Wheeling, W. Va. - With the Cross Country team having wrapped up their season, the focus shifts to Indoor Track for the Wheeling University Track & Field program. On Friday, the team released their 2025-2026 Indoor Schedule, featuring six meets with a mix of different competition levels throughout the season. The Cardinals will compete on the NCAA DI level in three different tournaments as they prepare for a run at the 2026 Mountain East Conference (MEC) Indoor Track & Field Championships in late February.

The 2024-2025 Indoor Track season saw the Cardinals battle across seven different invitationals, spanning seven weeks of action. After running their annual season opener at the Youngstown State Ice Breaker, the Cardinals hit the new year with a bang. They returned from break at the Capital Alumni Classic, and would put themselves through the ringer over the final five weeks. That stretch would see them compete at four NCAA DI invitationals during that span, preparing them for the MEC Indoor Championships in Huntington, West Virginia. In the end, the Cardinals would put two athletes on the podium, one man and one woman, as the Cardinals finished 10^th among the tournament field. Both podium athletes came in the field events as the Cardinals look to build off that foundation as they head into the 2025-2026 season.

They open that 2025-2026 schedule with a doubleheader weekend right off the bat as they set their baseline for the year. The season will kick-off at the Oiler Open on Thursday, December 4^th, as the Cardinals get their first gauge of their multi-athlete for the year. The rest of the team will compete the next day at the annual YSU Ice Breaker event on December 5^th, where they will see athletes from all levels of the NCAA. It has served as the season opener for the Cardinals over each of the last five seasons, and will give them a strong base line before the team heads into the winter break. When they come back from the break, the five week push to Indoor Track & Field Championships begins with four meets over the five week span.

The run kicks off at Muskingum University, where the team will compete in the Muskie Meet #1 on January 17th to get their competition legs back under them. They will follow that up with their second NCAA DI meet of the year at the Kent State Judd Logan Memorial Invitational on January 23^rd. They will get to see a variety of competition levels at the event as they get to see some of the top competition they will face throughout the year. Their first multi-day event of the year will round out January, with the team heading back to Youngstown State January 30^th and 31^st for the YSU Collegiate Mid Major. After a week off, the team will compete in their final tune-up before the Indoor Track & Field Championships when they run at the SPIRE Indoor Collegiate Games on February 14^th. It all leads up to the 2026 MEC Indoor Track & Field Championships, which will be held at Marshall University February 22^nd and 23^rd.

The Wheeling University Indoor Track & Field team kicks off their season on Thursday, December 4^th, when they compete at the Oiler Open beginning at 1 PM.