STEPHENVILLE, Texas — Tarleton State Track and Field head coach Bobby Carter announced both the indoor and outdoor schedules ahead of his third season with the Texans on Monday afternoon.
The Texans will be competing in 13 regular season meets across both the indoor and outdoor seasons with an additional five postseason meets. In the indoor campaign, the Purple and White will be competing in seven meets across five weekends in its regular season. In the outdoor slate, the Texans will also be competing on five weekends, with six total meets scheduled.
“We’re excited to release our indoor and outdoor schedules,” said Carter. “This season represents another step forward for Tarleton State Track & Field. We’ve put in the work, raised our standards, and built a team that’s ready to embrace every opportunity in front of us. We’re focused on the process, committed to competing at the highest level, and proud to represent Tarleton State University.
Tarleton State will open the indoor season at the Winter Commodore Challenge hosted by Vanderbilt on Dec. 5. It will mark the first time the Texans are traveling to Nashville to compete in the meet. That will be their only competition in the calendar year of 2026, where they will pick up their indoor season after the holidays in 2027 with back-to-back weekends at Texas Tech. The Texans will compete at the Corky Classic on Jan. 15-16 and the following weekend at the Stan Scott Invite on Jan. 22. It will be two of three appearances the Texans will be taking to Lubbock in the indoor season.
The Texans will head to a pair of meets in each of the first two weekends of February. The Texans will make their first appearance of the year at Texas A&M at the Charlie Thomas Invitational on Feb. 5-6. Also in that same weekend, the Texans will head to the old stomping grounds of head coach Bobby Carter competing at Nebraska at the Frank Sevigne Invitational. Carter was a two-time All-American jumper at Nebraska during his college days. The following weekend, the Texans will be split once again with part of the squad going to the Tyson Invitational and the other group going to the Jarvis Scott Invite back in Lubbock. Both meets will be the regular season finale for the Texans on Feb. 12-13.
After the busy regular season, the Texans will have two weeks off to prepare for the first UAC Indoor Championships set to take place in Louisville, Kent., at Bellarmine University on Feb. 27-28. Since Tarleton State joined the UAC on July 1, 2026, the reigning women’s WAC Indoor Champions will seek to defend their title in a new conference. Just two weeks later, the Texans will cap their indoor season at the NCAA Indoor National Championships in Fayetteville, Ark. on March 12-13. A year ago, Lokesh Sathyanathan became the program’s first D1 National Champion winning the men’s long jump. He will seek to defend his title in the same facility he won it a year ago. The indoor championships are one of the hardest to qualify for with no automatic bids clinched, only the top 16 individual marks in each event across the whole indoor season will earn a spot to compete.
After the conclusion of the indoor season, the Texans will open the outdoor season for the second-consecutive year at the ACU Invitational. The two-day event on March 19-20 will feature the brand-new track at Elmer Gray Stadium. The Purple and White will return to a staple on their schedule every year the following weekend, the Clyde Hart Invitational, hosted by Baylor on March 26-27. The Texans will also return to Baylor on April 16-17. In between on April 2-3, the Texans will be competing as a split squad at both the Bobcat Invitational at Texas State and the Jim Click Shootout hosted by Arizona. The Texans will round out their outdoor slate at the Alumni Muster hosted by Texas A&M on the final day of April and the first day of May.
After the Texans six regular season meets, the Purple and White will begin its postseason run. The men’s team will seek to defend its conference title from a season ago at the WAC Championships, with their first appearance at the UAC Championships. The Texans will compete in a conference championship in the state of Texas for the third-straight year, but the first in Abilene, Texas. The UAC Championships are set to be a three-day event beginning on May 14 and ending on May 16. The top 48 individuals throughout the season in each event will then continue their season at the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds. For the second time in the last three years, Texas A&M will be the host of the four-day event ranging from May 26-29. The final event of the 2026-27 slate will be the potential third-straight trip to the NCAA Championships in their third year eligible for the Texans. The NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships will be held again at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., June 9-12.
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