Wheeling, W. Va. - The Wheeling University Track & Field team kicked off their season back in early December and had a big day at Youngstown State. They now return in 2022 and are looking for similar success when they compete in the Otterbein Open on Saturday beginning at 11 AM. It is the first of three events in January for the Track team as they hit the indoor season in stride.
They opened the 2021-2022 season at the YSU Icebreaker and had 11 different athletes set personal records in their respective events. However, the biggest event of the day came in the 60-meter dash when sophomore Jabez Reeves set the new school record in the event. He finished third overall, with a time of 6.86 seconds in the prelim, and finished the finals with an impressive 6.92 seconds. It was a strong start to the season for two teams that finished first and second in the Mountain East Conference (MEC) last season.
On the men's side of the field, Wheeling had five different players set new personal records in their respective events. While Reeves set the new school record in the 60-Meter, teammate Marquis Marable also set a PR, running the event in 7.21 seconds. A few events later, Marable added another PR in the 200-Meter Dash, finishing 12th overall with a time of 22.55 seconds. Julian Griffin and Jacob Pielach rounded out the PRs for Wheeling with Griffin setting his in the 60-meter hurdles (8.14) and Pielach setting his in the 400-meter (49.75).
For the women, they ended the day with six PRs on the day, with their first two coming in the first event of the day. Sophomorea Ka'Niya McGowan and Heaven Jackson each set personal records in the 60-meter with times of 8.06 and 8.10 seconds respectively. Isha Sesay entered the top 10 all-time in the 60-meter Hurdles with a time of 9.16 seconds, and the 400-meter saw two more Cardinals set PRs with Susan Trammel (1:04) and Jenay Sumahro (1:03) each having career days.
With 2022 now upon us, the Track team jumps right into the heat of their indoor track season. They have three different events in January, and two meets in February before the MEC Championships scheduled on February 18th and 19th in Huntington, West Virginia. With a few strong performances already under their belt, the team looks to continue to rack up points in these upcoming events as the men look for revenge in the MEC Championships, while the women are out to defend their title.
The Matchup
Saturday will be the first time that the Cardinals have competed at Otterbein University since January 20th, 2014. On that day, the women finished in seventh place while the men finished fifth at the event. The men managed 42 points in their 18 events, while the women scored 43 points during their run. Both teams had two standouts at the event that led the way for their teams.
For the women, it was the field athletes who shined as former Cardinals Kenya Simmons and Miranda Christner had big days. Simmons through just over 45 inches in the shot put while Christner 45 inches in the weight throw. On the men's side, former Cardinals Jacob Hamilton and Travis Nicholas shined in the pole vault and weight throw respectively. Hamilton had a 14-00 in the Pole Vault while Nicholas threw 45-07.25 inches in the shotput.
The Details
Saturday's event is scheduled to begin at 11 AM on the campus of Otterbein University. The field events will kick things off at 11 AM, followed by the field events at noon.
