Gardner Named Student-Athlete of the Week

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - After soaring to record-breaking heights on the first day of the Virginia Challenge on April 21, sophomore Madelin Gardner of the West Virginia University track and field team has been named the WVU Student-Athlete of the Week, presented by University Apartments.

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A native of Williamstown, West Virginia, Gardner quickly got things started for the Mountaineers at UVA, as she tied Georgia Stefanidi from Georgia for the pole vault win, while setting a WVU school record of 4.13 meters (13’-6 ½”). Gardner bested former Mountaineer record holder Katlyn Shelar’s 4.10 meters (13’-5 ¼”), which was set in 2013.

Gardner has climbed up WVU’s outdoor top-five list continuously, as she cleared a then-personal best 4.00 meters (13’-1 ½”), the second-best height in program history, just last weekend at the Bison Outdoor Classic.

Following her 4.13-meter mark in the pole vault, Gardner is tied for 33rd nationally and 12th in the east region, and she is ranked sixth in the Big 12 Conference.

This Week in Baseball: West Virginia’s five game roadtrip concludes at rival Virginia Tech on Tuesday, April 25, at 5:30 p.m. ET, in Blacksburg, Virginia … WVU then returns home for a series against No. 19 Oklahoma, from April 28-30 … the series begins on Friday, April 28, at 6:30 p.m. ET … Saturday’s first pitch is set for 4 p.m., while Sunday’s contest commences at noon … Sunday’s finale will be broadcast locally on the Nexstar Media Group’s network of statewide affiliates … tickets for the Oklahoma series are still available, at 1-800-WVU GAME, WVUGAME.com or at the Mountaineer Ticket Office in the WVU Coliseum or on gameday at Monongalia County Ballpark … there are multiple promotions set for all three games against OU, which can be found on WVUsports.com/promotions … links to live streams, radio broadcasts and live stats for all four games this week can be found on the baseball schedule page on WVUsports.com.

Last Week in Baseball: West Virginia went 2-2 last week, all on the road … the week began with an 8-4 win at in-state foe Marshall, as WVU completed the season series sweep in front of a near-capacity crowd of 4,217 in Charleston, West Virginia … WVU scored runs in five of the first six innings, led by sophomore Ivan Gonzalez, who had four hits, three RBIs, three runs scored and was a triple shy of the cycle … West Virginia then traveled to Manhattan, Kansas, for a series at Kansas State … the Mountaineers went 1-2, losing their first Big 12 series of the season and becoming the final conference team to lose a Big 12 weekend series … Kyle Gray led WVU offensively at K-State, with three hits in each game … WVU opened the series with a back-and-forth, 9-7 win at K-State, trading the lead five times before scoring four runs in the eighth inning … both teams had 13 hits, but reliever Braden Zarbnisky held K-State to just two hits in the final 2.2 innings as he picked up his team-leading fifth win of the year … trailing 7-5 in the eighth inning, WVU rallied with four runs on four hits with five stolen bases, including TJ Lake stealing home to score the tying run … the series was evened the following day with an 8-4 loss, as both teams scored two unearned runs … reliever Sam Kessler suffered the loss, allowing just two hits and two unearned runs in 4.1 innings with a strikeout and two walks … Kessler relieved sophomore right-handed starter Michael Grove, who faced three batters in the first inning before leaving with an arm injury … WVU lost the finale, 11-4 on Sunday, snapping a string of six consecutive weekend series wins for the Mountaineers … Kyle Gray had another three hits, including a home run, and was a triple shy of the cycle … freshman starter Alek Manoah pitched 4.0 innings and allowed one run on one hit with a strikeout and four walks, but earned a no-decision.

