ST. LOUIS – Indiana State Cross Country and Track and Field Program Director and Head Coach Angela Martin was selected as the 2026 MVC Women's Outdoor Track and Field Coach of the Year, as announced Wednesday afternoon by the league office.

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 conference honor of the year after being named the 2026 MVC Women's Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year in March. She led the Sycamores to their third straight conference title, lifting the trophy on home soil for the second time in the last three years. Indiana State set a program record for points scored at a women's outdoor championship with 183.5.
 
Martin's Sycamores qualified seven women's entries for the NCAA East First Round in Lexington while being ranked in the top 70 nationally entering the postseason. Indiana State checked in at No. 67 nationally following the MVC Outdoor Championships, the program's highest outdoor ranking since the 2018-19 season.
 
The Trees featured nine different marks which ranked in the top 10 in the Great Lakes Region, including Rachel Mehringer's region-leading time in the 1000m hurdles which also ranks in the top five nationally. Indiana State finished the season at No. 8 in the Great Lakes Region rankings, the best among teams outside the Power Four conferences, and had five event groups (hammer throw, shot put, 100m hurdles, heptathlon, discus) which ranked in the top 25 nationally in the final set of Event Squad rankings.
 
Under Martin's tutelage, Mehringer continued her dominance by breaking her own Indiana State and Missouri Valley Conference records in the 100m hurdles with the first-ever times under 13 seconds in the conference. Mehringer ran wind-aided times of 12.64 and 12.71 while also adding wind-legal times of 12.95 and 12.96 on her way to MVC Most Outstanding Track Athlete honors. Janiya Bowman broke the school record in the long jump (6.27m/20-7), while Jahnel Bowman repeated as triple jump champion (12.72m/41-8.75).
 
Mehringer was also a part of two Indiana State victories at the Drake Relays, the program's first since 2023, and she anchored a school record in the shuttle hurdle relay at 55.59, the fastest in MVC history. Sycamore student-athletes and set 21 program top-10 marks over the course of the 2026 outdoor season, including the two hurdles records and Bowman's long jump record.
 
 
Brittney Burak (10,000m), Amy Luttrell (pole vault), Aliseonna Garnett (discus) and Emma Yoder (hammer throw) all won individual conference titles in addition to Mehringer and both Bowman sisters' conference hardware, with Indiana State student-athletes earning 16 all-conference accolades for top-three finishes. Five different Sycamore athletes – Janiya Bowman, Garnett, Mehringer, Cora Williams and Emma Yoder – qualified for the NCAA postseason.
 
Wednesday's announcement marks Martin's 17th career MVC Coach of the Year honor (seven men's, 10 women's), with eight of those honors (four men's – 2022, 2023 2024, 2025, four women's – 2013, 2024, 2025, 2026) being Outdoor Coach of the Year accolades. 
 
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