Morgantown, W. Va. – After the throwers kicked off the Marty Pushkin Invitational on Friday, the rest of the Wheeling University Men's Outdoor Track & Field team made their way to Mylan Park on Saturday. Many of the Cardinals were competing in their first collegiate outdoor events, and the Cardinals would finish with three top ten finishes throughout the day. Included in that was their second individual event champion, as they rounded out their first event of the year and the preview of the 2026 Mountain East Conference (MEC) Track & Field Championships.

The second individual Cardinal champion of the event would come on the track as a pair took on the 800-Meter Dash. After a historic run during Indoor season, it was sophomore Magnus Polkner who took home the title, running the event in 1:54.31. It was a fast start that got Polkner going, running the first 400 in 55.90 and it was enough to hold off the rest of the field. It was a close battled for the top spot, with Polkner beating out DeSales, Jozef Callano by .42 seconds on the track. He would also beat out 15 other runners across the MEC, holding off Frostburg State's Gage Osbourne to take the conference crown. It was just .49 seconds slower than his PR in the event as he started outdoor season during. The other Cardinal to compete in the 800 was Tyler Crook, who took 52^nd in the field with a time of 2:18.21 to round out the event.

The other two top 10 finishes would be split between the track and field events, with two different freshman stepping to the plate. The final top five finish would come from Alexander Rodriguez, fresh off his MEC Indoor Championship in the Men's Pole Vault. He carried the momentum into his outdoor season, hitting a height of 4.25 meters to finish third in the field. He would finish as the top DII competitor in the field, and beat out the next closest conference opponent by . 15 meters. The next top 10 finish would come from Kris Vigars, who stepped up for the 400-Meter Hurdles in his first collegiate attempt at the event. He would get off to a strong start, running a time of 1:00.51 to finish seventh overall in the field. It was good for second among the MEC competition in the field as well as second among the NCAA DII competition. Both freshmen got their outdoor seasons started with a bang and look to continue the success throughout the season.

The day on the track would begin with the 100-Meter Dash, with Abenezer Yirdaw making his Cardinal debut. Yirdaw would finish 28^th in the field, running a time of 12.25 to kick-off the running events. The distance runners finished out the day on the track, with Hunter Tomich and Reddick Moore competing in the 1500 Meter run. Tomich would lead the way, finishing 37^th with a time of 4:30.81, while Moore finished 49^th with a time of 4:42.71. The day two field events would see one Cardinal in competition, with Marcelin Tote competing in Long Jump. He would finish 20^th in the field, setting a PR of 5.12 meters to round out the day.

The Wheeling University Men's Track & Field team returns to action on Friday, March 27^th, when they compete at the Tim Weaver Invitational.