Notes: Following a 2-2 week, West Virginia improved to 23-15 on the season and is tied for second place in the Big 12 with a 9-6 record … the Mountaineers are 8-4 against top-25 teams, with all but three games coming on the road … West Virginia was ranked in the top-25 for the first time since 1982 last week and ranked nationally in four polls for the first time in program history … WVU appeared in five of the six national polls last week, and was ranked as high as No 21 by Baseball America and D1 Baseball … WVU’s series loss at Kansas State snapped a string of six consecutive weekend series wins, and West Virginia became the final Big 12 team to lose a conference series this season … West Virginia improved to 45-24 all-time against Marshall and 15-3 in the last 18 games, sweeping the season series for the second consecutive season … Ivan Gonzalez and Kyle Davis homered at Marshall, it was Gonzalez’s third and Davis’ fifth long ball of the year … Riley Troutt earned his first career win at Marshall, pitching the final 5.0 innings and allowing no runs on four hits with four strikeouts and no walks … reliever Braden Zarbnisky improved to a team-best 5-0 with 2.2 innings in relief at Kansas State … Kyle Gray had a career-high-tying three hits and four RBIs in Friday night’s win, and backed it up with three hits on Saturday and three more on Sunday, where he hit his second career home run and was a triple shy of the cycle.

This Week in Rowing: The Mountaineers will travel to Philadelphia, on Saturday, April 29, to take on Temple, Delaware, and Navy.

Last Week in Rowing: WVU competed in a pair of events last weekend as they took on Duquesne and Dayton in Pittsburgh on Saturday, and raced in the George Mason Invitational, in Fairfax Station, Virginia, on Sunday ... on Saturday, the Mountaineers braved adverse weather conditions and were able to win two of the three races ... due to increased river flow because of overnight rains, both varsity four and all novice events were cancelled because of safety concerns ... instead, the first and second varsity fours combined to make up the third varsity eight crews for each team ... West Virginia’s second varsity eight and third varsity eight crews were able to best their counterparts, while the first varsity eight boat finished just .04 seconds behind Dayton to take second ... on Sunday, the Mountaineers competed in the George Mason Invitational, where they won all three of their event finals to help the Big 12 Conference secure a victory ... over the course of the day, three conferences - the Big 12, Colonial Athletic Conference and Atlantic 10 - competed for bragging rights in a unique competition that pitted each conference against one another instead of the individual schools ... the Big 12 was able to take the competition by securing 52 points ... the Atlantic 10 finished second with 30 points and the Colonial Athletic Conference finished third with 26.

Coach Jimmy King after the George Mason Invitational: “Today, the varsity eights, and in particular the first eight, took steps forward in understanding how to better move their boats. I’m especially pleased with how the first eight bounced back from yesterday’s racing. Their afternoon final was the most complete race they have put together this season, but there are still areas to improve, meaning there is still more speed to be gained.”

This Week in Track and Field: West Virginia will compete at the prestigious Penn Relays from April 27-29 in Philadelphia.

Last Week in Track and Field: The Mountaineers competed at the Virginia Challenge in Charlottesville, Virginia, from April 21-22 … the two-day event at UVA was highlighted by a WVU record from sophomore Madelin Gardner and a pair of victories in field events … Gardner tied Georgia Stefanidi from Georgia for the pole vault win, clearing a WVU school record of 4.13 meters (13’-6 ½”) … Gardner bested former Mountaineer record holder Katlyn Shelar’s 4.10 meters (13’-5 ¼”), which was set in 2013 … Gardner has climbed up WVU’s outdoor top-five list continuously, as she cleared a then-personal best 4.00 meters (13”-1 ½”), the second-best height in program history, just last weekend at the Bison Outdoor Classic … the Mountaineers’ second win came from sophomore Danique Bryan in the women’s long jump, winning with a mark of 6.25 meters (20’-6 ¼”) … Bryan also notched a runner-up finish in the women’s triple jump with a career-best mark of 12.99 meters (42’- 7½”), the fourth best in WVU history.

Notes: Other notable performances last weekend were freshman Amanda Barnes in the pole vault as she vaulted a career-best meters (12’-2 ¾”), improving .03 meters from her previous best set at the Bison Outdoor Classic last weekend … junior Rebekah Lafata placed ninth in the pole vault with a mark of 3.33 meters (10’-11”) … junior Shamoya McNeil represented West Virginia in the triple jump invite, as she placed seventh with a clearance of 12.73 meters (41’-9 ¼”) … debuting in her first 10,000-meter race, redshirt freshman Olivia Hill placed 16th with a time of 36:29.63 … in the women’s 1,500-meter run, junior Amy Cashin placed 17th with a season-best time of 4:25.09, shedding 1.65 seconds off her previous time set at the Bison Outdoor Classic.

