SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (Jan. 25, 2023) – The UC Santa Barbara Women's Indoor Track and Field team are kicking off indoor season this weekend. The team is making their way to the University of Washington to start of this schedule as Director of Track and Field Cody Fleming created a schedule that allows the team to compete against top teams while keeping the whole team together.

The Big West's runner up in the long jump, Emma Barthel, is back to compete for a championship this time as she partakes in her first meet of the season. Along with her, Jessica Swalve will begin her next campaign after becoming the Big West Champion in the heptathlon. Along with these two key returners, the Gauchos will have four freshmen competing in their first collegiate meets.

Once they return to Santa Barbara, the Gauchos will take a few days to prepare for their next outing in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the home site of NCAA Indoor Nationals. The Lobos of the University of New Mexico will host their very own Collegiate Invite at the same site as the national meet to help teams familiarize themselves with the facility prior to the NCAA Indoor Championships.

From there, the Gauchos will take one more trip as they go to Flagstaff, Arizona for the Northern Arizona Tune Up before they finishing prepping for the Indoor Championships.

This indoor schedule will help the women's team prep for the outdoor season that will begin in early March. The full outdoor schedule will be released in the coming weeks. For the full indoor slate, visit ucsbgauchos.com.