Wheeling, W.Va. - Over the last three weeks, the Wheeling University Indoor Track & Field team has challenged themselves competing in three-straight NCAA DI Tournaments. On Friday, that stretch of tournaments wraps up with the first two-day event of the Indoor Season when they compete at the Youngstown State Mid-Major. It will be the team's second trip to The WATT this season and they look to build off their success from the season-opening YSU IceBreaker. 

Last time out, the Cardinals competed at the SPIRE Midwest Open, with several athletes from all levels of the NCAA competing. Across both the men's and women's team, the Cardinals had five top 20 finishers, with two of those coming via a Top 10 finish. The Cardinals had two top finishers in the conference during the week, one coming on the track and one coming on the field. For the men, it was a track-heavy day with five athletes competing on the track, and two of those earning top 20 finishes. On the women's side, it was evenly split with one track athlete taking a top 10 finish and one field athlete taking a top 20 finish on the day. The Cardinals continued to show they could compete against some of the top competitors across the NCAA. 

On the men's side, it was jumper Kabwe Bwalya who led the way with the lone top 10 finish on the men's side. Bwalya competed in both the Triple Jump and the High Jump, with his best performance coming in a 7th place finish in the Triple Jump. He would reach a distance of 13.14 meters, finishing just .09 meters shy of his season-best effort, and he added a 24th place finish in the High Jump, tying his season-high at 1.70 meters. On the track, it was the 60-Meter Dash that led the way, with Joshua Boehm and Jan Wray each finishing in the top 20. Boehm would take 14th overall with a time of 7.11 seconds, while Wray would take 16th with a time of 7.13 seconds.  

For the Women, the leader came on the track courtesy of a career-best day from senior Shannon Farrow. Farrow would compete in the 60-Meter Dash and grabbed the final qualifying spot in the preliminaries with a time of 7.95 seconds. She would come back in the finals and dropped .07 seconds off her qualifying time, running a time of 7.88 seconds. It was enough to earn her a third place finish in the field, marking her highest individual performance of the season. In the field, it was Tara Perry who led the way as she continued her success in the high jump. She would grab the second top 20 finish of the day for the Cardinals, taking 15th overall with a height of 1.50 meters. Perry has finished top 20 in every event this season and looks to continue being a leader in the field events. 

As they enter this weekend's event, the team will be competing in their first two-day event of the season. It will be the second time that the Cardinals are traveling to The WATT this season, after competing their earlier this season at the YSU Icebreaker. After competing in single-day events over their first four events of the season, the Cardinals will get to spread out their talent over two days of competition. It gives them the opportunity to spread their athletes out and set them up for the best opportunity for success. They will once again get the chance to compete against some of the top talent across all three levels of the NCAA as they head into their final three-event stretch before the 2025 MEC Indoor Track & Field Championships. 

Event Details 

The 2025 YSU Mid-Major Open is a two-day event hosted by Youngstown State University inside their Watson and Tressel Training Site. Day one will see half of the field events compete as well as the qualifying sprints races and some of the long distance events. The Cardinals will have competitors on both days of competition and look to continue to put together Top 20 finishes. 

Expected Participants 

Shannon Farrow (60/200), Trinity Ortiz (60), Deja Ryals (60/200), Nyja Short (60), Davonte Courtney (60), Ayoub Jalli (60), Jan Wray (60/200), Bre'ya Clopper (200), Joshua Boehm (200/400), Rain McDaniel (200), Drew Pierce (400), Magnus Polkner (800/Mile), Shane Levesque (800/3000), Tara Perry (60 H/HJ), Kabwe Bwalya (HJ/TJ), Keala McCurry (PV), Jenna Smith (PV), Amber Yoho (SP), Errick Berroa (SP), Tristen Tuttle (SP), Mariah Pelkey (WT). 

The Details 

The 2025 YSU Mid-Major kicks off on Friday, January 31st, inside the WATT with first events beginning at 1 PM.