West Liberty, W. Va. – After the multi events took center stage on day one, the rest of the Wheeling University Women's Track & Field team took the competition field for day two on Saturday. It was a heavy day of action on the track with three top five finishes coming in the track events. Wheeling was led by their first individual championship of the event as they continue to set PR's early in the season.
After claiming a top three finish on Friday, junior Madison Conrad was back at it on day two, competing in the Women's 5000 Meter run. She would build off her Friday performance, putting together a PR of 18:55.50 to take the top spot in the race. She would be the only runner in the field to crack the 19 minute mark, beating the next closest runner by 24 seconds and the next closest Mountain East Conference (MEC) runner by nearly a full minute. It was her first time running the 5000 during outdoor season, and she was able to knock just under 10 seconds off her time from her Indoor run. She was one of two Cardinals to compete in the event, with the other runner also picking up a top ten finish. Luci Banks would come in five spots behind her, taking sixth overall with a time of 21:06.67 to round out the 5000.
The distance runners continued their success with senior Gabby Baiano keeping things going in the 3000 Meter Steeplechase. The senior would pick up the second top five finish of the day, taking fourth overall with a time of 13:07.31. Coming off her season with the Wheeling Women's Swimming team, Baiano made her Outdoor debut at the event. It was thefitsy time that the senior competed in the event since last year's conference championship event, and she finished 26 seconds behind that championship mark. The final top five finish on the track would also come from the distance runners, with Jade Trowell competing in the 800-Meter Run. Freshman Jade Trowell would run in the event and finished fourth overall with a time of 2:25.02.
In the field events, it was Autumn Kerschner leading the way in both the High Jump and the Discus, taking home a pair of second place finishes. She would start the day in the throwing pit as one of three Cardinals to throw in the discus event. She kicked things off with a distance of 38.86 Meters, She would end up adding four meters to her throw from the Marty Pushkin Invitational, setting the first of three PR's on the day. She would come back in the Women's High Jump and raised the bar one more level to take second overall. She cleared the 1.55 meter bar for the first time in her career, finishing second in the event to earn her second straight top five finish. While not a top five finish, Kerschner would finish out her day in the shot put with her third PR of the event. She would hit a distance of 9.64 meters, leading the Cardinals in the event, to round out a big day.
Joining her in the shot put was Jalynn Shapley, who finished one spot behind her in 12th with a distance of 9.47 meters. The Women's Long Jump would feature Nyja Short, with the redshirt freshman jumping a distance of 4.42 meters. The final two field competitiors came in the discus event with Shapley and Amber Yoho rounding out the field. Shapley would take 12th, throwing a distance of 28.43 meters, while Yoho took 15th with a distance of 27.96 meters. Aside from the distance runner's success, the Cardinals had one other track event with Short and Rebekkah Merinar running in the 100-Meter Dash. Short would lead the way, finishing 15th in the field at 14.48 seconds, while Merinar finished 19th with a time of 20.00 seconds.
Rounding out the event was Fenne Sienaert, who wrapped up the final three events of the Women's Heptathlon. After picking up a pair of second place finishes on day one, she would add her first individual event championship, and finished at least second in all three events. Her event championship came in the Javelin, where she hit a distance of 34.36 meters. Her multi day started with the long jump, hitting a distance of 4.80 meters, and wrapped up the day in the 800-mete, where she ran a time of 2:33.28. Overall, Sienaert would take second place in the Heptathlon with a score of 3829, finishing 55 Po nts behind Edinboro's Michaela Mitchell for the top spot.
The Wheeling University Women's Track & Field team returns to action on Friday, April 3rd, when they compete on day one of the Cherry Blossom Invitational.
