The 1978 Missouri National Invitational Women's Indoor Track and Field Meet was the first unofficial collegiate championship event for women's indoor track and field to be sanctioned by the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women in the United States. It was a forerunner of the first official AIAW Indoor Track and Field Championships. Held for the first two years as an invitational, the meet gained official national championship status in 1980, when a qualification process was employed.