Wheeling, W. Va. - As they entered the 2024-2025 season, Head Track & Field Coach Patrick Stanton was looking for both teams to build the foundation and the culture of the Wheeling Track & Field program. With several veteran athletes leading the way, the Wheeling University Women's Outdoor Track & Field team continued laying those building blocks for success during the 2025 outdoor season. With an individual MEC Champion and a push for a National Championship spot, the young Cardinals got the chance to see what it means to be a Cardinal.
After an indoor season that also saw them bring home an individual title, the Cardinals headed into a six-event schedule, that would once again challenge them against some of the top athletes in the region. They began things at the WVU Marty Pushkin Invitational, held at the site of the 2025 Mountain East Conference (MEC) Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Mylan Park. The field events would start things strong, picking up a top 10 finish before the team headed to regional play. They competed at the Tim Weaver Invitational, hosted by West Liberty, and the Dave Labor Invitational, hosted by Slippery Rock as they saw many of their regional opponents. They would head down south the following week, splitting the squad between Duke and Mount Olive. They would hit their final competition at the Otterbein Twilight and headed into the outdoor championships with momentum behind three top 10 finishes from their senior group.
The Cardinals would compete across three days of competition and ended up putting one athlete on the podium. It was their lone individual champion of the event, as Keala McCurry won the MEC's Pole Vault championship for the third season in a row. Across the three days, the Cardinals would have five top five finishers, and McCurry would continue into the postseason schedule. She competed at the Hillsdale Invitational to round out the year and round out a strong four-year career with the Cardinals. Despite not sending any athletes to nationals, the Cardinals have some strong young pieces in place, that look to be the foundation of the Cardinal's success in seasons to come.
As the longest-tenured athlete of the group, Keala McCurry took on the leadership role for the young Cardinals team and led the way throughout the season. She would pick up two first place finishes in the Pole Vault throughout the season, while also reestablishing herself on the track. In the Pole Vault, her top performance came in the final meet of the regular season, when she finished .01 meters shy of her PR. She vaulted a height of 3.74 meters at the Otterbein Twilight, finding herself just .05 meters shy of the NCAA Provo Mark. As the season began to wind down, McCurry would compete in the 400-Meter Hurdles for the first time since her sophomore season. She would start out strong, setting a PR of 1:07.03 at the Otterbein Twilight, and dropped that time by nearly three seconds in her final run, taking fourth at the Outdoor Track & Field Championships with a time of 1:04.80.
The veteran leader for the Cardinals on the track was Shannon Farrow, who competed in both the 100-Meter and 200-Meter Dash throughout the year. The 100-Meter would prove to be her top event, and she came out the gates with a PR of 12.82 seconds. In her final four events, she would lower that time three times, ending the year with her PR of 12.54 in the event at the MEC Outdoor Championships, taking 10th overall in the field. At that same event, she would also set her PR in the 200-Meter Dash, running a time of 26.19 to finish 15th in the conference. In the field events, the Cardinals were led by Trinity Ortiz in the Women's Javelin, competing in the event for just the second season. She eclipsed the 30-Meter mark in every throw during the season, with her best performance coming with a 33.20-meter mark at the Tim Weaver Invitational.
The Wheeling University Women's Outdoor Track & Field team now heads into the offseason as they look to build on their success and continue laying a foundation for success into the future.
