DES MOINES, Iowa – In a vote by the head coaches, the Drake men landed in fifth while women placed seventh in the 2025 MVC Indoor Track and Field Preseason poll.
 
Northern Iowa tabbed the top spot among the men coming off their first MVC team title, either indoor and outdoor, since 2021 where the Panther men secured both the indoor and outdoor team titles that year. At the MVC Indoor Championships, Northern Iowa claimed four individual titles alongside 28 top eight performances for 155.5 points scored as a team. The Panthers look to claim the program's eleventh outdoor title and 26th combined indoor and outdoor. The Indiana State Sycamores close the narrow margin behind the Panthers with four first place votes amongst the coaches and 93 total points. The Sycamores finished second in the MVC Indoor Championships with a score of 146 team points with four individual champion titles in the Shot Put, Weight Throw, 60m dash, and 200m dash alongside 28 top eight performances.
 
Illinois State claimed the third-place positioning in the polls with 80 points among the coaches with Bradley earning 62 points in the polls for fourth place. Tied for fifth place, Drake and Southern Illinois earn 51 points each. Belmont and UIC claim seventh and eighth place, with 45 and 27 points, respectively. With Valparaiso and Evansville rounding out the polls.
 
The Sycamore women open the outdoor season coming off their second consecutive MVC Indoor team title scoring a total of 123 points at the 2025 MVC Indoor Championships. At the indoor championships, the Sycamores secured four individual titles and 24 top eight finishes across the meet. The Sycamores also made MVC track and field history in 2024 as one of only three programs in the league to claim both the men's and women's team champion titles at both the indoor and outdoor championships in the same year and the first programs to do so since 2017. The Sycamores claimed last year's Outdoor title for the first time in program history since 2013 and aims for the programs ninth MVC women's outdoor title, 14^th combined indoor and outdoor.
 
The Illinois State Redbirds claimed two first place votes among the coaches with a total of 132 points for second place predictions. The Redbirds earned runner-up honors at the indoor championships with 105 total team points with three MVC individual champion title in the Pole Vault, 60m and 200m. The Redbirds also claimed 23 top eight finishes across the indoor championships.
 
Northern Iowa claimed third in the polls with 115 points followed by Murray State's 103 points for fourth in the polls. Bradley, Belmont, and Drake earn the fourth, fifth, and sixth position predictions, respectively. In the eighth, ninth, and tenth positions Southern Illinois, Missouri State, and UIC, were polled in that order, with Valparaiso and Evansville rounding out the coaches' women's predictions.
 
The 2025 MVC Outdoor Track and Field Championships will be hosted by Southern Illinois and will be held in Carbondale, Illinois on May 17th and 18th.