title under Martin's leadership (2014, 2015, 2022, 2024, 2025, 2026). Indiana State set a program record for points scored at a women's indoor championship with 152.
 
Martin's Sycamores have been a fixture among the Great Lakes Region rankings, with Indiana State finishing the season ranked No. 9 in the Great Lakes as the highest ranked school outside of the Power Four conferences. The Trees featured nine different marks which ranked in the top 10 in the region, including Rachel Mehringer's region-leading time in the 60m hurdles. Indiana State also had five event groups (shot put, weight throw, pentathlon, triple jump, pole vault) which ranked in the top 25 nationally in the final set of Event Squad rankings.
 
The Sycamores also went-wire-to-wire as the highest-ranked team in the Missouri Valley Conference, with the Blue and White owning MVC-leading marks in five events and 20 marks which ranked in the top five in the conference. Indiana State is poised to continue its reign atop the conference, with less than 10 percent of the Sycamores' points at the MVC Championships coming from their senior class.
 
Under Martin's tutelage, Mehringer broke Indiana State and Missouri Valley Conference records in the 60m hurdles at 8.16, while Janiya Bowman was named MVC Indoor Championships MVP after scoring 20 points across three different events as part of the Sycamores' title run. Bowman also broke the school record in the long jump (6.15m/20-2.25), while Jahnel Bowman was named MVC Most Outstanding Field Athlete for her career-best mark of 12.80m (42-2) in the triple jump.
 
Reneisha Andrews (60m), Amy Luttrell (pole vault), Janiya Bowman (long jump), Jahnel Bowman (triple jump) and Aliseonna Garnett (shot put) all won individual conference titles, with Indiana State student-athletes earning 12 all-conference accolades for top-three finishes. Sycamore student-athletes broke a pair of program records and set 21 program top-10 marks over the course of the 2026 indoor season.
 
Friday's announcement marks the seventh Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year honor for Martin in her career, having earned four women's coach of the year accolades (2013 outdoor, 2022 indoor, 2025 indoor, 2026 indoor) and three men's coach of the year honors (2023 outdoor, 2024 outdoor, 2025 outdoor) Martin has earned at least one Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year honor in each of the last five seasons, totaling six Great Lakes Coach of the Year accolades in that span.
 
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