Skelley Named Student-Athlete of the Week

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Senior Emma Skelley of the West Virginia University women’s swimming team set a WVU Natatorium record in the 1,650 freestyle, while winning three events at the Big 12 vs. Big East Weekend. For her record-setting performance, Skelley has been named the WVU Student-Athlete of the Week, presented by University Apartments.

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Skelley marked her name in the WVU record books, swimming a career-best time of 16:56.11 in the 1,650 freestyle. She bested graduate Rachael Burnett’s previous pool record of 16:59.32.

Aside from winning the women’s 1,650 freestyle, the Manassas, Virginia, native tallied two more individual wins. In the women’s 500 freestyle, Skelley took first place with a season-best time of 1:52.45. Her third individual win came in the women’s 200 freestyle with a season-best time of 1:52.45. She added a third-place finish as a member of the 400 freestyle relay.

The Mountaineers hosted the two-day event from October 14-15, as the WVU men and women dominated over Seton Hall, Xavier and Butler to claim the Big 12 vs. Big East title for the second consecutive year.

This Week in Women’s Soccer: The No. 1-ranked Mountaineers conclude their regular-season road slate with two matches in Texas … WVU first kicks at TCU on Friday, Oct. 21 at 8 p.m. ET … the team closes the weekend at Texas on Sunday, Oct. 23, at 6 p.m. ET … Sunday’s match will be broadcast on FSN.

Last Week in Women’s Soccer: The Mountaineers (13-1-1, 5-0) pushed their win streak to six with a 1-0 victory over Texas Tech on Oct. 14, in Morgantown … the victory also pushed the team’s unbeaten streak in home conference matches to 33, the third-longest active streak in the nation … sophomore forward Hannah Abraham tallied the game-winner in the 82nd minute, with senior midfielder Ashley Woolpert earning the assist … the WVU defense held TTU to just five shots, and freshman Rylee Foster made one save in the first half … WVU finished with a 29-5 edge in shots and forced Red Raider goalkeeper Lauren Watson into eight saves … the Mountaineers also earned a 6-1 edge in corner kicks.

Notes: Friday’s win came in front of 2,068 fans, the second-best attendance mark in program history and the top regular-season mark … the victory pushed WVU’s advantage in the all-time series to 4-2 … all four of Abraham’s goals this season have been game-winners … WVU has not allowed a goal by a Big 12 opponent this season and shows five straight shutouts and nine on the season … the win puts the program’s win total at 299 … earlier in the week, WVU was ranked No. 1 in the NSCAA Poll for the first time in the program’s 21-year history, and the Mountaineers sat at No. 1 in all three major polls for the first time ever … additionally, Foster was tabbed the Big 12 Freshman of the Week.

This Week in Men’s Soccer: WVU (6-5-1) takes to the road for the final four matches of the regular season, beginning at No. 17 Akron on Saturday, October 22, at 7:30 p.m. ET … it marks West Virginia’s second trip to Akron, Ohio, this season, after the Mountaineers opened the year with a 2-0 loss to No. 9 Seattle on August 26 and a 1-0 upset victory against No. 7 Georgetown on August 28.

Last Week in Men’s Soccer: The Mountaineers opened the week with a 1-0 loss to No. 1 Maryland on October 10 … the Mountaineers recorded 15 shots, eight on goal and held the top-ranked and undefeated Terrapins to eight shots, just two on goal … Maryland’s goal came in the 26th minute, to extend UM’s shutout streak to five straight games … WVU closed the week, and its home season, with a 2-1 loss to Buffalo … on Senior Night, senior defender Jack Elliott scored his first goal of the season in the 11th minute before UB answered three minutes later and took the lead in the 36th minute.

Notes: A crowd of 2,019 cheered on the Mountaineers against No. 1 Maryland, the fourth-largest crowd to see a men’s match at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium and the largest since 2010 … WVU held Maryland to a season-low eight shots, while the match was the second time UM was held to just two shots on goal ... West Virginia’s 16 shots tied a season high for a Terrapin opponent and WVU’s eight shots on goal is the first time all season a UM opponent has sent more than five shots on net … before Saturday’s match, West Virginia honored its senior class of Felix Angerer, Mike Desiderio, Christian Diaz, Jack Elliott and Trevor Moon.

This Week in Volleyball: WVU (11-10, 2-5) heads to Kansas for a two-match Big 12 road swing … the Mountaineers travel to Lawrence on Thursday for a match at No. 6 Kansas … first serve is set for 7:30 p.m. ET … on Saturday, West Virginia heads to Manhattan for a 7 p.m. ET match at Kansas State … the Wildcats were in the national rankings earlier this season, but have been receiving votes in the most recent polls.

