NMJC (W-T&F) Opens 2026 Indoor Season in Lubbock
The 2026 New Mexico Junior College women's track & field team starts their indoor season Friday, Jan. 16 in Lubbock, Texas.
The Thunderbirds first meet is the Corky Classic Jan 16-17 at the Texas Tech Sports Performance Center.
The 2025 indoor season saw the Thunderbirds finish third nationally for the second consecutive season. The T-Birds moved over to the 2025 outdoor season and also picked up a third place trophy.
NMJC has won a track & field trophy (top-3 finish) every year since 2014. The T-Birds are led on the women's side by second-year head coach Kathleen Raske.
"Year two is always better than the first for everyone in the program, coaches included," NMJC women's track & field head coach Kathleen Raske said. "We expect our sophomores to have a 'super sophomore' year, and I expect the same for us coaches, however we are still in a little transition with our first year throws coach, Ryan McCullough. We are very excited to finally start the season and learn about all our new athletes in the competitive setting. I hope to see the newcomers adjust well and step up their competitive mindset as they learn and grow."
NMJC returns 10 sophomores from the 2025 third-place team, six of whom were All-Americans. The Thunderbird sophomores are headlined by two-time high jump national champion Tiana Petrova. The sophomore jumper won indoor title with a 1.75m leap and an outdoor championship with a 1.74m jump.
The women's side features 15 new faces coming into the fold for the 2026 track & field season.
The meet begins on Friday with the field events from 3 p.m. - 6 p.m. CST. The running events start at 3:30 p.m. CST and finish around 9:30 p.m. CST. Saturday's field events start at 11 a.m. and go through 3:30 p.m. CST. The track events start at 11:30 a.m. and will conclude around 4:30 p.m. CST.
The meet will be streamed live on ESPN+. The schedule can be found by clicking here along with the heat sheets and live results.