Wheeling, W. Va. - After the distance runners kicked off the Last Chance Meet Schedule on Saturday, it will be the distance runners that close out that schedule. The Wheeling University Men's Outdoor Track & Field team wraps up their Last Chance Meet schedule on Friday when the team heads to the Baldwin Wallace Invitational. It will be Magnus Polkner running for the Cardinals as he makes his final push for the 2025 NCAA DII Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
The Men's Track & Field team was last in action back on Saturday, May 3rd, when the team wrapped up the Jesse Owens Classic. The Cardinals were going to spread out the competition across two days, but a lightning storm on Friday postponed the festivities until Saturday. The Cardinals had three athletes scheduled to run at the event, but in the end it would just be a performance on the track that led the way for the team. The Cardinals would pick up a Top 20 finish in the event, as they kicked off the first of two Last Chance meets for the team. With the distance runners starting the schedule, it will be the distance athletes that will wrap up the schedule and try to represent the Cardinals on the National Stage.
The athlete who got things started was sophomore Shane Levesque, who competed in the 1500 Meter run. The sophomore competed amongst 23 other competitors in the field and he would be able to crack the top 20 of the event. Levesque would run a time of 4:08.34 and finished 17th overall in the field. Levesque had been competing in the event throughout the season and has been able to lower his time in three of the last four events, cracking the 4:09.00 mark in every run this season. He set his PR in the event back at the 2025 Mountain East Conference (MEC) Outdoor Track & Field Championships, where he ran a time of 4:03.34, and he put together a strong end to the season.
While he did not post a distance, the other Cardinal to compete was Kabwe Bwalya, who wrapped up his season as one of the top jumpers in the conference. Bwalya would take home a second place finish at the MEC Championships, reaching a distance of 14.34 meters. It was just .06 meters below his PR in the event and helped him achieve his highest individual finish at a championship event in his career. He missed the NCAA Provo mark by .30 meters and finished off a strong career with the Cardinals. It was a strong showing for the Cardinals in the first of two Last Chance Meets for the team and they will have one more chance to push for Nationals.
That chance will take them to nearby Baldwin Wallace University for the Baldwin Wallace Last Chance Invitational. This time, it will be Magnus Polkner representing the team as he competes in the 1500 Meter Run. It will be the first time since the Duke Invitational that Polkner will be competing in the event, where he set his PR in the event with a time of 4:02.40. It was a significant drop in time since the beginning of the year, when he ran a 4:18.49. He ranks in the top 20 in the conference in the event, and will look to inch even closer to the NCAA Provo Mark of 3:48.16. He has dropped his time in every run this season and looks to continue that trend at Baldwin Wallace.
The Details
Polkner will compete in the Men's 1500 Meter Run, beginning at 9:15 PM. You can follow along with Live Results by clicking HERE.
