Wheeling, W. Va. - Over the last few seasons, the Wheeling University Men's Indoor Track & Field team has had a veteran squad with several top performers. As they enter the 2024-2025 season, the Cardinals are beginning a new era of track & field, looking to set the foundation for the program's success moving forward. As they enter the Indoor Track & Field season, beginning on Friday with the Youngstown State University Icebreaker, the Cardinals are looking to improve with every meet and build a culture of success.
During the 2023-2024 season, the team relied on their veterans to lead the way, while having a few newcomers emerge from the fold. The Cardinals led the way in three different individual events heading into the Indoor Track & Field Championships and looked to set themselves up for success. The Cardinals did just that as they followed their team mantra of "flooding the finals, sending 10 sprinters to the final races after day one. The Cardinals would finish with one individual champion on that final day of competition, with several top five finishers lining the field. They would finish fifth overall in the team standings and sent one runner to the NCAA DII Indoor Track & Field National Championships in Pittsburg, Kansas.
As they enter this new era of Cardinal Track & Field, Head Coach Patrick Stanton is excited to see his young group in competition as they set the program up for success.
"The goal for this year is to lay the foundation for the culture and program we are building going forward," said Stanton. "We are a young team and ready to grow for the future, so we want to be intentional this year about laying the right foundation to grow the way we want to. We want to see marked improvement for all the individuals on our team, and work to build the bonds to ensure we keep our close-knit family culture as we head into a new era of Cardinal Track & Field."
With an overall young team, most of the experience for the Cardinals comes on the track, with Joshua Boehm leading the way. Boehm had a breakout year in outdoor season, but was a leader in the mid-distance events throughout the year. During indoor season, he took third in the 400-Meter Dash, taking a time of 48.48 before becoming the MEC Champion during outdoor season. Joining him on the track are juniors Jonah Stanberry and Ibrahim Fall, who each had strong showings last season. Fall led the Cardinals in the 200-Meter Dash last season, while Stanberry has been a staple in the relay events throughout the season.
The Cardinals are youngest when it comes to the field events, with the veteran of the group being jumper Kabwe Bwalya. Bwalya has been a leader in both the Long Jump and Triple Jump over the last few seasons, and took sixth place at last year's Indoor Championships with a distance of 13.21 meters. He was also the Cardinal's top performer at the Outdoor MEC Championships, with a distance of 13.56 meters as he looks to lead the field events. Davonte Courtney also returns to lead the thrower's group after a strong freshman season. He finished top 15 in the shot put in his first conference championship event, taking 11th overall with a distance of 13.30 meters.
The 2024-2025 Indoor Track & Field season will kick off on Friday, December 6th, when the Cardinals take on the YSU Icebreaker with first events beginning at 1 PM.
