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More than 550 collegiate athletes will take to the 200-meter indoor track at the Indiana State Fairgrounds this week, marking one of the largest meets inside Fall Creek Pavilion since it opened in early 2024.
The NCAA Division II men’s and women’s indoor track and field championships are set to begin Thursday at the $50 million facility, which was built to replace the century-old Swine Barn and serves as a multi-use building that can be programmed by the State Fair Commission year-round.
Last week, the pavilion hosted the Big Ten Conference men’s and women’s indoor track and field championships, which saw one dozen meet records broken on the banked oval track. The event was a strong precursor to this week’s NCAA championships, said Mike Berkery, vice president and chief operating officer for the fairgrounds.
“Each meet brings unique challenges and opportunities, with both an increasing number of athletes and an increasing number of spectators,” he said. “Big Ten was the largest meet that we’ve hosted so far, so we learned a lot related to athlete flow, how to use ancillary spaces and, frankly, adjusting seating sections to allow for more guests to be able to view events.”
The track has been used for five different meets since it opened last January, as well as hosted practices for programs including Purdue University, Marian University, Butler University and Indiana University Indianapolis.
This week’s track and field championships are part of a larger NCAA Division II National Championship Festival that began Tuesday and is set to feature title contests for five sports in the city over the next several days.
In an addition to track and field, the city is hosting the Division II men’s and women’s swimming and the Division II men’s wrestling championships.
Swimming and diving will be held at the IU Natatorium, while wrestling will occur at Corteva Coliseum (formerly Pepsi Coliseum), which on Tuesday concluded its hosting duties for the Horizon League basketball championships.
According to the NCAA, a total of 1,124 student-athletes are set to participate in the sports festival championships, while another few hundred support staff and school representatives will join a total of 253 travel parties from 157 schools. The count consists of 564 indoor track and field athletes, 380 swimmers and divers, and 180 wrestlers.
The events will collectively see 86 champions crowned between its individual and relay events, with 34 in indoor track and field, 10 in wrestling and 42 in swimming and diving.
This year marks the first time Indianapolis has been chosen to host the sports festival, which began in 2004 and rotates between fall, winter and spring sports. The anticipated attendance and economic impact numbers for the festival have not been made public.
Cindy Hoye, executive director at the Indiana State Fair Commission, said all the sports activity at the fairgrounds is creating something of “an offseason State Fair week” for staff, who worked with the NCAA and the Indiana Sports Corp. to prepare the sprawling property for the national events.
Additionally, fairground staff members are already working on putting together the 2026 fair (Aug. 1-17). The property will also host the Indiana Flower + Patio Show over the weekend (March 15-23), the Hoosier State Relay indoor high school championships on March 29 and several upcoming high school graduations. Additionally, the Fall Creek Pavilion will hold multiple events for the National Swine Registry in late spring.
“Our team is working very hard to make sure we have everything in place to host these national collegiate events,” Hoye said. But the work, “well, it never ends. It’s constant. …We have 400 events throughout the year, and lots of different things happening even before we get to the State Fair on Aug. 1.”
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