Wheeling, W. Va. - As the month of March wrapped up, it is coming down to the final month of the regular season for the Wheeling University spring sports programs. Athletes are looking to peak at the right times, and two Cardinals put their teams on their backs as the Athletic Department announced their weekly Cardinal High Flyer of the Week awards. Wheeling Track & Field athlete Madison Conrad earned the Female High Flyer of the Week award while Baseball player Gavin Millians took home the Male High Flyer of the Week honor.
The final week of March would kick-off on the golf course with Men's Golf traveling to the CAL-U Invitational. Wheeling would shoot a 601 across two rounds, finishing in a three-way tie for second in the field. Wheeling Men's Lacrosse would start a Cardinal Monday doubleheader when they hosted Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) leading Seton Hill and battled in a 17-3 match-up. The second half of the doubleheader would be at The Highlands Sports Complex, where Wheeling Softball split a doubleheader with Point Park, taking the first game 13-4 and following that with a 9-6 loss in game two. The Cardinal Softball team would keep the action going on Wednesday when they hit the road to face West Liberty, falling by scores of 5-4 and 11-0. It would be a Lacrosse doubleheader on Thursday, with the men kicking things off in a 20-13 loss to Northwood before Women's Lacrosse took down Davis & Elkins in a 14-9 game.
As the week gave way to the weekend, Outdoor Track & Field would head to the Tim Weaver Invitational, getting their first look at the conference. Wheeling would walk away with two individual event championships, while adding several top three finishes to round out the effort. On Saturday, the Wheeling Men's Rugby team kicked things off going a perfect 4-0 at the Fighting Irish 7's, winning their second straight tournament. Softball would travel down to Charleston, West Virginia, being swept by scores of 2-0 and 8-0. Acrobatics & Tumbling would round out the Saturday action with a trip to Kutztown, where they fell 202.200-185.360. The Baseball and Softball teams would round out the weekend, with baseball playing at home and Softball traveling to Institute, West Virginia. Softball would split with the Yellow Jackets, falling 6-4 in game one before a 7-5 game two win, while Baseball picked up a 4-2 game one win and an 8-6 game two win to complete the sweep of the Pioneers.
Madison Conrad is earning her third Cardinal High Flyer of the Week award of the season, after putting together her strongest performance of the outdoor season so far. She would compete in both the 1500 M Elite and the 5000 Meter during the week, picking up two top three finishes to lead the effort. Her top performance would come in the Saturday portion of the event, when she competed in the 5000 Meter Run. She would set her second PR of the meet, running a time of 18:55.50 to take the top spot in the field by 24 seconds over Pitt Cross Country Club runner Madeline Mumma. It was her first individual event championship of the season, and complimented a strong performance in the Elite group of the 1500 Meter. She would compete in the Elite group of the 1500, where she would finish third in the field with a time of 5:08.27. She would finish just under 50 seconds shy of the top spot to round out a strong weekends.
Millians put the offense on his back in the team's doubleheader with Glenville State, increasing his RBI streak to six straight games. He would combine to go 3-7 between the two games against Glenville State, hitting a home run, a double, and driving in three runs. In game one, Millians would hit a two-run home run to start the bottom of the second to get the Cardinals started in a 4-2 win over Glenville State. He would come back in game two, delivering an RBI single up the middle to help the Cardinals to an 8-6 win. He would start a weekend that featured five home runs with his home run in the bottom of the second inning in game one. He was the reigning MEC Hitter of the Week, and carries a 10-game hitting streak into the new week.
The next Wheeling University athletic event is scheduled for Wednesday, April 1st, when Wheeling Men's Lacrosse hosts Point Park at 7 PM.
