Gardner Named Student-Athlete of the Week
April 23, 2018 02:13 PM | Baseball, General, Golf, Rowing, Tennis, Track & Field
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Following a record-setting performance in the women's pole vault last weekend, redshirt junior 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.
Gardner earned a mark of 4.41 meters (14 feet, 5.50 inches) in a second-place finish in the women's pole vault invitational at the Virginia Challenge, in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Friday night. The jump smashed her previous WVU-best mark of 4.13 meters, which she set in 2017. The Williamstown, West Virginia, native cleared marks of 4.21, 4.31 and 4.41 meters, breaking the outdoor school record three times on the day.
The jump also topped the former meet and facility records for the event, and it ranks No. 1 in the Big 12 Conference this season.
Gardner and the Mountaineers return to Virginia this weekend to compete in the Virginia Grand Prix, on Saturday, April 28, in Charlottesville.
This Week in Baseball: This week, WVU travels to Marshall for a midweek matchup in Charleston, West Virginia, before a three-game home series against No. 19 Texas … the week begins with in-state foe Marshall on Tuesday, April 24, at 6:30 p.m. ET … the game at Appalachian Power Park is hosted by Marshall, and tickets are available at HerdZone.com … this weekend, from April 27-29, West Virginia hosts No. 19 Texas at Monongalia County Ballpark, with first pitch set for 6:30 p.m. on Friday, April 27 … the series continues on Saturday at 4 p.m. before Sunday's finale at 1 p.m. … tickets for all three games are available at WVUGAME.com, by calling 1-800-WVU GAME, at the Mountaineer Ticket Office at the WVU Coliseum or on game day at Monongalia County Ballpark … Friday's promotions include Friday Night Happy Hour, with half-off beverages from 5:30-6:30, and all fans can play Baseball Bingo … Saturday is Family Day, where fans can purchase four tickets and receive a $10 concession voucher for just $25 … Sunday is the third trading card giveaway of the season, as well as Kids Day, postgame autographs and running the bases, with a new Kids Zone Presented by WVU Medicine Children's and Mr. Twister's Balloon Art and Face Painting.
Last Week in Baseball: West Virginia went 3-1 last week, with a 9-2 victory over Canisius before a weekend series win against Kansas State … seven starters had at least one hit, seven scored at least one run and six drove in one or more runs on April 18, as WVU defeated Canisius, 9-2 … Marques Inman drove in West Virginia's first three runs, while Tyler Doanes had two hits and two RBIs to lead the Mountaineer offense … WVU pitchers struck out 12 batters, led by sophomore right-handed starter Isaiah Kearns, who had eight in just 4.0 innings and allowed two runs on five hits with one walk to earn the win … West Virginia won its first Big 12 series with a weekend series win over Kansas State … the Mountaineers won the first two games, 8-5 and 6-0, before a 7-4 loss in the finale … in the series opener on April 20, the Mountaineers trailed 4-0 in the third inning and 5-3 in the middle of the seventh before they rallied with two runs in the seventh inning, one on a wild pitch and another unearned to tie the game … the rally continued with three runs in the eighth, one on another wild pitch to take the lead and the next two on a two-run home run by Darius Hill … Inman led the offensive attack with a career-high-tying four hits, while Hill had three hits and a team-best two RBIs … the next day, WVU held K-State to just four hits in a 6-0 shutout victory ... WVU's offense again was led by Inman, who had a team-leading three hits with two RBIs, both coming on two-out run-scoring doubles … Chase Illig hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning to join Inman with two RBIs … on the mound, Kade Strowd allowed just two hits and no runs in 5.2 innings while striking out seven and walking seven … he gave up a single in the first and another in the second but did not surrender a base hit the rest of the day … in Sunday's finale, WVU scored two runs in the eighth inning and one in the ninth, but could not add any more in a 7-4 loss … the Mountaineers trailed 7-1 in the eighth inning, but rallied to send the tying run to the plate in the ninth with two outs … however, the Wildcats got a lineout to end the game to avoid the sweep ... all but one starter had at least one hit, while six had an RBI or scored a run … Inman continued his hot hitting and was one of three Mountaineers with two hits … Wednesday's game vs. Canisius was organized a day earlier after inclement weather canceled the Mountaineers' game at Pitt on Tuesday night.
Notes: West Virginia (19-18, 4-8 Big 12) has won three of its last four and nine of its last 13 games … West Virginia is ranked No. 32 in the NCAA RPI and has the No. 5 strength of schedule in the nation, according to WarrenNolen.com … WVU and Marshall meet for the 70th time on Tuesday, and the Mountaineers lead the all-time series 45-24 … West Virginia has won four in a row vs. Marshall, six of the last seven games and 15 of the last 18 … West Virginia earned its third shutout of the season and first in Big 12 play on Saturday … Hill hit his 10th career home run and third of the season on Friday … Illig homered on Saturday, his fifth of the year and eighth in his career … Kearns struck out a career-high-tying eight batters on Wednesday and earned the win … Sam Kessler got the win on Friday and improved to 3-0 in 2018 … Strowd improved to 4-3 with the win on Saturday … Kyle Gray extended his hitting streak to a career-best 14 games, while Hill tied his career-long hitting streak at 13 games … Gray has reached base in a career-long-tying 15 games in a row, while Braden Zarbnisky (14) and Hill (13) also tied their career-long reached-base streaks … Inman extended his career-long reached base streak to 12 consecutive games.
