Wheeling, W. Va. - As October rolls on, the postseason race heats up as crossover season is just one week away. On Wednesday, the Wheeling University Athletic Department announced their weekly Cardinal High Flyer of the Week awards, and it was a pair of personal best performances that earned the honors. Wheeling Football player Solo Love earned the Male High Flyer of the Week and Wheeling Women's Swimmer Grace Moorley earned the Female High Flyer of the Week award.
It was a full week of action for the Cardinals, and it started on the golf course with the Findlay Invitational. The Wheeling Men's Golf team would compete across three rounds, and finished fourth overall with a score of 887 to start the week. Wheeling volleyball would then go on the road to take on Fairmont State, falling 3-1 to start their two-match week. As Wednesday rolled around, the Wheeling Men's and Women's Soccer teams headed to Frostburg State as they kicked off the final week of the regular season. The Men's Soccer team started things off with a 2-2 tie that kept their playoff hopes alive, while the women fell 3-0 in the nightcap. As the weekend approached, it was a Friday road trip for the Cardinals with Volleyball and Men's Rugby hitting the road.
Volleyball would head to The University of Charleston, where they fell in a five-set thriller 3-2, while Men's Rugby dropped a 38-14 tilt against Queens University of Charlotte. Saturday would bring the Cardinals back home, with the Men's and Women's Swimming team playing host to Lenoir-Rhyne. It would be a sweep in the pool, with the men earning a 201-57 lead while the women earned a 132-113 win to complete the sweep. Wheeling Football would wrap up the day on the road, where they held on to beat Frostburg State 27-24. The weekend wrapped up with a Halloween celebration at the annual Trunk or Treat event before Men's and Women's Soccer tool on Point Park. The Women would fall 1-0 to start the day, before the men earned a 2-0 win to give them a clearer path to the postseason.
Solo Love is earning his first Cardinal High Flyer of the Week award of the season after putting together a career-best performance against Frostburg State. He would pull in nine catches for a career-best 160 yards, with his longest catches being a 32-yard completion. While he did not get into the end zone on the day, he set up several Cardinal scores throughout the night, including the game winning tally. He would pull in a 12-yard reception that set the Cardinals up on the one-yard line, before Ayden McKinstry got the ball across the goal line. While setting his career-best, Love would also flirt with program history, falling just 17 yards shy of the single-game reception record. It continued a string of success for Love, that has seen him average 85.0 yards per game, while finishing with 95+ receiving yards in two of those three games.
Grace Moorley is also taking home her first Cardinal High Flyer of the Week award, helping lead Women's Swimming to a win over Lenoir-Rhyne. She would swim in four events on the day for the Cardinals, finishing top two in each of those four events. Her top performance came in the 200-Yard Freestyle, where she would win the event with a season-best time of 2:05.33, beating her previous mark by 0.77 seconds. She would also take on the short distance events, setting her biggest season-best in the 100-Yard Freestyle. Moorley would put together a time of 57.26 seconds, beating her old season-best time by nearly 10 seconds. She would round out the day with a pair of relay events, leading the Cardinals to a 1st place finish in the 200-Yard Freestyle Relay.
Solo Love wins the fifth Cardinal High Flyer of the Week award for the Wheeling Football team, while Grace Moorley earns the first honor for the women's swimming team. Love joined teammates Landon Lutz, Jalen Higginbotham, Ayden McKinstry, and Frederick Woodfork in being honored, while Moorley set the tone for the Women's Swimming program. Last week, the Cardinals honored Woodfork and Women's Golfer Sawyer Hobbs with the honors.
The next Wheeling University athletic event is scheduled for Wednesday, October 28, when the Wheeling Men's Soccer team takes on West Liberty at 5 PM.
