Wheeling, W. Va. - With the 2024 Mountain East Conference (MEC) Championships having come and gone, the road to the NCAA DII Outdoor Track & Field National Championships begins. The Wheeling University Track & Field team kicks off their Last Chance Meet run on Thursday when they compete in Day 1 of the Harrison Dillard Twilight at Baldwin-Wallace University. It is the first of two Last Chance Meets for the Cardinals as their top athletes try to claim their spot at the National Championship events.
Last time out, the Cardinals competed at that 2024 MEC Outdoor Track & Field Championship event, with both teams taking home top five finishes. The three-day event kicked off on Sunday, where the field events and the multi events got their start. The Cardinals crowned their first MEC Champion of the tournament in the Women's Javelin and the multis each got off to a strong start. On day two, the track events began to mix in, and the Cardinals were able to flood the finals, with 15 total athletes making it to day three. The Cardinals would crown three more champions on the final day of competition, with the mid-distance taking home two of the three championships, as both teams picked up fifth place finishes on the day.
On the women's side, the Cardinals had two individual conference championships, with JayLynn McClarren and Ka'niya McGowan each picking up individual event wins across the three days. McClarren would be the first athlete crowned champion, winning the Women's Javelin after taking second in the event the year before. She would throw 35.79 meters to claim the crown and make the podium for the second year in a row. McGowan would earn the MEC Title on the final day of competition when she ran in the Women's 100-Meter Dash. She would be crowned the fastest woman in the MEC, running a time of 12.14, and added a second-place finish in the 200-Meter Dash, where she ran a time of 24.94 seconds.
The men also crowned two champions on the day, with Joshua Boehm and Moses Koroma each taking title on day three. Boehm was the first individual champion as he ran in the 400-Meter Dash after taking the top spot in the preliminaries. He would come back and set a new PR of 47.73 seconds as he picked up the first MEC Championship of his career. He came back in the sprints and took on the 200-Meter Dash, where he finished sixth with a time of 21.80 seconds. Moses Koroma would bring home his title in the 400-Meter Hurdles, picking up his second career win in the event, running a time of 52.91 seconds. In the short-distance hurdles, Koroma would take second with a time of 14.52 seconds to round out his day.
The Harrison Dillard Twilight will be the first of two Last Chance Meets for the Cardinals as they come down the stretch towards the NCAA National Championships. The women will be competing in just the one event at Baldwin Wallace, while the men will be heading to a second event to round out the weekend at Lenoir-Rhyne University. With the championship season ending, the Cardinal's top athletes will compete in the final two meets as they try to expand on their NCAA Provisional marks or hit some of their own. As they enter the final week, the Cardinals have two athletes who have already hit their Provisional marks, Boehm in the 400 and Koroma in both the 110-Meter Hurdles and the 400-Meter Hurdles. They look to add more to the list this week as they continue through postseason play.
Event Details
The Harrison Dillard Twilight will be a two-day event, with just four events competing on day one, followed by the rest of the action on day two. The men's and women's javelin an men's and women's discus kick things off on Thursday and the rest of the events come in the Friday portion of the event. Day one gets things started at 11 AM while day two begins at 1 PM, with both days taking place at the George Finnie Stadium at Baldwin Wallace University, or the Cuyahoga County Fairground in Berea, Ohio.
The Details
Day one of the Harrison Dillard Twilight kicks off on Thursday, May 9th, with the Men's Javelin at 11 AM. You can follow along with Live Results by clicking HERE.