Last Week in Volleyball: The Mountaineers went 1-1 on the week … on Wednesday, WVU finished nonconference play with a 3-0 sweep of Robert Morris ... Payton Caffrey notched a team-high 17 kills, adding a trio of digs and a block assist … Mia Swanegan had seven kills with a pair of blocks, while Natania Levak and Hannah Shreve each had six kills … Shreve hit a team-best .556 and led the blocking effort with four blocks assists, while Levak added in a pair of block assists as well … the Mountaineers returned to conference play on Saturday, falling to Baylor 3-1 at the WVU Coliseum … the Mountaineers hit .132 with 31 errors and 10 team blocks ... Caffrey finished with a team-high 17 kills to go along with eight digs, a pair of blocks and a service ace ... Swanegan and Morgan Montgomery each had eight kills, while Levak hit a team best .333 with seven kills.

Notes: WVU finished its nonconference slate with a 9-5 mark following its win at Robert Morris … the 3-0 sweep was its seventh of the season as the team has also swept Georgia Southern, Grand Canyon, Winthrop, Dartmouth, Akron and Texas Tech … Caffrey led WVU with 4.86 kills per set this week, ranking second in the Big 12 … her 5.21 points per set put her third in the league … Swanegan lead the blocking effort with 1.43 per set … she finished the week ranked fifth in the league … Caffrey won her fourth Big 12 Rookie of the Week accolade last week … she is the first WVU player to earn more than three weekly honors … Caffrey was also the ninth rookie in the league to earn rookie honors four or more times in a season since the award’s inception in 2008.

Coach Reed Sunahara after the team’s loss to Baylor: “I thought we did some good things, but I thought we dug ourselves too many holes to overcome. Baylor played well. They’re a good team. We’ve just got to figure out how to overcome our deficits.”

This Week in Cross Country: The Mountaineers have two weeks off before competing at the Big 12 Championship in Lubbock, Texas, on October 29.

Last Week in Cross Country: The No. 30 West Virginia University cross country team posted a fourth-place finish at the Penn State National Open in State College, Pennsylvania, on October 14 ... West Virginia finished the regular season strong, taking fourth place with a team score of 145 in the 19-team women’s 6k race ... WVU added two top-11 individual finishes ... WVU’s two top-11 individual finishes came from redshirt juniors Maggie Drazba and Jillian Forsey ... Drazba led the way for the Mountaineers, placing 10th overall with a time of 20:38 ... Forsey was just .03 seconds behind, crossing the finish line in 11th with a time of 20:41 ... redshirt junior Amy Cashin placed 23rd in 20:56, followed by senior Brianna Kerekes in 48th (21:21), redshirt junior Brynn Harshbarger in 53rd (21:28), redshirt freshman Olivia Hill in 64th (21:40) and redshirt senior Megan Yuan in 67th (21:43) ... Harshbarger’s time of 21:28 is a season-best time, shedding .05 seconds off her time of 21:33 that she ran at the Paul Short Invitational on October 1.

Notes: Four nationally ranked teams grabbed the top-four finishes at the Penn State National Open ... No. 8 Penn State won the race with 47 points, followed by No. 25 Mississippi in second (94), No. 14 Oklahoma State in third (114) and No. 30 West Virginia in fourth (145).

Coach Sean Cleary after the Penn State Open: “I thought we were good today. We came off Lehigh a little beat up, yet came out today and ran very hard. We need to correct a few things over the next month to be exactly where we expect to be. Maggie (Drazba) had another strong run to lead the team. Spirits are good, but we want wisdom out of ourselves.”

This Week in Women’s Tennis: West Virginia wrapped up its fall season at the ITA regionals from October 14-16 … the Mountaineers will open the spring campaign on January 21, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, against Pitt … the first home match will be on January 28, as the Mountaineers take on the Akron Zips … all home matches will be held at the Ridgeview Tennis Club until weather permits outdoor play.

Last Week in Women’s Tennis: Six Mountaineers traveled to Norfolk, Virginia, to compete in the ITA Regional Championships … the Mountaineers were able to win three singles events during the tournament, including a first round singles main draw victory for Habiba Shaker.

Notes: The Mountaineers competed in five tournaments this fall … sophomore Yvon Martinez and junior Habiba Shaker each won five singles matches in the fall, leading the team … the doubles tandems of Shaker and Christina Jordan and Kaja Mrgole and Lyn Yuen Choo won four matches to lead the Mountaineers.

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

Last Week in Golf: West Virginia hosted the second annual Mountaineer Intercollegiate, on October 10-11 at Pete Dye Golf Club in Bridgeport … the Mountaineers finished fourth at their lone home event of the year … WVU carded a team score of 298-286-294=878 for 14 over par … Arkansas took home the team title at six under par (858), followed by Mississippi State at five over (869) … Akron finished three strokes ahead of West Virginia for third place at 11 over par (875) … Alan Cooke led the squad with a T-9th finish, shooting 74-71-71=216 to finish even par … freshman Etienne Papineau notched his second consecutive top-20 finish, firing a 71-71-76=218 for two over par … He registered five birdies across the final 36 holes of play to tie for 15th place, the best finish thus far in his young career.

