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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Following his performances at No. 16 Mississippi, senior Garrett Spurgeon of the West Virginia University rifle team has been named the WVU Student-Athlete of the Week, presented by University Apartments.

Garrett led the No. 1-ranked Mountaineers to its fourth straight victory of the season, as they defeated the Rebels by a score of 4713-4602 on Sunday, Nov. 1.

Spurgeon set a smallbore career-high score of 590 (197 kneeling, 198 prone, 195 standing) and finished first overall. Spurgeon also shot a season-high 596 (100-98-99-99-100-100) to place first overall in air rifle. With his combined smallbore and air rifle scores, Spurgeon shot a career-high aggregate total of 1186.

With the win, WVU improved to 11-3 all-time against the Rebels.

The Mountaineers hit the road again this week, as they travel to Akron, Ohio for an 8 a.m. match against Murray State, in the Akron Invitational, on Saturday, Nov. 7.

This Week in Women’s Soccer: The No. 2-ranked and top-seeded Mountaineers open the 2015 Big 12 Soccer Championship against No. 8 seed Oklahoma State on Wednesday, Nov. 4, at 12:30 p.m. ET, at Swope Soccer Village, in Kansas City, Missouri … should WVU win, it will meet the winner of No. 4-seed Oklahoma – No. 5-seed Texas Tech on Friday, Nov. 6, at 6:30 p.m. ET … the Big 12 Soccer Championship final will be held Sunday, Nov. 8, at 4 p.m. ET and will be carried on FS1.

Last Week in Women’s Soccer: Due to heavy rain and poor field conditions, the Mountaineers’ (15-1-1, 6-0-1) regular-season finale at Baylor on Oct. 30 was canceled.

Notes: The Mountaineers are the first team in Big 12 history to win four straight outright conference regular-season titles … WVU earned the championship’s top seed for the fourth straight season … WVU’s last game came against the Cowgirls, a 2-1 overtime victory in Stillwater, Oklahoma, on Oct. 23 … sophomore midfielder Carla Portillo scored in the 66th minute, and senior forward Kailey Utley tallied the game winner, her third in as many games, in the 94th minute … junior midfielder Ashley Lawrence assisted on both goals … Hannah Steadman made one save … WVU is 5-0 all-time against OSU, and all five games have been decided by one goal … the last two meetings between the squads have gone to overtime … WVU has allowed five goals all season and shows 13 shutouts, one short of the program single-season record … three Mountaineers earned CoSIDA Academic All-District honors on Oct. 29: Utley, Amanda Hill and Carly Black.

This Week in Men’s Soccer: West Virginia plays its final nonconference match of the regular season when it hosts Penn on Tuesday, Nov. 3, at 7 p.m., at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium … WVU is 1-0 against Penn after a 1-0 road victory last season … the Mountaineers then close out the regular season against Northern Illinois on Friday, Nov. 6 … the Senior Day matchup will now begin at 6 p.m., an hour earlier than originally scheduled.

Last Week in Men’s Soccer: West Virginia fell to No. 6 Akron, 2-0, on Oct. 28, at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium … the Mountaineers controlled play for much of the second half, but could not find the back of the net … the sixth-ranked Zips were WVU’s highest ranked opponent of the season and West Virginia’s first top-six foe at home since 2011 … WVU had eight shots, seven in the second half … all four of WVU’s shots on goal came in the final 45 minutes … Akron had nine shots, four in the second half, with just three shots on goal, two in the second half … senior Jamie Merriam led the team with three shots, one on goal, while sophomore Joey Piatczyc had two shots, both on goal … junior Jack Elliott recorded WVU’s fourth shot on goal.

Notes: Senior Jamie Merriam has been named a finalists for the Senior CLASS Award … he is one of 10 men’s soccer student-athletes to be honored for excelling both on and off the field … nationwide fan voting has begun to help select the winners … fans are encouraged to vote for Merriam on the Senior CLASS Award website (SeniorClassAward.com) through Nov. 23 … fan votes will be combined with media and Division I head coaches’ votes to determine the winner … fans can vote once a day on each device … for the second consecutive year, junior defender Jack Elliott was named to the 2015 Academic All-District 2 Men’s Soccer Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) … Elliott is one of 12 men’s soccer players named to the NCAA Division I District 2 First Team.

