MIDWAY, Ky. - Led by first-year head coach Hunter Wethington, the Midway men's and women's track program will begin the indoor portion of its 2026 schedule on Friday.

Wethington says he has greater aspirations for the spring, but believes the winter slate will be a good springboard.

"Our big goal is (success in the outdoor season)," he said, "so we're kind of training for that through indoor. But we're still going to be good. Everybody's really in shape. I think we're in a really good spot."

The Eagles, who return 2025 national qualifiers on both the men's and women's side, open the year in Louisville at the Bellarmine Open on Friday. Here is a look at each team going into 2026.

WOMEN

 A traditionally strong pole vault group has already secured a national qualifier this season. 

Sophomore Maddi Reed, who participated in both indoor and outdoor nationals a season ago, hit a national 'B' standard height of 3.60 meters when she and the rest of the pole vaulters competed at the Marshall Opener in December.

Elsewhere, Makayla Brooks, a 2023 outdoor pole vault qualifier, will return while the group also adds highly touted freshman Cate Coppola.

Junior Emerson VanScoy will also compete in pole vault while looking to add to a strong national resume she built a season ago. VanScoy was a national qualifier in high jump in both indoor and outdoor, just narrowly missing an All-American finish at the NAIA Outdoor National Championships.

Trinity Gottler, an outdoor national qualifier in javelin last spring, is expected to return later in the season, though is currently unavailable as she's competing with the Eagle women's wrestling team.

Between indoor and outdoor, Reed, VanScoy and Gottler won a combined six conference championships in 2025.

COACH'S COMMENT: "Every woman on the team can be someone who scores at conference. On any given day, any single member of the team can win any event. We're really excited about that."

MEN

The strength of the men's team appears to be a deep group of distance runners, which retains multiple athletes with national experience.

Already a multi-time program record holder, junior Carson Milner, a 2025 Outdoor River States Conference Champion in the 1,500-meter run, enters indoor season coming off an excellent fall.

Milner made his national debut at the NAIA Cross Country Championships in November, then followed that up with an All-American finish at the NAIA Marathon in December.

Josiah Kocis, who made outdoor nationals in the 10,000-meter run last season, won't run during the indoor season but is expected to return for outdoor competition in the spring.

Wethington has also praised the leadership of multi-event veterans like Brayden Carson and Latavian Hamilton. 

COACH'S COMMENT: "We don't have a ton of people on the team, but the people we have are really talented."

EXPECTATIONS

"I think we could do really big things, but I don't think there's a set (expectation)," Wethington said. "If we get fifth (at the conference championships) this will be a good year. If we get first, this will be a good year.

"It's kind of hard to say (how we'll do) but I thnk we'll have a lot of individual (personal records) and that will lead to team success."

The Bellarmine Open, the first of five regular season indoor events, will be held at the Norton Healthcare Sports and Learning Center in Louisville Friday, with competition beginning at 10 a.m.