Mountaineers Ready for Akron Invitational
February 01, 2018 02:51 PM | Track & Field
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University track and field team travels to the 14th annual Akron Invitational, from Feb. 2-3, in Akron, Ohio.
MEET SCHEDULE | LIVE RESULTS
Competition at the Stile Athletics Field House begins Friday at 4 p.m. ET, while Saturday's events are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Live stats are available throughout the weekend at FinishTiming.org.
"Akron has always been a great place for our vaulters to go and compete," WVU coach Sean Cleary said. "After having a solid weekend last week, and a very good weekend for Maddie (Gardner), I have a feeling this is going to be the highlight to date for the vault group. We'll also see Shamoya (McNeil), Danique (Bryan) and others back in their main events.
"The Big 12 Championship is on a 300-meter track, so we like to get on one of those as much as we can. Akron has a tremendous facility, and our kids are comfortable on it. We're expecting to come home with some good marks."
The Mountaineers will be joined by 22 other schools at this weekend's meet: Akron, Ashland, Ball State, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Cedarville, Central Michigan, Cleveland State, Dayton, Indiana Tech, IUPUI, Kent State, Malone, Michigan State, Mount St. Mary's, Penn, Saint Francis, South Florida, Tiffin, Virginia Tech, Windsor and Xavier.
Last week, WVU totaled four wins at the Penn State National Open, featuring victories by senior Shamoya McNeil in the women's triple jump (12.76 meters), redshirt sophomore Candace Jones in the women's 1,000-meter invitational (2:50.88), redshirt senior Amy Cashin in the women's mile invitational (4:41.17) and senior Sara Finfrock in the women's pole vault (3.50 meters).
Additionally, the Mountaineers tallied three runner-up finishes and a third-place finish at the two-day event.
WVU is competing in Akron for the sixth consecutive year, dating back to the 2012-13 indoor season. At last year's event, the Mountaineers combined for five top-five finishes, highlighted by McNeil's victory in the women's triple jump gold division. She earned a then-career-best mark of 12.93 meters in the win.
Then-sophomore Danique Bryan finished second in the women's long jump gold division at the Akron Invitational in 2017, earning a then-career-best mark of 5.97 meters.
The Akron Invitational also marks the Mountaineers' fourth consecutive weekend meet.
MEET SCHEDULE | LIVE RESULTS
Competition at the Stile Athletics Field House begins Friday at 4 p.m. ET, while Saturday's events are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Live stats are available throughout the weekend at FinishTiming.org.
"Akron has always been a great place for our vaulters to go and compete," WVU coach Sean Cleary said. "After having a solid weekend last week, and a very good weekend for Maddie (Gardner), I have a feeling this is going to be the highlight to date for the vault group. We'll also see Shamoya (McNeil), Danique (Bryan) and others back in their main events.
"The Big 12 Championship is on a 300-meter track, so we like to get on one of those as much as we can. Akron has a tremendous facility, and our kids are comfortable on it. We're expecting to come home with some good marks."
The Mountaineers will be joined by 22 other schools at this weekend's meet: Akron, Ashland, Ball State, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Cedarville, Central Michigan, Cleveland State, Dayton, Indiana Tech, IUPUI, Kent State, Malone, Michigan State, Mount St. Mary's, Penn, Saint Francis, South Florida, Tiffin, Virginia Tech, Windsor and Xavier.
Last week, WVU totaled four wins at the Penn State National Open, featuring victories by senior Shamoya McNeil in the women's triple jump (12.76 meters), redshirt sophomore Candace Jones in the women's 1,000-meter invitational (2:50.88), redshirt senior Amy Cashin in the women's mile invitational (4:41.17) and senior Sara Finfrock in the women's pole vault (3.50 meters).
Additionally, the Mountaineers tallied three runner-up finishes and a third-place finish at the two-day event.
WVU is competing in Akron for the sixth consecutive year, dating back to the 2012-13 indoor season. At last year's event, the Mountaineers combined for five top-five finishes, highlighted by McNeil's victory in the women's triple jump gold division. She earned a then-career-best mark of 12.93 meters in the win.
Then-sophomore Danique Bryan finished second in the women's long jump gold division at the Akron Invitational in 2017, earning a then-career-best mark of 5.97 meters.
The Akron Invitational also marks the Mountaineers' fourth consecutive weekend meet.
Players Mentioned
Distance
/ Track & Field
Long Jump/Triple Jump
/ Track & Field
Distance
/ Track & Field
Pole Vault
/ Track & Field
Jumps
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