This Week in Volleyball: The Mountaineers will travel to Texas this week for a pair of matches … the trip starts on Thursday when they face the No. 2 Texas Longhorns in Austin in an 8 p.m. ET match that will be broadcast on the Longhorn Network … from there, WVU heads to Waco for an 8 p.m. ET tilt with the Baylor Bears on Saturday.

Last Week in Volleyball: WVU dropped a 3-0 Big 12 match to Kansas State on Wednesday at the WVU Coliseum … junior Dzeni Hadzisehovic led the offense with a match-high 11 kills with a trio of block assists … sophomore Morgan Montgomery just missed double figures, ending the night with nine kills and a trio of digs … senior Caleah Wells went for seven kills, hitting .294 with a pair of digs and a block assist … the Mountaineers fall to 5-16 on the season and 0-8 in the Big 12 … WVU donned pink jerseys for the night as part of the Dig Pink match to raise awareness for breast cancer.

Coach Reed Sunahara after the loss to Kansas State: “K-State is a good team. They’re well coached. They have some tradition going on there. We played a good team tonight. I thought we did a much better job in the third set, and we just didn’t capitalize on opportunities.”

This Week in Golf: The Mountaineers will take a winter hiatus … they return to the course on Feb. 15 when they travel to Houston, Texas, for the President’s Day Challenge … the event will be hosted by Rice.

Last Week in Golf: WVU wrapped up the fall season with an 11th-place finish at the Quail Valley Intercollegiate on Oct. 26-27 … the event was hosted by McNeese State at Quail Valley Golf and River Club in Vero Beach, Florida … the Mountaineers were 14th after two rounds of play and jumped three spots in the final round to take 11th overall in the tournament … the team’s third-round score of 289 (+1) ties its second lowest round of the season … West Virginia finished with a three-round score of 299-301-289=889 for 25 over par … Easton Renwick led the way with a 21st-place finish with a three-round score of 72-72-73=217 … Max Sear finished the tournament with a score of 74-76-72=222 for six over par … Mason Short played a bogey-free third round, shooting a 69.

Notes: Easton Renwick led the team with four top-25 finishes in the fall … Renwick tied for 10th at both the Joe Feaganes Marshall Invitational and the Mountaineer Intercollegiate … freshman Max Sear’s runner-up finish at the Wolfpack Intercollegiate was the best finish by a WVU golfer this fall … the duo combined for six top-20 finishes and four top-10 finishes this year … Renwick and Alan Cooke each shot a 67 at the Marshall Invite to tie for the lowest round of the season … WVU’s 283 in the first and third rounds at Marshall was its lowest team round of the fall.

Coach Sean Covich on the Quail Valley Intercollegiate: “I’m proud of our guys today. We had a rough start at four over as a team after the opening hole, then shot three under the remaining 17 holes. I’m really proud of Mason (Short), who had a bogey-free round of 69 today. It was a great way to end the fall.”

This Week in Cross Country: The Mountaineers have two weeks off before they travel to Princeton, New Jersey, to compete at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional on Friday, Nov. 13.

Last Week in Cross Country: On Halloween day, the West Virginia University cross country team placed third at the 2015 Big 12 Cross Country Championship in Stillwater, Oklahoma … the Mountaineers totaled a team score of 118 in the women’s 6k championship race … No. 23 Oklahoma State won the Big 12 title with a team score of 34 points … the team’s that placed in the top five were Iowa State in second (52), WVU in third (118), Kansas in fourth (129) and Oklahoma in fifth (152) … three West Virginia underclassmen posted top-25 finishes … sophomore Maggie Drazba crossed the line first for the Mountaineers and 19th overall with a time of 21:32.5 … sophomore Millie Paladino came in second for WVU and 21st overall, finishing in 21:34.3, followed by sophomore Brynn Harshbarger in 22nd (21:40.4) … sophomore Amy Cashin finished in 26th with a time of 21:47.6 … freshman Anna French raced in her first Big 12 Conference Championship and finished 31st with a time of 21:55.2 … senior Savanna Plombon took 33rd in 22:05.0, followed by senior Kelly Williams in 35th (22:07.2), junior Brianna Kerekes in 37th (22:10.4), sophomore Corinne Kule in 71st (23:22.5) and sophomore Rachel Faulds in 77th (23:47.7).

