BOSTON, Mass. – Beginning in the fall of 2023, the Wentworth Institute of Technology Athletic Department will grow by two sports as women's indoor track and field and women's outdoor track and field will be added as varsity sports. Director of Athletics Cheryl Aaron made the announcement.

"We are very excited to be able to sponsor women's indoor and outdoor track and field this fall," said Aaron. "We have had great success with women student-athletes who have joined our mixed teams over the last few years as they bring incredible enthusiasm, passion, and commitment to their sport. With that, we wanted to provide them with their own dedicated varsity programs. I would like to thank President Mark Thompson and Vice President of Student Affairs Courtney McKenna for their support in making this happen."

Since men's indoor track and field was introduced as a varsity sport for the 2016-17 academic year and men's outdoor track and field had its planned debut season in 2020 pushed back a year due to COVID-19, female student-athletes have been able to compete on these teams, which reclassified them as mixed teams for NCAA sport sponsorship purposes. This year alone, 11 females are competing on the mixed teams, which is an all-time high.

Women competing on the mixed teams have had success while competing for the Black & Gold. During the 2019-2020 indoor season, Colleen Sullivan '23 qualified for the New England Women's Division III Championships in the 800 Meter run. During the 2022 outdoor season, the relay tandem of Sullivan, Erin MacLean '25, Megan Leger '25, and Annabel Chu '23 competed at the New England Women's Division III Championships in the 4X400 Meter Relay. And, this season, Laci Santos '26 has set numerous women's institutional records competing in both sports.

Emily Gustavson, a former All-American at Wheaton (Mass.) College, who was hired this past summer to lead the men's and women's cross country and mixed indoor and outdoor track teams, will serve as the program's head coach.

"I'm incredibly excited for our women's program to continue to compete and grow as a varsity program," said Gustavson. "Our student-athletes have worked hard to build a strong base and I look forward to working with them and future Leopards as we continue to elevate the program."

With the addition of these two sports, Wentworth's varsity sport offerings will grow from 17 to 19, with 11 sports offered for men and eight for women. In indoor track and field, the Leopards will initially compete as an NCAA Division III independent, with the possibility that the Commonwealth Coast Conference will conduct a conference championship in the future as institutional sports sponsorship grows. For outdoor track and field, Wentworth will compete as a scoring team at the annual CCC Women's Track and Field Championship, after competing as a non-scoring team the past two seasons and competed under that classification in this past weekend's championship as well.

"Coming to Wentworth I was unaware that there were women on the track team," said Santos. "While I have enjoyed the opportunity to compete on a mixed team, I'm incredibly excited to now have the recognition of our own women's team."

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