Notes: West Virginia broke into the top 100 of the Golfstat rankings, coming in at No. 91 … the Mountaineers finished ahead of No. 60 James Madison, No. 84 Cincinnati and No. 68 East Carolina at the Mountaineer Intercollegiate … Alan Cooke has taken over the team lead in scoring at 71.71 … Etienne Papineau is second at 72.13 and Max Sear is third at 72.25 … Papineau leads the team in par-3 scoring at 3.00 … Sear is the leader in par-4 scoring at 4.01 and Cooke is the par-5 leader at 4.64 … Sear boasts a team-best 33 birdies, followed by Papineau’s 31 … Papineau and Sear each boast a pair of top-20 finishes.

Coach Sean Covich: “That was our goal – finish in the top five. We had so many talented teams here. Arkansas, Mississippi State, Cincinnati, James Madison… it was a really good field. Our goal is always to finish in the top five so to finish fourth, I’m really proud of the guys for a good effort this week.”

This Week in Swimming and Diving: The Mountaineers travel to Blacksburg, Virginia, to compete against Virginia Tech, Duke and William & Mary, from October 21-22 ... the Hokies will host the two-day event with Friday’s meet starting at 5 p.m. and Saturday’s races beginning at 11 a.m.

Last Week in Swimming and Diving: Senior Emma Skelley set a WVU Natatorium record in the women’s 1,650 freestyle as WVU won the two-day Big 12 vs Big East Weekend from October 14-15 ... the WVU men and women dominated over Seton Hall, Xavier and Butler, claiming the Big 12 vs. Big East title for the second consecutive year ... at the two-day event, the Mountaineers won 31 out of 40 events, including a diving sweep ... the women won 17 of 20 events and the men won 14 of 20 ... Skelley marked her name in the WVU record books, setting a pool record of 16:56.11 in the 1,650 freestyle, besting Rachael Burnett’s previous record of 16:59.32 ... on springboard, six Mountaineer divers qualified for the NCAA Zone Championships, four from men’s team and two from the women ... the men swept the top four finishes on both 1-meter and 3-meter and the women claimed one-two finishes on both 1- and 3-meter.

Notes: Sophomore Merwane El Merini claimed six victories throughout the two-day event, three individual wins and three as part of relay teams ... Skelley claimed a total of three wins during the course of two days ... on Saturday, freshman Julia Miranda led the women’s team in four wins, two individual wins and two from relays ... Michael Proietto took first, on men’s 3-meter, scoring a 361.35 to earn him an NCAA Zone qualifying score ... Proietto was just three points away from breaking the WVU record of 364.45 ... in second place came junior Logan McHenry with a score of 298.05, followed by sophomore Austin Smith in third (290.10) and freshman Gerald Hodges in fourth (278.33) ... on 1-meter for the women, sophomore Julia Calcut won, scoring 282.97 to qualify for NCAA Zones. Sophomore Madelyn Woods placed second with a score of 257.02.

Coach Vic Riggs after winning the Big 12 vs. Big East Weekend: “Both teams had a lot of very well-raced swims today. I did feel that we lost our focus and energy that we had from Friday’s night session going into Saturday morning’s session, but we refocused and had a very strong last session Saturday. Having Emma Skelley break the pool record in the 1,650 freestyle was great, and we had a lot of significant time improvements from last weekend in every event, which was a goal for both the men’s and women’s teams this weekend. I thought our relays were good, but we still have areas we can improve on for next week. We have a big challenge next weekend on the road and this weekend certainly was a good step forward for us.”

This Week in Rifle: The No. 1-ranked Mountaineers stay on the road for a pair of matches in Ohio … WVU shoots at Akron on Oct. 22, and at Ohio State on Oct. 23 … both matches are set to start at 8 a.m.

Last Week in Rifle: WVU (2-0, 1-0 GARC) opened its Great American Rifle Conference (GARC) slate with a 4709-4671 win at NC State on Oct. 15, inside Reynolds Coliseum … the Mountaineers picked up wins in both disciplines, outshooting NCSU 2334-2305 in smallbore and 2375-2366 in air rifle … junior Elizabeth Gratz won smallbore with a career-high 588 … sophomore Ginny Thrasher and freshman Milica Babic tied for the air rifle win with season-high 596s.

Notes: The teams shot smallbore and air rifle inside the Coliseum in an environment that mimicked the NCAA Championships … freshman Morgan Phillips finished second in smallbore with a season-high 587 … Gratz finished fifth overall, third on the team with a season-high 592 air rifle … with the win, WVU improved to 18-0 all-time against NCSU.

This Week Rowing: The Mountaineers are off this week … the novice squad will begin the fall season on November 5, at the Head of the Occoquan in Fairfax Station, Virginia.

Last week in Rowing: The team did not compete last week.

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