West Liberty, W. Va. – After the team started things at the Raleigh Invitational, the Wheeling University Outdoor Track & Field team continued their split weekend Saturday. Those not competing in Raleigh, North Carolina, traveled to West Liberty, West Virginia to compete in the Tim Weaver Invitational. It was a big day for the team as the men and women combined for five gold medals to round out the Easter weekend.

The first win of the day came on the women's side as three Cardinals ran in the 400-Meter Hurdles. Jenay Soumahro was the one to bring home the gold, running a time of 1:09.24. Soumahro has won the Mountain East Conference (MEC) championship I'm the event each of the last two seasons and she got her 2024 outdoor season started off strong. It would also be the strongest event of the day for Wheeling, as they took the first three spots with Bre'ya Clopper finished 2nd (1:11.70) and Delaney Miller took 3rd (1:11.73). The final gold medal of the track events came from Izaiha Browning, who competed in the 3000 Meter Steeplechase. He would take the top spot with a time of 9:46.44 as he came back after getting injured in the event during the MEC Championship a year ago.

The final three gold medals of the day came in the field as Tara Perry got things started in the High Jump. The two-time podium finisher in the event hit a height of 1.55 meters to take the top spot in the event. The women kept the gold coming as Jenna Smith competed in the Women's Pole Vault. Smith and Keala McCurry have been leading the pole vault team all season and Smith would take the top spot with a height of 3.21 meters. The final gold came from Daimar Ivey, who rounded out the day for the jumpers in the triple jump. Ivey would break the 13 meter mark for the second event in a row as he hit a distance of 13.08 meters. It was Ivey's second event win of the season as he tries to regain his MEC title I the event from a year ago.

Aside from the wins, the Cardinals had plenty of other strong showings throughout the day both on the track and the field. It started with the 100-Meter Dash as Jan Wray led the men with a ninth place finish (11.41) while Deja Ryals took third on the women's side at 12.91 seconds. The women's 100-Merer Hurdles were up next as Tara Perry took fourth with a time of 16.26 seconds in the qualifier before ending her day. In the women's 200-Meter Dash, Ryals picked up her second top five finish of the day, finishing with a time of 26.90 seconds. The final track event of the day would be the Women's 3000 Meter Steeplechase as Sophia Tomana competed. Tomana would finish 2nd in the field with a time of 13:29.96 to round out the day.

In the field, the throwers were up first as the Men's and Women's Shot Put started the day. On the Men's Side, Dorian Gray took the top spot for the Cardinals, with a distance of 34.29 to take 15th in the field, while Mariah Pelkey took 15th on the women's side with a distance of 27.02 meters. Pelkey was back in the Women's Hammer Throw and picked up a 12th place finish with a distance of 27.35 meters. The men's jumpers were up next as Kabwe Bwalya took his first top five finish of the day, jumping a height of 1.75 meters in the Men's High Jump. The final top five finish on the Men's side came in the shot put as Davonte Courtney took fourth. He threw a distance of 13.35 meters to round out the day.

The Wheeling University Outdoor Track & Field team returns to action on Friday, April 5th as they compete at the Golden Eagle Invitational at the University of Charleston.