Southern Arkansas University has announced the addition of two new programs to its athletic department for competition beginning in the upcoming 2022-23 athletic year. Men's and Women's Indoor Track & Field becomes the department's newest programs and, like the other 14 NCAA-sponsored sports, both will compete in Division II.
The move to officially add the indoor portion of the collegiate track and field calendar will undoubtedly aid in recruiting for Tim Servis who will be entering into his 8th season as the head coach of Mulerider Men's and Women's Track & Field which have primarily competed outdoors since the University announced the return of the historic programs in May of 2014.
"This is a great opportunity for our current athletes and for the future Muleriders that will soon impact our program," noted Servis. "The benefits that the addition of these two programs will provide for track and field recruiting as a whole will be endless. I am looking forward to getting started this fall and to continue to build upon the successes of our rich outdoor history as we evolve into complete track and field programs for both the SAU men and women. Programs that our University can continue to be proud of."
While the indoor circuit will be a new venture as a whole for Southern Arkansas, the Muleriders are no stranger to competing inside. Since 2015, when the two outdoor programs were revived for action, Servis and SAU have competed inside nine times which included twice each year from 2015 to 2017.
Nine other Great American Conference programs sponsor track and field with several competing both indoors and outdoors. Arkansas Tech (W), East Central (M/W), Harding (M/W), Northwestern Oklahoma (W), Oklahoma Baptist (M/W), Ouachita (W), Southern Nazarene (M/W), Southwestern Oklahoma (W), and Southeastern Oklahoma (W) compete in the spring for the league's outdoor titles. The GAC currently does not sponsor indoor track & field.
Both Men's and Women's indoor schedules will be announced in the coming weeks and will be available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.
The Division II Men's and Women's Indoor Track & Field Championships are set for March 10-11, 2023 from the Virginia Beach Sports Center in Virginia Beach, Virginia.