THIBODAUX, La. – Nicholls State University track and field coach Stefanie Slekis announced the 2026 schedule along with the hiring of assistant coach Cameron Bolt on Monday afternoon.
 
Nicholls will compete in two in state meets and two out of state meets for the indoor season. The teams will begin the season in Baton Rouge at the LSU Purple Tiger on Jan.16 followed by the McNeese Indoor II on Jan. 30. The Colonels will cross state lines to compete in the Bulldog Invitational hosted by Samford University on Feb. 13 before concluding the season at the Southland Conference Championship on Feb. 25-26.
 
The outdoor season is action packed with three out of state completion's and four instate events. The Red & Gray will begin outdoor action at the Louisiana Classics hosted by Louisiana in Lafayette on March 20-21. Next, the squads will open the month of April in Austin, Texas at the Texas Relays on April 1-4. The Colonels return to the boot for the Pelican Relays (4/10-11), Strawberry Relays (4/17), and the LSU Alumni Gold (4/25). Nicholls will wrap up regular season action at Texas A&M's Alumni Muster in College Station, Texas on May 1-2. The Southland Conference Championship is in Nacogdoches, Texas on May 14.
 
Coach Slekis is looking forward to the new season with some new opportunities for her student-athletes. Bolt joins the staff after coaching over 200 National qualifiers, 15 All-Americans, four National Champions. Additionally, he is the owner of Bolt Track and Field Club team that he started in 2023 and has had more than 20 National qualifiers.
 
We are so excited for our 2026 Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field schedule. For our schedule we changed up the second half of both our Indoor and Outdoor seasons from the past few years," Slekis said.  "Indoor we will head to Birmingham to compete at Samford's Bulldog invitational which will give our team the opportunity to test themselves on the facility we will return to for the indoor championship. Outdoor we close out the season at two of the best SEC track & field programs in the country who have phenomenal facilities. Going first to LSU and then bringing full teams to Texas A & M for the Alumni Muster. Before we return to Texas for the Southland Championship hosted by SFA." 
 
Coach Slekis gave her overall thoughts on the addition of Coach Bolt and how he can help the team improve.
 
"We are changing things up a bit this year and I am also really excited to see how well our student-athletes perform this season especially our track & field only student-athletes who had the entire fall semester working with our new assistant coach Cameron Bolt," Slekis said. "Cam comes with a wealth of knowledge as a young coach who founded his own track & field club and continuously worked to prepare himself for his first NCAA Division I collegiate coaching opportunity. His energy combined with his knowledge base make him a phenomenal hire. He understands how to develop student-athletes and maximize their potential. Through fall testing his event group has seen improvement across the board so it will be fun to see that hard work translate to their specific events this next semester."