Westerville, OH. – The second half of the Wheeling Outdoor Track & Field split weekend began on Friday at the Otterbein Invitational. The Cardinals had two wins on the day in the Hurdle events to pace one of the final events of the regular season. The Cardinals added several top 10 finishes on the day as well as they prepare for the Mountain East Conference (MEC) Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

The two wins on the day both came in the Hurdle events as Isha Sesay and Moses Koroma each picked up wins. Sesay would be up first in the 100-Meter Hurdles as she looks to defend her MEC title from a year ago. She would take the top spot in the event, running a time of 14.69 seconds to beat the rest of the field by .34 seconds in the qualifier. She came back in the finals later in the day and continued the success, running a 14.48 in the finals to take the top spot. The Men's 110-Meter Hurdles was up next as the Cardinals took the top two spots in the event. Moses Koroma would get the win in the qualifier, running a time of 14.49, while Damian Jackson took second. In the finals, Koroma would maintain his hold on the top spot, running a time of 14.26 seconds to lead the way.

After the morning qualifiers, it was the long distance runners who would be up as the Women's 1 Mile kicked things off. Sydney Hambel led the way, finishing fourth with a time of 5:37.08, while Sophia Tomana took 14th at 5:54.20 to round out the event. The sprinters would return later in the day as Rafael Dayton was up next in the 400-Meter Dash. Dayton would run a time of 57.34 in the event to take 30th overall.  The Women's 100-Meter Dash was next as two Cardinals qualified in Deja Ryals and Ka'niya McGowan. McGowan would take the top spot for Wheeling, taking second with a time of 12.22 seconds. On the men's side, Calvin Blunt would be the top finisher for the Cardinals, taking second with a time of 10.86 seconds.

The longer distance events would round out the day on the track with Jenay Soumahro running in the 400-Meter Hurdles. She would add another top five finish with a time of 1:08.00 to take third place overall in the event. Koroma would return in the 400-Meter Hurdles and picked up his second win of the day with a time of 56.14 seconds. The fourth Cardinal win of the day would come in the 200-Meter Dash as McGowan took the top spot with a time of 25.41 seconds. She was one of three Cardinals to finish in the top five in the event with Deja Ryals (3rd, 24.84) and Shannon Farrow (5th, 26.37) to round out the event. On the men's side, Ibrahim Fall would pick up a top ten finish, taking fourth with a time of 22.05. The final track event of the day was the men's 5000 Meter Run where CJ Anderson finished 50th with a time of 17:36.94.

In the field, the jumpers and Pole Vaulters once again took the lead with the Women's Pole Vault kicking things off. Keala McCurry would compete and took home a third place finish, reaching a season best mark of 3.56 meters, while finishing .20 meters off the pace of the top spot. The other top three finish in the field would come courtesy of Elijah Young as he competed in the Men's Long Jump for the second week in a row. Young would take third, once again setting a new season best with a distance of 6.61 meters. The throwers would round out the event, competing in the final eight events of the day. The Women's Javelin would produce the top finisher, with Trinity Ortiz taking fifth in the field. Ortiz threw a distance of 29.46 meters to lead the way for the Cardinals and set a new season high on the day.

On the men's side, Davonte Courtney and Dorian Gray competed, with Courtney taking 10th (36.30 Meters) while Gray took 12th (30.90 meters). Courtney's top finish of the day would come in the Men's Shot Put, when he placed sixth with a distance of 13.65. for Gray, his top performance came in the Javelin, while he added a 22nd place finish in the Hammer Throw (26.56 M). On the Women's side, Kamille Graham led the way in shot put, discus, and hammer finishing 12th (10.75 M), 8th (31.55 M), and 13th (34.43 M) respectively. Amber Yoho picked up her lone top 10 finish of the day in the discus, throwing 29.91 meters, while Mariah Pelkey added a 14th place finish in the Hammer Throw (33.12 M).

The rest of the Wheeling University Outdoor Track – Field team returns to action on Saturday, April 20th, as they compete in day two of the Jesse Owens Classic at 10:30 AM.