Wheeling, W. Va. - Throughout the season, the Wheeling University Outdoor Track & Field team has had a young roster that continually built on their success. On Sunday, the team will be looking to peak at the right time when they head to the 2026 Mountain East Conference (MEC) Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The Cardinals finished 10th at last year's event, and are looking to climb the ladder with a young roster showing their impact on the conference stage.
The Cardinals wrapped up the regular season last time out at the Otterbein Twilight Invitational, where they secured four top 10 finishes in their final conference tune-up. On the men's side, it was the field events that thrived, picking up each of the team's top 10 finishes on the day as the Cardinals picked up three PR's in the event. The Pole Vault would see the Cardinals pick up their best finish of the day, with a 3rd place finish. On the women's side, the field events would also take the lead, producing two top five finishes for the Cardinals. It was a final chance for the Cardinals to go against some NCAA DI talent, as well as their normal conference foes, as many of the Cardinal athletes wrapped up their first collegiate outdoor regular season.
Leading the way on the men's side of the event was freshman Alexander Rodriguez, who would end up taking third in the Pole Vault. He would set a new season-high for outdoor season, vaulting a height of 4.60 meters, and finishing just 0.20 meters shy of his indoor record setting vault. He would attempt his PR at 4.90 meters, and nearly got over the bar, but finished strong with the 4.60 meter height. He enters the Outdoor Track & Field Championships as the top seeded pole vaulter and will look to sweep the pole vault titles between indoor and outdoor season. The other top 10 finish would come in an event debut for Jacob Legg in the javelin throw. After nursing a shoulder injury early in the year, Legg would make his collegiate debut in the event, and finished sixth in the field. He would throw a distance of 43.71 meters, hitting the mark on his fourth throw of the day to earn the top 10 finish.
On the women's side, the Cardinals would see two freshmen lead the effort, with Fenne Sienaert and Autumn Kerchner each putting together big efforts to lead the way. The top finish would come from Sienaert, who finished fourth in the javelin with a distance of 35.63 meters. She would end up advancing to the finals with a distance of 34.00 meters, before her fifth throw of the night gave her the best throw of the night. Sienaert has been a breakout freshman for the Cardinals, and enters the tournament ranked second in the Women's Pentathlon. She is looking to end her outdoor season strong and make a case for freshman of the year. Kerchner would round out the day in the javelin, throwing 30.41 meters, while adding performances in the High Jump and Shot Put. Her top performance would come in the High Jump, where she leaped 1.52 meters to finish ninth in the field.
As they head to the 2026 MEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships, the young Cardinals are looking to build on their success from Indoor Season. At the Indoor Championship event, the Cardinals were able to place two on the podium and are looking to add to that number to round out the season. The Cardinals enter the tournament with two number one seeds in their event, with Alexander Rodriguez and Jenna Smith each leading the Pole Vault, while putting two more in the top three, with Fenne Sienaert sitting second in the Pentathlon and Autumn King sitting third in High Jump. The Cardinals would put three on the podium at last year's outdoor championship event, and finished 10th as a team in the field. This year's team has already competed at the Mylan Park Track & Field, competing at the Marty Pushkin Invitational earlier this year, and they look to build on that success as they head to this year's event.
Expected Participants
Jade Trowell (800), Madison Conrad (5000), Gabby Baiano (3000 Steeple), Autumn King (HJ), Autumn Kerchner (HJ/DT/JT), Fenne Sienaert (HJ/JT/HEP), Jenna Smith (PV), JayLynn Shapley (DT), Amber Yoho (DT), Magnus Polkner (800/4x400), Kris Vigars (400 H/4X100/4x400), Taven Mayo (4X100/PV), Abenezer Yirdaw (4x100), Roy Paz Jr. (4x100), Erik Berroa (4x100/4x400/JT), Jacob Legg (4x100/4x400/HJ/JT), Hunter Tomich (4x400), Redick Moore (4x400), Alexander Rodriguez (PV), Felix Manyani (JT)
The Details
Day one of the 2026 MEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships is set to begin on Sunday, April 26th, with first events at 11:30 AM. You can watch certain events live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Results right HERE.
