YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The West Virginia Wesleyan track and field team was back in Ohio for the two-day Youngstown State Mid-Major Invite on Friday and Saturday.

Day One

Samantha Cash finished in fourth-place in the women’s pentathlon. In addition, she tallied the most points of any athlete outside of  Division I. Oliver French currently sits in third in the men’s heptathlon after day one at the Watson and Tressel Training Site.
 
Cash’s special day started when she took fourth in the 60-meter hurdles (9.33). With a third-place finish in the high jump, Cash bested her finish in the hurdles. The freshman cleared 1.55 meters to finish her second of five events. Cash landed a throw of 6.80 meters in the shot put to conclude the third event. Cash took fourth in the long jump (5.11 meters) and sixth in the 800 meters (2:39.44) to wrap up her strong evening.
 
After three events in the heptathlon, Oliver French concluded his afternoon in third-place. French won the 60-meter dash with a final time of 7.18. French jumped 6.37 meters in the long jump to claim fourth-place and finished his evening with a fifth-place finish in the shot put with a throw of 10.16 meters.
 
Evan Pyles ran 16:25.80 in the 5000-meter run. Christian Cimaglia finished with a time of 16:43.23, and Richard Sams wrapped WVWC’s competitors with a final time of 18:18.42.
 
In the women’s 5000-meter run Lauren Chickosky and Alyssa Kelleher finished with times of 20:23.38 and 21:58.83, respectively.

Day Two
 
The team saw a school-record broken and a lifetime PR set at the Watson and Tressel Training Site.
 
Oliver French set the pace from the start putting up a strong performance in the heptathlon. In the final four events, French took second in the high jump (1.87m) and first in the 60-meter hurdles (8.83), helping him earn enough points to take third overall.
 
The strong performances continued in the men’s 60-meter dash. Tanner Faulkiner broke the school record crossing the line in 6.85. Faulkiner’s performance helped him set the NCAA Division II provisional standard in the event. Devin Taylor set a lifetime PR in the same event running 6.99. The duo was back in action in the 200-meter dash, where Taylor and Faulkiner ran 22.14 and 22.42.
 
Aaron Kupfner ran 8.82 in the 60-meter hurdles, while Dryden Holstein crossed the line in 9.47. Hayden Hess was WVWC’s top finisher in the 400-meter dash posting a time of 52.27. Justin Mcintyre, Jarrett Gandy, and Cohen lamp finished sub 53 seconds.
 
Kenneth Okoye took seventh in the seeded high jump clearing the bar at 1.90 meters. RJ Miller cleared 1.82 in the unseeded high jump, good for sixth. Okoye took sixth in the triple jump with a leap of 13.33 meters on his second attempt.
 
On the women’s side, Maggie Kovalcik was the lone competitor for WVWC in the 60-meter dash. Kovalcik finished with a time of 8.11, good for 19th. Aubrey Wiethe finished her 60-meter hurdles race with a time of 9.88, while Laila Calhoun and Emily Lahman rounded out the Bobcat competitors with times of 11.30 and 12.55, respectively.
 
Tori Carr ran a strong race in the 3000-meter run with a time of 11:06.40.
 
Up Next
The ‘Cats take a week off before heading to Kent, Ohio, on Saturday (Feb.12) to participate in the Doug Raymond National Qualifier.