Petit best in WI. Amazing that neither MN nor WI have real indoor tracks even they are some of the coldest states.
No, not at all. The Pettit Center is a ~440m indoor oval around the ice rinks. No spikes allowed.
I will always have a soft spot for the UW-Shell and getting Big Mike's Subs after West Relays. But I would think Ripon has the best indoor track now. Certainly the newest. TFA (WI HS Indoor) is held at UW-Whitewater's Kachel Fieldhouse.
Petit is not the answer. Terribly dry air and concrete surface. Not a track.
Someone said MN was St Thomas. Wrong. Crazy tight in there on 2 sides. Most common place in the state for people walking onto and hitting runners on the track.
St. Olaf has a nice track with a warmup track above and a fieldhouse 25 feet away.
Carleton has a nice facility in general.
There are no truly "bad" tracks in the state (that host meets).
The Podium in Spokane is pretty amazing and brand new, Dempsey at University of Washington in Seattle is probably the next best indoor facility on the west coast and better than what many states have and would have been hands down the best in Washington prior to last fall.
Jadwin Gym at Princeton has a nice indoor track facility, it was showing its age but the 2015 renovation really helped. It is actually a pretty awesome space all around with 4 sub levels that have six full size tennis courts, 10 international squash courts, one of the largest dedicated fencing facilities in the world not to mention the basketball courts as well as connected olympic size pool. For a 50+ year old building it has held up pretty well.
BU has the fastest track in Massachusetts but is it the nicest? Depends on perspective, I think the Wellesley's Dorothy Towne Fieldhouse indoor track is awesome with great seating and sight lines. The whole building is gorgeous.
Johnson Athletic Center at MIT is old but has good bones and is six lanes. It will likely be renovated in the next couple of years and may give BU a run for its money depending on how much they invest and if they decide to make it state of the art like the Podium.
For now SDSU has the best indoor track but when the Dakota Dome opened in 1979 it had one of the best indoor tracks in the country but its now 40+ years old, I would imagine now that USD has moved to DI the track will get renovated and it might be the best in the state again.
Washington: The Podium in Spokane is 1000% better than Dempsey. You guys realize that is literally a practice football facility with a few jogging lanes around it? It’s embarrassing that meets are hosted there at all
Oregon: Portland’s basketball arena track?
Idaho: Now that Boise got rid of theirs, Holt Arena at Idaho State Univ. I believe it’s up for about half the year. Plus something like 15,000 seats.
Montana: Only one I know of is at Montana St which is fast despite being flat 200m
Wyoming: No idea. Probably at a high school
Utah: Olympic Ice Oval unless you’re a field event athlete. BYU shouldn’t be hosting on that track in a hallway.
Nevada: n/a
California: n/a
Arizona: NAU’s Skydome. Finally a 300m track with proper seating. If only they’d remove the basketball floor in the middle.
I used to train a lot at NIFS. Is it still a track surrounding weight lifting equipment, treadmills, and such? When was the last time they even ran a meet there?
Maybe 30 years ago it was the best, but you'd have to think it's lost it's edge by now simply by essentially neglect. It's mostly a jogging track for the gym members there by now, no? I always heard that the turns could be banked, but when's the last time that's been done (if it were even true)?
Tennessee - Vanderbilt has a wide unbanked 300m track that has the same radius in lane four as an outdoor track in lane one. It has a very high ceiling with glass high on both walls at the end so you really don't even need lights. The infield is a full size football field so you can do barefoot drills on the artificial turf. Unfortunately, it's now closed except for events due to covid.
Tennessee State has a 200m unbanked track around the 2nd floor level of a basketball court. It has an open feeling and is much better for spectators than Vandy.
MTSU has a square unbanked track around their basketball court that's separated from the court by walls. It's... awful. Did I mention that it's square... square as in nearly 90 degree turns. Maybe it's been upgraded. I haven't run there in 15 years.
ETSU has a very nice unbanked six lane track that I believe is 6 laps/mile. Years ago it was easily the best indoor track in the south east.
Delaware has a single indoor track, it is 4-lanes, owned by a private school and as far as I know, no events take place there. #1!
I raced an indoor meet at some university in delaware. The track was unremarkable, but it existed.
POTUS's Alma Mater tore up its indoor track when the discriminatory Title IX forced it to cut its men's XC and T&F programs while leaving the programs in place for the women and those men who think they are women. Men are a minority at the University of Delaware comprising only 43% of the student population.
For Minnesota, I'd go with the U of M or St. Olaf, because they actually have places for spectators to sit and watch.
Any track that has spectator seating on the inside of the track, or that has any outer lane within a couple of feet of a wall, should be automatically booted from this discussion. Meets are only fun if people get to watch them.
Its very important we know the best indoor track in Florida, it gets very cold there.
Almost positive that there is no longer an indoor track in Florida. There used to be an unbanked circle of a track on the second level of the Gator's basketball arena (awkward, but you could hold hold meets there), but they got rid of it as part of the arena's renovation.
If there's another indoor track in the state, I'm guessing it doesn't resemble anything anyone here would call a real indoor track.
Some small colleges and high schools host "outdoor indoor meets", where they run indoor-type distances on an outdoor track in January/February. It was 86 degrees here yesterday, so no real need to invest in indoor facilities.