Wheeling, W. Va. – When the Wheeling University Men's Track & Field schedule began back in December, Head Coach Patrick Stanton said he wanted to rebuild the Cardinal culture. With the 2025 Outdoor Schedule in the books, the young Cardinals gained valuable experience in their events. They had one podium finisher and three athletes fighting for spots at Nationals as they build a strong foundation that they can build off of moving forward.
Following a strong Indoor schedule, the Cardinals were right back at it during outdoor season, featuring a mix of DI and DII competition. They started things off competing in the Marty Pushkin Invitational at the same place as the MEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships. They had one individual championship and had five total top 10 finishes on the day as they started things strong. Their next two events would see them battle regional opponents at West Liberty and Slippery Rock, before heading south to enjoy the weather. They would compete at Duke University and Mount Olive, splitting their talent level between the two events. They would have one more run at the Otterbein Twilight, and headed into the Mountain East Conference (MEC) Outdoor Track & Field Championships with two athletes ranked in the top five of their individual events.
The Cardinals would head to the Mylan Park Track & Field facility for three days of competition between the track and the field events. Over the first two days of competition on the track, the Cardinals had four top 10 finishers over the first two days of competition, and would send two runners to the finals of their events. On the final day, the Cardinals would put two athletes on the podium, recording three top five finishes to round out the event. They had one Second Team All-MEC honoree and one Honorable Mention as they took 10th in the field. With three athletes within striking distance of a spot at Nationals, the Cardinals would head to two Last Chance Meets. While the Cardinals fell short of a national championship spot, it was a year of growth for the program as they build a strong foundation for the future.
Leading the way for the group was jumper Kabwe Bwalya, who had the highest individual finish at the MEC Championship event. He would compete in the Men's Triple Jump, and leaped a distance of 14.34 meters to take second overall. It was his highest individual finish in a championship event and fell just .06 meters shy of his PR, which he set back during the Indoor Championships. He also picked up the program's lone Individual Championship of the season, when he took first place in the same event at the Marty Pushkin Invitational. After finishing in third place in the conference in the Triple Jump in each of the last two seasons, Bwalya was able to get over the hump during his senior season. He was one of two Cardinals to make the podium at the event and rounded out a strong four-year career with the Cardinals.
The other Cardinal to make the podium was Joshua Boehm, who battled through injury throughout the season. He competed in the Men's 400-Meter rubabd was able to claim third in the event with a time of 48.35 seconds. It was a strong finish for the senior, who won the individual title a season ago, and was able to bounce back after missing a lot of time due to injury. The Cardinals had two competitors during their last chance schedule, with Magnus Polkner and Shane Levesque both competing in the 1500 Meter. Both would set PRs during the week, with Levesque kicking things off with a 17th place finish at a time of 4:08.34. the schedule would wrap up with a big PR from Magnus Polkner, who competed at Baldwin Wallace. He shaved over two minutes off his PR and rounded out his strong season. Both are set to return next season and look to continue their success in the distance group.
The Wheeling University Men's Track & Field team now heads into the off-season as they look to grow on the track and field heading into 2025-2026.
