Gillespie Named Athlete of the Week

Gillespie

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Senior Kaitlyn Gillespie of the No. 9-ranked West Virginia University cross country team has been named the Varsity Sports Report Athlete of the Week after a top-five finish at the 2014 Big 12 Cross Country Championships in Lawrence, Kansas.

Gillespie was the first Mountaineer across the line, finishing in fifth overall, while helping the Mountaineers to a second-place finish. The Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, native completed the 6k course in 20:18.1.

Gillespie earned All-Big 12 honors for her performance and also garnered Academic All-Big 12 First Team distinctions earlier in the week. Gillespie and the Mountaineers travel to State College, Pennsylvania, for the 2014 Mid-Atlantic Regional Meet on Friday, Nov. 14.

This Week in Women’s Soccer: The No. 8-ranked Mountaineers look to defend their title at the 2014 Big 12 Soccer Tournament, set for Nov. 5-9, at Swope Soccer Village, in Kansas City, Missouri … WVU, the No. 1 seed, opens against No. 8 TCU on Wednesday, Nov. 5, at 12:30 p.m. ET.

Last Week in Women’s Soccer: WVU (14-2-2, 7-0-1) pushed its unbeaten streak to 15 with a 2-0 win over Baylor in its regular-season finale at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium on Oct. 31 … freshman forward Michaela Abam scored both goals, including the game winner in the 52nd minute … senior defender Jess Crowder assisted on the first goal, and junior forward Kelsie Maloney assisted on the second in the 86th minute … WVU denied BU a shot on-goal and finished with seven of its own … the Mountaineers owned a 25-3 edge in shots and an 8-1 advantage in corner kicks.

Notes & Quotes: Friday’s game was the final home regular-season contest for Crowder and classmates Ali Connelly, Katie Osterman and Kate Schwindel … WVU has not lost a home conference match since 2009, a streak of 26 straight contests … the Mountaineers have earned seven wins in each of their three seasons in the Big 12 … the squad is the seventh team to win the Big 12 regular-season title without a loss … WVU denied BU a shot in the final 71 minutes of Friday’s match … Abam’s two-goal outing was the second of her season … she now shows a team-best seven goals … WVU played TCU to a 0-0 draw in Fort Worth on Sept. 26 … the Mountaineers are 2-1-1 all-time against the Horned Frogs.

This Week in Men’s Soccer: WVU will play its final regular-season match of the season at Western Michigan on Saturday, Nov. 8. Kick off is scheduled for 1 p.m.

Last Week in Men’s Soccer: WVU extended its win streak to four games with a pair of shutout victories over Penn (1-0) and Buffalo (3-0).

Notes and Quotes: West Virginia currently has a 10-6-1 record (2-1-1 MAC) … with the win against Buffalo, the Mountaineers clinched a spot in the MAC Championship field … sophomore Mike Desiderio scored the lone goal in the eighth minute at Penn on a free kick from senior Andy Bevin … on Saturday’s Senior Day, Bevin scored all three goals, his first career hat trick … junior Jamie Merriam added two assists, while senior goalkeeper Lee Johnston registered his fourth shutout of the season … Bevin continues to lead the team with 12 goals, eight assists and 32 points, while Merriam has seven goals, five assists and 19 points … additionally, Bevin has 30 goals, 19 assists and 79 points in his career.

Coach Marlon LeBlanc: “I’m on record as saying there isn’t a better Mountaineer out there. For him to get three goals on Senior Day really does earmark one of the greatest Mountaineer campaigns in WVU soccer history. He is arguably the best advertisement this University has for being a student-athlete and what it means to be a student-athlete.” – coach Marlon LeBlanc on Andy Bevin.

This Week in Volleyball: WVU will host Iowa State on Saturday in a 4 p.m. contest at the WVU Coliseum ... the Mountaineers will celebrate Superhero Day.

Last Week in Volleyball: The WVU volleyball team traveled to Texas and Oklahoma for a pair of matches ... despite making an incredible comeback to win set three, the Mountaineers dropped a 3-1 Big 12 match to TCU in Fort Worth on Wednesday ... Jordan Anderson recorded a double-double with 22 kills and 10 digs in the match, setting a program single-season kill record for a sophomore with 402 on the season ... West Virginia then suffered a 3-0 setback at No. 25 Oklahoma on Saturday – the fifth nationally ranked team the Mountaineers have faced this season ... Hannah Sackett had 10 kills in the loss.

Coach Jill Kramer: “I really like the way we came out in the first set. I think if we would’ve played with that type of determination and energy the entire match, the outcome could’ve been different. We’ll learn from tonight and get better from it.”

This Week in Cross Country: The Mountaineers are idle this week, before competing at the 2014 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional on Friday, Nov. 14.

Last Week in Cross Country: No. 9 West Virginia placed second at the 2014 Big 12 Cross Country Championships in Lawrence, Kansas … it marked the second straight year West Virginia finished second in the league.

Notes & Quotes: Senior Kaitlyn Gillespie finished fifth overall in 20:18.1 … Gillespie joined redshirt freshman Maggie Drazba and sophomore Jillian Forsey as Mountaineers who earned All-Big 12 distinctions after finishing in the top 15 … WVU finished ahead of No. 28 Baylor and No. 21 Oklahoma State … West Virginia has recorded a top-five finish at all five of its competitions this season … earlier in the week, 10 student-athletes earned Academic All-Big 12 First Team honors.

Coach Sean Cleary: “We had a few girls a little off their game for various reasons, and they will surely be much better as we go forward. What makes me proud and excited is that we had a number of girls have huge improvements today, providing the type of depth required in the championship meets. We will enjoy this briefly before refocusing.”

