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McNeil Named Student-Athlete of the Week
March 27, 2017 02:45 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - After claiming the women’s triple jump title on Saturday at the Raleigh Relays, junior Shamoya McNeil, of the West Virginia University track and field team, has been named the WVU Student-Athlete of the Week, presented by University Apartments.
McNeil, a native of Portland, Jamaica, led the Mountaineers on the final day of competition, winning the triple jump with an outdoor career-best mark of 12.80 meters while besting the runner-up finisher by .20 meters. McNeil gained .02 meters from her previous best set at this year’s 49er Classic.
McNeil is ranked No. 11 nationally in the women’s triple jump.
This Week in Baseball: West Virginia returns to the road this week, beginning with the 193rd edition of the Backyard Brawl at Pitt on Tuesday, March 28, at 6 p.m. ET … WVU has won its last four road games in the series and owns a 104-88 all-time record against the Panthers … the Mountaineers then resume Big 12 play at Oklahoma State this weekend … the series in Stillwater, Oklahoma, begins on Friday, March 31, at 7:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. CT, in a contest televised on FSSW+ and FCS Atlantic … Saturday’s first pitch is set for 4 p.m. ET/3 p.m. CT, while Sunday’s game will begin at 1 p.m. ET/noon CT … all four games this week will be broadcast on the Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG on various affiliates throughout the state, online at WVUsports.com, on the Mountaineer Gameday App and the TuneInRadio App … TV and live stream info and links to radio broadcast and live stats for each game can be found on the baseball schedule page on WVUsports.com.
Last Week in Baseball: West Virginia (12-9) went 2-1 last week, winning its home-opening series against Jacksonville … the Mountaineers opened with a 5-3, walk-off win on Friday’s opening day … WVU rallied with four runs in the ninth inning, all with two outs, capped by senior Jackson Cramer’s two-run walk-off home run … the Mountaineers won the series the following day, 8-1, in the opening game of Saturday’s doubleheader … Sophomore Michael Grove was dominant in his first home start of the year, allowing one run on five hits with eight strikeouts in 7.2 innings … in the series finale, played as game two of the doubleheader due to inclement weather expected on Sunday, Jacksonville avoided the sweep, winning 8-2
Notes: West Virginia is 12-9 on the season, 2-1 in Big 12 Conference play and 2-1 at home after a weekend series win against Jacksonville to open the home season … a crowd of 2,084 watched Saturday’s doubleheader, the 13th-largest home crowd in team history and fifth-largest at Monongalia County Ballpark … freshman reliever Kade Strowd earned his first career win with 3.1 innings in relief on Friday, allowing no runs on three hits with two strikeouts and a walk … starter Michael Grove improved to 2-1 on the season, allowing a run on five hits in 7.2 innings on Saturday … Grove struck out eight, his second-highest total of the season, and had no walks … Jackson Cramer hit a home run in back-to-back games, including a walk-off homer on Friday, and he has four in 2017 and 22 in his career … Chase Illig hit his second career home run on Saturday … eight of the nine WVU starters had at least one hit in Saturday’s win … in Saturday’s nightcap, five relievers all pitched 1.0 scoreless innings for WVU, and the final six Mountaineer relief pitchers combined to allow one earned run on six hits in 7.0 innings.
This Week in Gymnastics: The No. 23-ranked Mountaineers play host to the 2017 NCAA Morgantown Regional Championships on Saturday, April 1, at 4 p.m., inside the WVU Coliseum … tickets are on sale now at a discounted rate at WVUGAME.com.
Last Week in Gymnastics: WVU (13-10, 3-3) did not compete last week.
Notes: The Mountaineers will compete against five teams Saturday: No. 6 Alabama, No. 7 Michigan, No. 18 Southern Utah, No. 20 George Washington and Kent State … WVU will open the meet on balance beam … the team’s complete rotation order is: beam, bye, floor exercise, vault, bye, uneven bars … Saturday is the 10th NCAA Regional held in Morgantown since 1983.
This Week in Track and Field: The Mountaineers travel to Palo Alto, California, to compete at the Stanford Invitational on March 31- April 1.
Last Week in Track and Field: A pair of victories in field events led the Mountaineers at the Raleigh Relays in North Carolina on March 24-25 … WVU’s first win came from sophomore Danique Bryan in the women’s long jump on the first day of competition, as she won the event with a mark of 5.86 meters … on Saturday, junior Shamoya McNeil claimed West Virginia’s second win of the weekend, winning the women’s triple jump title with an outdoor career-best mark of 12.80 meters … McNeil gained .02 meters from her previous best, set at this year’s 49er Classic.