Coach Sean Cleary about the Virginia Challenge: “Another fantastic afternoon for the jumpers. Danique had a career-best mark in the triple to add to her breakthrough last week in the long jump. Her confidence is at a place that we can only hope becomes contagious to her teammates. Maddie has been waiting for this day for a few years now. All of her hard work was rewarded in this school record performance. What makes this competition even better for Maddie is that she was clean through 4.13 meter. Our vault program has been quite successful over its history- to be the best of the best is something that she should cherish.”

This Week in Tennis: The Mountaineers (4-15, 0-9 Big 12) head to the Big 12 Championship in Norman, Oklahoma, which begins on April 27 ... as announced by the league on Sunday, the No. 10-seeded Mountaineers face No.7-seed Kansas at the Headington Family Tennis Center in a 2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. CT first round match on Thursday ... Thursday’s match will be broadcast live on FloTennis.com ... for more information and a full bracket of the tournament visit Big12sports.com.

Last Week in Tennis: WVU dropped a pair of matches last week against No. 9 Oklahoma State on Friday, April 21, and No. 38 Oklahoma on Sunday, April 23 … the Cowgirls were able to take the doubles point and win the first three contests in singles play to close out the 4-0 victory … West Virginia opened Sunday’s match by honoring senior Kaja Mrgole on Senior Day ... The Mountaineers began the match with a 1-0 deficit after conceding the doubles point and was unable to secure a singles win as the Sooners would go on to take the 4-0 decision.

Notes: Habiba Shaker leads WVU with an 8-5 record at the No. 1 slot … Paula Goetz and Lyn Yuen Choo pace the Mountaineers with a 5-4 record in doubles play ... Goetz has won a team-high nine doubles matches this spring.

This Week in Golf: The Mountaineers did not compete.

Last Week in Golf: West Virginia heads to its second Big 12 Championship … hosted by Kansas, the 72-hole event will take place at the par-70, 6,940-yard Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kansas ... teams will play 36 continuous holes on Monday, with one round per day on Tuesday and Wednesday … paired with No. 9 seed Kansas State, No. 10 West Virginia will tee off at 10:30 a.m. ET on Monday … Max Sear, Alan Cooke, Chris Williams, Tristan Nicholls and Etienne Papineau will make up the Mountaineer lineup.

Notes: Sear, Cooke, Williams and Nicholls return for the second straight season at Big 12s, while Papineau will make his debut … Covich has used this lineup at eight prior events, including the record-breaking outing at the Seminole Intercollegiate in March and the win at the East Carolina Intercollegiate earlier this month …Sear narrowly missed earning all-conference accolades at the 2016 Big 12 Championship in Trinity, Texas, taking 12th place overall … he boasts a team-best 73.10 scoring average and shot a season-low 216 to open the season at the Invitational at the Ocean Course in September … seniors Cooke and Williams will look to wrap their collegiate careers on a high note …Cooke ranks second on the team with a 73.41 scoring average and set a program record at 10 under par with a 206 at the Seminole Intercollegiate … Williams is third on the team with a stroke average of 74.00. He shot a season-low 213 at Florida State and recorded his third top-10 finish of the season last week, taking 10th at the Rutherford Intercollegiate … Nicholls has played in 11 tournaments with a 74.60 scoring average. He shot a low round of 68 at the Seminole Intercollegiate, and posted a season-low 215 at the event … Papineau is averaging 74.90 through 11 events with a pair of rounds in the 60s.

Coach Sean Covich on the course at the Big 12 Championship: “Prairie Dunes will challenge everything in your game, both physically and mentally. Add in the expected 40 mile-per-hour wind gusts expected, and it’s going to be tough.”

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