This Week in Tennis: The Mountaineers are idle until the spring season.

Last Week in Tennis: WVU hosted the WVU Martha Thorn Invite at Ridgeview Racquet Club from Oct. 31- Nov. 1 ... in doubles action, the Mountaineers went 3-1 on the weekend ... junior Hailey Barrettt and senior Ikttesh Chahal pushed their win streak to 4-0 this season as they defeated Liberty’s Brittany Yang and Nicole Wellman with a score of 8-7 (4) ... in singles play, WVU went a combined 11-5 on this weekend ... freshman Lyn Yuen Choo stands at a team-best with 10 singles wins thus far ... freshman Carolina Lewis went undefeated (3-0) in singles action.

Notes & Quotes: The Mountaineers have a combined overall record of 68-40 this fall.

Coach Miha Lisac: “I thought it was a good weekend of competition, and the tournmanet went very well. In our case, we did not start off well, but we progressed throughout the weekend. We are definitely looking to carry this positivity and momentum into the spring season.”

This Week in Swimming and Diving: The Mountaineers are idle until the Mizzou Invite in Columbia, Missouri, from Nov. 20-22.

Last Week in Swimming and Diving: West Virginia was idle last week and hasn’t competed since splitting a dual meet at Villanova on Oct.25.

Notes & Quotes: The men’s squad sits at 1-1 to start the 2014-15 campaign, while the women are still searching for their first dual-meet win of the season … the men earned a 174-85 win over Villanova in their most-recent outing, led by a sweep in the 500 free and 1,000 free by freshman Pierce Bradshaw … the women fell just short against the Wildcats, however, senior Julie Ogden earned a sweep in the 100 and 200 fly events … WVU will enjoy a three-week break from action before returning to competition at the Mizzou Invite on Nov. 20-22.

This Week in Rowing: The Mountaineers close the fall season as the novice squad faces Duquesne in a scrimmage on the Monongahela River on Friday, Nov. 7.

Last Week in Rowing: WVU traveled to Fairfax Station, Virginia, on Saturday, Nov. 1, where both the varsity and novice squad competed at the Head of the Occoquan at Sandy Run Reginal Park ... the novice squad posted two top-five finishes in the Women’s Collegiate Novice 4+ event, earning a silver and bronze medal ... the first novice boat, consisted of Lindsay O’Donnell, Lily Westerman, Anna Cokeley, Nikki Jarrell and coxswain Courtney Caugh earned a bronze medal (21:39.89), and the second novice boat, raced by Mollie Fisher, Sarah Mitchell, Abbigail Rees, Jacqueline Spiropoulous and coxswain Carly Spear earned a silver medal (21:10.89) ... the Mountaineers had two entries in the Championship Women’s 8+ event ... the first varsity boat, consisted of Elizabeth Duarte, Megan Brophy, Lisa Deklau, Susannah Hartlove, Elizabeth Kantak, Louisa Morgan, Madison James, Colleen Giesbrecht and coxswain Abigail Harris earned a sixth-place finish (17:57.07) out of 45 teams.

Coach Jimmy King: “Coach Merritt’s novice squad represent WVU well in their first race as Mountaineers, earning medals in the novice fours. I’m looking forward to seeing what they do next week in head to head competition when they scrimmage Duquesne.”

This Week in Rifle: The No. 1-ranked West Virginia University rifle team (3-0, 1-0 GARC) returns to the WVU Rifle Range this weekend, Sat., Nov. 8, against Great American Rifle Conference (GARC) foe No. 9 Memphis.

Last Week in Rifle: WVU Rifle was idle this week.

This Week in Wrestling: The Mountaineers are off this week.

Last Week in Wrestling: The Mountaineers opened the Sammie Henson era at the Michigan State Open in East Lansing, Michigan on Sunday ... 2014 NCAA National Qualifiers Bubba Scheffel and Michael Morales led the way, with Scheffel taking fifth at 184 pounds, going 5-1 with a pin and a major decision ... Morales took sixth in his new weight of 141 pounds, earning a major decision in the process ... Tim Wheeling took eighth at 165 pounds while Jake S. Smith wrestled unattached to win the title at 141 pounds and Zeke Moisey also wrestled unattached to take third at 125.

Notes & Quotes: “Michigan State was a true measuring stick for our program. We have a lot to work on and I know we have the wrestlers who will put in the work,” said coach Sammie Henson. “Our wrestlers competed hard, but we have to compete smarter and grow our wrestling knowledge and our skills.”

This Week in Women’s Basketball: WVU is idle this week ... the Mountaineers open the 2014-15 campaign against Eastern Kentucky on Saturday, Nov. 15 in the Preseason WNIT.

Last Week in Women’s Basketball: The No. 17-ranked West Virginia women’s basketball team collected an 87-49 victory over Wheeling Jesuit during the annual Haunted Hoops exhibition game last Friday evening at WVU Coliseum ... all nine Mountaineers scored in the win ... WVU strung together a defensive effort that held the Cardinals under 30 percent shooting and out-rebounded WJU 58-to-31 ... Bria Holmes, the Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year, registered a team-leading 22 points and nine rebounds in 27 minutes of action.

Notes & Quotes: “I’ve got to find a lot of answers. We have nine people playing, we have to find at least seven that will play hard. People are going to have to play a lot of minutes. We have to be in shape. That means you can’t get in foul trouble. We’ve got to play that way,” said coach Mike Carey.

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Gillespie Named Athlete of the Week

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