Wheeling, W. Va. – After taking to the pole vault pit on Wednesday, graduate student Keala McCurry is back in action one last time. She will represent the Wheeling University Women's Outdoor Track & Field team at the St. John Fisher Invitational, serving as the program's final Last Chance Meet. McCurry needs to add .04 meters onto her height to earn the NCAA Provo Mark and qualify for the 2025 NCAA DII Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
Her first Last Chance Meet of the season came at Hillsdale College where she was the lone competitor for the Cardinals in the event. She was coming off the Mountain East Conference (MEC) Championship in the event and was just two events removed from hitting her season-high mark of 3.74 meters at the Otterbein Twilight Invitational. She would be the lone MEC competitor in the event, and one of six competitors from the Atlantic Region. She would reach a height of 3.42 meters, taking sixth at the event. She finished third among her regional opponents, but was unable to hit the NCAA Provo Mark. As she heads into this final Last Chance Meet, she looks to make one more attempt to hit the provo mark, which would guarantee her a spot in the National Championships.
Over the course of her career, McCurry has been one of the top Pole Vaulters in the MEC. She has won the MEC Pole Vaulting title in all four years that she has competed, including setting the record in both the Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field Championships. This past MEC Championships, she fell short of her own record, but was still able to collect the MEC Outdoor Pole Vault Championship with a height of 3.35 Meters. She set the outdoor Track & Field pole vault record at the 2022 MEC Championships when she set a height of 3.75 meters. It was the first of two times that she would hit at least the 3.70 meter mark in her career. She will look to make it three in a row when she heads out to this final Last Chance Meet.
For the Women's Track & Field team, they are looking for their first National Championship qualifier since former Cardinal Liz Fleming qualified for the Shot Put in the 2021 NCAA DII Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The last Cardinal to qualify for the event was Moses Koroma, who ran in the 2023 NCAA DII Outdoor Track & Field Championships in the 110-Meter Hurdles. McCurry is the most veteran athlete on the young Wheeling Track & Field team and ranks as the top Pole Vaulter in the MEC. With their final Last Chance Meet on Sunday, she looks to break the four-year drought of not having a qualifier and get the Cardinals back to the National stage.
McCurry will compete in the Pole Vault of the St. John Fisher's Last Chance Invitational with the event beginning at noon.
