Virginia Beach, Va. – While the rest of the Wheeling Track & Field team competes at the Douglas Raymond Invitational, the Multi-event athletes headed to the Kenneth Giles Invitational in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Sophomore Jalynn McClarren, junior Liz Salas, and junior Desi James competed in their first Pentathalons of the year. They all had big days and got the multi-season started on the right foot.

McClarren ran her first pentathlon of the season and finished eighth with 2111 points. The pentathlon began with the women's 60-meter hurdles and finished seventh among her competitors with a time of 10.44 seconds. Up next were three straight field events with the Long Jump, Shot Put, and High Jump in succession. McClarren finished these events with heights/distances of 4.53 meters, eight meters, and 1.53 meters respectively. She finished the day with the 800-meter run and placed eighth in the field with a time of 3:22.51. It was a good start to the year for McClarren, as she continues to build up her strength the rest of the way.

Finishing right behind McClarren was Salas, who finished ninth with 2066 points. She also started her day out with the 60-meter hurdles and finished with a time of 10.67 seconds. Salas's strongest event of the pentathlon was the shot put, which she ended up winning with a distance of 9.90 meters. She finished out the field events with a distance of 3.52 meters in the long jump and 1.59 in the high jump. Her day concluded with the 800-meter run where she finished with a time of 3:06.81 to round out her day in her first multi-event of the season.

Desi James was the final competitor for the day as he competed in the first half of the Men's Heptathlon. The competitors competed in the first four events of the Heptathlon, and James finished day one with 1638 points. Day one began with the 60-meter hurdles and finished second with a time of 7.52 seconds. The Long Jump and shot put were next as the event headed to the field. James posted a distance of 5.44 meters and a throwing distance of 9.62 meters. Day one ended with the high jump and James did not produce a height in that event to end his day. On Saturday, James will compete in the 60-meter hurdle, pole vault, and 1000 meter run.

Day two of the Kenneth Giles Invitational will begin Saturday at noon.