Glenville, W. Va. – The 2022 Mountain East Conference (MEC) Outdoor Track & Field Championships kicked off Sunday in Glenville, West Virginia. The Wheeling Men's Track & Field team began their quest for the team's first conference championship, and had a big day one showing sitting in second place after a day of competition. They had two athletes were named MEC Outdoor Champions in two field events to headline the days competition.
The biggest performance of the day came from
Andrew Taylor in the Men's High Jump as he not only won the MEC Outdoor Championship, but set a meet record in the process. He won the event with a height of 2.15 meters and became the first jumper in the history of the MEC to clear the seven foot mark. He cleared the 2.15 meter mark on his third try to secure the victory. He set a new PR and finished with the third highest height in all of Division II this season.
Brian Vandusen also competed in the High Jump and came in fourth with a height of 1.94 meters. It was a strong start to the event for the jumpers and things would only get better for the jumpers as the event went on.
The second MEC Championship was taken home by senior
Brian Vandusen in the Men's Long Jump, where he competed with five of his teammates. He won the event with a distance of 7.30 Meters, beating the rest of the field by .12 meters. Vandusen won the indoor long jump championship as well as he adds another conference championship to his ledger. He hit the 7.30 meter mark on his second jump or the day and three of his six jumps clearing the 7.0 meter mark. The Cardinals also had another top five finisher as Eli Young finished fifth at 6.59 meters. The other three Cardinals competitors were
Lorenzo Pelham (7th, 6.44 meters) and
Damian Jackson (15th, 6.01 Meters).
The final individual performer on day one for the Cardinals was
Desi James in the Men's Pole Vault. He took home a fifth place finish at the event, throwing 47.02 meters. James is also part of the Men's Decathlon as he joins
Julius Hobbs competing in the first five events on day one. James currently sits in fifth in the field with 2784 points and Hobbs sits eighth with 2413 points. Day two will feature the final five events of the Decathlon, the finishing of the field events, and the start of the track prelims.
Day two of the MEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships kicks off with the multi events at 8:30 AM, followed by field events at 12:30 and track events at 4:30 PM.