Notes: In 2014, the Mountaineers placed second at the NCAA Regional meet, where they earned an automatic qualification for the 2014 NCAA Cross Country Championship, marking their seventh qualification in eight years under coach Sean Cleary … the team finished with five top-15 finishers.

This Week in Women’s Tennis: West Virginia resumes play in January for the dual meet portion of the season … the Mountaineers will kick off the spring season when the team travels to Pittsburgh to take on the Panthers on Saturday, Jan. 23, at 10 a.m.

Last Week in Women’s Tennis: West Virginia concluded its fall season at the WVU Martha Thorn Invitational this past weekend (Oct. 23-24) … during the two-day event, the Mountaineers squared off against James Madison and Duquesne in singles and doubles play … West Virginia recorded three singles and three doubles victories against JMU, and six singles matches and three doubles matches against Duquesne … in singles play, senior Hailey Barrett went three-for-four on the weekend, and captured two matches in straight set victories.

Notes: This fall, the Mountaineers competed in five tournaments … sophomore Habiba Shaker leads the team with 10 singles wins, followed by senior Hailey Barrett and sophomore Lyn Yuen Choo with eight victories this season … the doubles tandems of Barrett and Martinez, and Lewis and Choo are also tied for a team-best 4-3 doubles record this fall.

Coach Miha Lisac on the conclusion of the fall season: “We are working on the right things going into the spring season. Each and every player has improved, and we also improved as a team. We are not far off, and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Of course, there is more work to be done, but we can see that we are capable of playing well and can capitalize on points when given the opportunity.”

This Week in Rowing: The West Virginia University rowing novice squad will compete against Duquesne, Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, on Saturday, Nov. 7, on the Allegheny River.

Last Week in Rowing: Following a month off from competition, the Mountaineers traveled to Fairfax Station, Virginia, for the Head of the Occoquan, at Sandy Run Regional Park (Oct. 31) … eight of the Mountaineers’ 10 boats posted top-10 finishes on the Occoquan Reservoir … WVU’s four medals came with first and second-place finishes in the Women’s Collegiate Novice 4+, a bronze medal finish in the Women’s Collegiate Novice 8 and a fifth place finish in the Women’s Championship 4+ … the Mountaineers had one of 26 entries in the Women’s Championship 8 event and three entries in the 31-boat Women’s Championship 4+ race … the novice squad had three of 21 entries in the Women’s Collegiate Novice 4+ event and three entries in the 17-boat Women’s Collegiate Novice 8 race.

Notes: The Head of the Occoquan was the first regatta of the season for the novice team … the two WVU crews that took home gold and silver in the novice 4+ also teamed up to earn the bronze in the novice 8 event … the WVU rowing team also had a strong showing in its fall season opener at the Head of the Ohio, on Saturday, Oct. 3 … the Mountaineers placed first and third in the Women’s Open 4+ and second in the Women’s Open 8+ … to open the day, West Virginia finished second in the Women’s Open 8+, as it faced 12 boats to take a silver medal back home to Morgantown.

This Week in Swimming and Diving: The Mountaineers have three weeks off from competition to prepare for the three-day Tennessee Invite, in Knoxville, Tennessee, on Nov. 20-22 … the meet will begin at 8 a.m. each day.

Last Week in Swimming and Diving: WVU was idle last week.

Notes: After the Big 12 vs. Big East Weekend performance, senior Andrew Marsh was named CollegeSwimming.com’s Big 12 Swimmer-of-the-Week on Oct. 28.

This Week in Rifle: The No. 1-ranked rifle team travels to Akron, Ohio, for a match against Murray State, in the Akron Invitational, on Saturday, Nov. 7 … in the College Rifle Coaches Association (CRCA) Poll released on Oct. 27, Murray State also checked in at No. 1 for the first time under coach Alan Lollar … the match is slated to begin at 8 a.m. ET … WVU is 21-3 all-time against the Racers.

Last Week in Rifle: WVU (4-0, 3-0 GARC) defeated No. 9 Memphis on Saturday, Oct. 31, by a score of 4693-4671, inside the Global Training Academy… the Mountaineers swept the Tigers in both guns, winning air rifle, 2367-2355, and smallbore, 2326-2316 … West Virginia then tallied its fourth straight victory of the season with a 4713-4602 win over No. 16 Mississippi, at the Patricia C. Lamar National Guard Readiness Center … WVU defeated Mississippi in both disciplines, outshooting the Rebels in air rifle, 2375-2332, and smallbore, 2338-2270.