Notes: Throughout the two-day competition at the Raleigh Relays, West Virginia added eight top-nine finishes, including the two wins … on Friday, senior Marseille McBeam finished seventh in the women’s high jump invite with a season-best mark of 1.65 meters … in the women’s 400-meter run, junior Bria Welker came in ninth, crossing the finish line in a career-best time of 56.28 … Welker shed .33 seconds off of her previous-best time set during last year’s outdoor season … on Saturday, a West Virginia quartet of redshirt junior Amy Cashin, redshirt freshmen Candace Jones and Anna French and junior Rebecca Wendt took third in the women’s 4x1500-meter relay with a time of 19:05.69 … in the women’s pole vault invite, sophomore Madelin Gardner finished sixth, marking 3.65 meters … junior Rebekah Lafata placed sixth in the women’s pole vault with a mark of 3.50 meters … freshman Amanda Barnes made her debut as a Mountaineer, as she finished seventh with a clearance of 3.50 meters.
Coach Sean Cleary after day two of the Raleigh Relays: “Another positive outing for various events. Shamoya found a way to pull out another win in the triple jump. She is well aware that she can go much further as the weeks go by. Those who competed on the track made improvements from last week. We simply need to keep competing and believing in ourselves.”
This Week in Tennis: The Mountaineers (4-9, 0-3 Big 12) will return to Morgantown for a pair of matches against No. 22 Texas on Friday, March 31, and No. 15 Baylor on Sunday, April 2 … Friday’s match is slated to begin at 3:30 p.m. … the players and coaches will host a free kids clinic after the match … Sunday’s match is set to start at 10 a.m. and is designated as First Responder day … first responders will receive a free WVU Tennis t-shirt and will be recognized between singles and doubles play … weather depending, both matches are to be played on the WVU Tennis Courts, located just below the coliseum ... live stats from both matches will be available at WVUlivestats.com.
Last Week in Tennis: WVU dropped a pair of matches last week against No. 21 Kansas on Friday, March 24, and Kansas State on Sunday, March 26 … the were Jayhawks able to take the doubles point and win the next three consecutive contests in singles play to close out the 4-0 victory … West Virginia opened Sunday’s match by conceding the doubles point … the Wildcats would go on to secure the first three singles matches to take the 4-0 decision.
Notes: Habiba Shaker leads WVU with an 8-4 record at the No. 1 slot … Paula Goetz and Lyn Yuen Choo pace the Mountaineers with a 4-2 record in doubles play ... Goetz has won a team-high eight singles matches.
This Week in Golf: WVU is off this week, but travels to Greenville, North Carolina this weekend … the squad will compete in the East Carolina Intercollegiate on April 3-4.
Last Week in Golf: The Mountaineers traveled to Greenville, South Carolina, to compete in the Furman Intercollegiate at Furman University Golf Club … the Mountaineers shot one under on the day, posting a team score of 287 … WVU moved up three spots to take 14th with a three-round score of 297-295-287=879 for 15 over par … No. 17 Clemson took home the team title at 29 under par with a score of 835, while No. 18 USC Aiken was the runner-up at 15 under par with an 849 … Alan Cooke shot a bogey-free third round to tie the lowest 18-hole total in program history, shooting six under par with a 66 … Cooke moved up 50 spots and into the top 25, taking 23rd place with a score of 74-75-66=215 for one under par … Max Sear made five birdies to finish one over par on the day with a 73 … he totaled 74-73-73=220 to end the tournament four over par and tied for 55th place … Chris Williams also finished one over in the third round, tallying scores of 76-73-73=222 for six over par .. he tied for 66th place.
Notes: Alan Cooke shot six under par to tie the lowest round on record at WVU with a 66 … teammate Max Sear previously carded a 66 at the VCU Janney Shootout this fall … Cooke leads WVU this season with five rounds in the 60s … four players have combined to shoot 11 rounds of 69 or better this season … Cooke, Max Sear, Tristan Nicholls and Etienne Papineau have all recorded at least one round in the 60s … Sear leads the squad with a scoring average of 73.00 … Cooke is a close second at 73.04 … Cooke recorded his fourth top-25 finish of the year.
Coach Sean Covich after the Furman Intercollegiate: “I’m very proud of the way Alan stayed in there and competed today. He didn’t have his best stuff early, but he made clutch par saves to keep his round going then caught fire on his last eight holes. His great round carried us today, but give credit to Chris (Williams), Max (Sear) and the others for closing out their round strong. It’s always nice to shoot under par as a team.”
This Week in Rowing: The Mountaineers are idle this week … The team will return to the water on Saturday, April 8, when they will take on Big 12-foe Alabama at the Big 12 duals in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
Last Week in Rowing: The Mountaineers continued the spring season with a dual race against Georgetown on Saturday in Washington D.C. … the second varsity eight boat overcame a slow start to even the race at the 500 meter mark ... the crew was then able to claim the lead and maintain it down the stretch to finish in 6:21.7, eight seconds ahead of their Georgetown counterparts, who crossed the finish line at 6:29.9 ... the first varsity eight, first varsity four and third varsity eight boats all took second place in their respective races.
Coach Jimmy King after Saturday’s race at Georgetown: “While we didn’t take the team-wide step forward we wanted to see, we did see progress and gained some valuable insight that we’ll begin to apply next week. We’ll take more positives than negatives from today because we identified areas where we can find more speed.”
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