HUNTINGTON, W.Va.– The West Virginia Wesleyan track and field team competed in the two-day Mountain East Conference Indoor track and field championships on Friday and Saturday at Marshall University.
Day One
The Bobcats and Lady Bobcats saw Individual champions, all-conference performances, and school records re-broken.
Samantha Cash ran away with the women’s pentathlon putting up 2,858 points. The freshman won the 60 hurdles, high jump, and tied the meet record in the high jump. Haley Wiley put up critical points for the Lady ‘Cats taking fourth in the event with 2,499 points.
In the women’s prelims, Faith Gandy broke her previously held school record and the meet record in the 60 dash. Gandy ran 7.64 and met the NCAA provisional standard in the event. Ny’Tierra Hobbs took second in the prelims with a qualifying time of 7.81. Shannon Farrow also qualified for tomorrow’s finals running 7.99.
Gandy broke her school record in the 200 dash prelims running a qualifying time of 25.36 and taking second. Hobbs ran a qualifying time of 25.47 to record the fifth-best preliminary time.
In the 60m hurdles prelims, Cash had a qualifying time of 9.16, good for fourth place. Aubrey Wiethe qualified with a time of 9.70. Maggie Kovalcik took home Second-Team All-MEC honors in the long jump with a leap of 5.17m in the event. Cash took third place, giving her honorable mention accolades with a final jump of 5.10m.
Brady Browning finished the scoring for the women on the afternoon, taking third place in the pole vault and taking home honorable mention accolades. Browning cleared the bar at 3.05m to make the podium. Kayla means also scored crucial points clearing 2.60m and taking seventh.
Oliver French took home sixth place in the Long jump on the men’s side and gave the ‘Cats their first points on the afternoon. French posted a leap of 6.39m in the event. As a result, French finds himself in favorable positioning in the heptathlon after four events. French won the 60 dash and high jump and currently sits 17 points off the leader.
Tanner Faulkiner re-broke his school record in the 60 dash prelims after crossing the line in a blistering time of 6.80. Faulkiner, who has already hit the provisional standard, will look to improve his performance in tomorrow’s finals. Faulkiner posted the third-fastest time in the 200 dash prelims running 22.09, booking his ticket for the finals.
Aaron Kupfner qualified for the 60 hurdles finals, posting a time of 8.64.
Day Two
The day started with Oliver French claiming Second Team All-MEC honors in the heptathlon after earning 4,470 points throughout seven events. Samantha Cash continued her impressive meet taking home second place in the triple jump and giving her Second Team All-MEC honors. Cash broke the meet record with a leap of 11.41m, shattering the previous mark of 11.05m.
Kenny Okoye was crowned the champion in high jump after he cleared the bar at 1.99m. French took fourth in the event, clearing 1.90m. However, Okoye was not finished putting up another impressive performance in the triple jump. Okoye’s top mark of 13.83m gave him second place and Second Team All-MEC honors.
Cash took second place in the high jump clearing 1.64m and breaking another meet record. Lauren Colbert was just out of the points posting a leap of 1.45m. Cash would finish her day with a third-place finish in the 60m hurdles posting a time of 9.17. Aaron Kupfner scored points for the men taking seventh in the 60m hurdles (8.71).
In the 60m dash, the Wesleyan sprinters took the top two spots. Faith Gandy collected First Team All-MEC honors with her victory crossing the line in 7.61. Ny’Tierra Hobbs earned Second Team All-MEC awards with a finishing time of 7.82.
In the men’s 60m dash, Tanner Faulkiner was edged out by .01 seconds by Wheeling’s Jabez Reeves, taking second place and earning Second Team All-MEC honors.
Gandy concluded her day with a second-place finish in the 200m dash (25.40) and added another all-conference honor to her collection. Faulkiner earned critical points for the men but ended up just short of an all-conference award, taking fourth in the event with a time of 22.41.
The women took third place overall, accumulating 96 points. The men took sixth, accruing 61.5 points. The Bobcats collected 10 all-conference accolades on the final day.