Notes: Senior Michael Bamsey matched his smallbore season-high score of 587 (198 kneeling, 197 prone, 192 standing) and finished first overall against the Tigers … the Cardiff, Wales, native was particularly strong in kneeling, as his 198 mark was one short of the program record … senior Patrick Sunderman and freshman Will Anti tied for fifth place in smallbore with a season-high mark of 579 … in air rifle, freshman Ginny Thrasher shot a season-high 595 (99-98-100-99-99-100) for the second straight match … Anti also tallied a season-high 589 mark in air rifle and finished in sixth place … with the win, WVU improved to 10-2 all-time against the Tigers … senior Garrett Spurgeon set a career-high score of 590 (197 kneeling, 198 prone, 195 standing) against the Rebels to finish first overall … sophomore Elizabeth Gratz matched her smallbore career-high score of 585 … Spurgeon also shot a season-high 596 (100-98-99-100-100) and placed first overall in air rifle … Gratz also matched her career-high air rifle score of 593 (98-100-99-98-99-99) … four shooters had a career day against the Rebels, as Anti Sunderman, Lucas and Spurgeon set career-high aggregate scores … Anti, Sunderman, Lucas and Spurgeon recorded a 1156, 1179, 1181 and 1186 combined totals, respectively … with the win, WVU improved to 11-3 all-time against the Rebels.

This Week in Women’s Basketball: West Virginia continues its final week of preseason preparations before the Mountaineers open the regular season on Saturday, Nov. 14, against Delaware State … tipoff for the contest will be announced once kickoff for the WVU vs. Texas football game has been determined … admission for the season opener is free courtesy of United Bank.

Last Week in Women’s Basketball: Five Mountaineers reached double figures in West Virginia’s 89-48 Haunted Hoops exhibition victory over Shepherd last Saturday … Teana Muldrow and Katrina Pardee each netted 17 points for WVU … preseason All-Big 12 honoree Bria Holmes registered 16 points, while freshman Alexis Brewer scored 14 … center Lanay Montgomery nearly recorded a triple-double with 13 rebounds, 12 points and seven blocks … a spooky crowd of 2,787 attended the fourth annual Haunted Hoops game, which was the second largest attendance for the event.

Coach Mike Carey after the 89-49 victory over Shepherd: “I thought we came out and played harder in the second quarter. We held them to four points (in the quarter). I saw some good things and a lot of things we’ve got to work on. Anytime you have 11 out of your 14 players dressing that are new, it’s going to be a work in progress.”

This Week in Wrestling: No. 21/23 West Virginia officially opens the season on Sunday, Nov. 8, when it hosts Campbell, Drexel and Arizona State at the WVU Coliseum … the event, called the Mountaineer Quad, will start at 10 a.m. … the Mountaineers will welcome back former wrestlers starting on Friday as part of their Alumni and Friends Weekend.

Last Week in Wrestling: Wrestling unofficially opened the season on Sunday when No. 3/4 Zeke Moisey competed in the 50th Annual NWCA All-Star Classic in Atlanta … Moisey, the 2015 NCAA runner-up, wrestled No. 1 Nathan Tomasello of Ohio State in a rematch of last year’s NCAA finals … Tomasello took a 7-1 decision over Moisey in the exhibition match that featured experimental rules, including a 3-point takedown.

Notes: WVU Coach Sammie Henson competed at the 1994 NWCA All-Star Classic, while wrestling for Clemson … Moisey is one of three Mountaineers to start the season in the national rankings … Dylan Cottrell, who will don a singlet this year after sitting out 2014-15 due to transfer rules, has bumped up to 157 pounds and enters the season at No. 15 … Jacob A. Smith, a 2015 NCAA qualifier, ranks No. 10 at 197 pounds … WVU is ranked No. 21 according to the USA Today/NWCA Coaches Poll and No. 23 via InterMat wrestle.

Coach Sammie Henson after the NWCA All-Star Classic: “We’re not pleased with the outcome, but we’re glad we got the opportunity to come to the NWCA All-Star Classic and find where we are at right now. This is a good gauge to start the season.”

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