This Week in Golf: The Mountaineers did not compete.
Last Week in Golf: West Virginia heads to the 2018 Big 12 Championship ... the event runs Monday through Wednesday at the par-70, 7,151-yard Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma ... WVU enters the event as the No. 9 seed and will be paired with Kansas State for the first two rounds of play ... the Mountaineers and the Wildcats will tee off starting at 10:30 a.m. ET on Monday, playing 36 holes on the first day of action ... Tuesday's third-round pairings will be based on Monday's scores, while Wednesday's final-round pairings will be based on 54-hole totals with the leaders teeing off last ... the 2018 season marks the third Big 12 Championship for WVU, as the Mountaineers resumed varsity competition in the 2015-16 season ... junior Max Sear and sophomore Etienne Papineau return for their third and second Big 12 Championship appearances, respectively ... senior Avery Schneider, along with freshmen Mark Goetz and Matthew Sharpstene, will all make their debuts at the tournament.
Notes: Southern Hills Country Club has played host to seven major championships ... it previously hosted the U.S. Open in 1958, 1977 and 2001, and played host to the PGA Championship on four occasions, most recently in 2007 ... five of the Big 12's 10 teams rank inside the top 20 of the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings ... No. 1 Oklahoma State leads the way, followed by defending National Champion Oklahoma, who comes in at No. 4 ... No. 10 Baylor, No. 13 Texas Tech and No. 18 Texas also are at the top of the rankings ... Sear posted the program's best-ever individual finish at the event as a freshman in 2016, finishing 12th overall to narrowly miss earning All-Big 12 accolades (top 10).
This Week in Tennis: The No. 9-seeded Mountaineers will get a rematch against No. 8 TCU in the Big 12 Championship first round … the two teams will square off at 11 a.m. ET at the Texas Tennis Center in Austin, Texas … should WVU advance, they will face the No. 1 seed Texas on Friday, April 27 at 1 p.m.
Last Week in Tennis: West Virginia (7-13, 1-8 Big 12) dropped a pair of matches against conference opponents, falling to No. 13 Texas Tech, 4-0, on Friday, and TCU, 4-0, on Sunday … on Friday, the Mountaineers dropped the doubles point to the Lady Raiders, and TTU won the first three singles matches to win the contest … on Sunday, the Mountaineers honored two seniors, Lyn Yuen Choo and Yvon Martinez … after taking the doubles point, TCU powered past WVU in singles play to win the match, 4-0.
Notes: Senior Lyn Yuen Choo and freshman Giovanna Caputo lead the Mountaineers in singles play with eight wins apiece … the doubles pair of Choo and Paula Goetz pace the Mountaineers with nine wins in doubles action.
This Week in Track and Field: WVU returns to Charlottesville, Virginia, to compete in the Virginia Grand Prix on Saturday, April 28 ... the meet, held at Virginia's Lannigan Field, is set to begin at 11 a.m. ET.
Last Week in Track and Field: The Mountaineers claimed a total of 11 top-10 finishes at the Virginia Challenge, from April 20-21, in Charlottesville, Virginia … redshirt junior Madelin Gardner highlighted the weekend with a school-record performance in the women's pole vault invitational, jumping 4.41 meters (14 feet, 5.50 inches) in a second-place finish … redshirt senior Amy Cashin also earned a runner-up finish in the women's 1,500 meters invite in 4:20.29 … freshman Ellie Gardner (women's pole vault – unseeded), redshirt freshman Sarah Wills (women's 1,500 – unseeded) and junior Faith Penny (women's high jump) also recorded second-place finishes in their respective events … junior Danique Bryan took fifth in the women's triple jump invitational on Friday (12.58 meters – 41 feet, 3.25 inches), before finishing seventh in the women's long jump invitational on Saturday (5.79 meters – 19 feet) … in the heptathlon, redshirt senior Meghan Jean-Baptiste finished seventh overall, earning 4,388 points in the two-day competition.
Notes: Gardner took down her previous WVU-best jump of 4.13 meters, which she set at the Virginia Challenge in 2017 … the Williamstown, West Virginia, native cleared marks of 3.86, 4.01, 4.11, 4.21 and 4.31 meters before her final successful jump of 4.41 meters … Gardner also topped the previous meet and facility records with the performance … redshirt senior Jillian Forsey made her 2017-18 season debut on Friday night, earning an eighth-place finish in the women's 10,000 meters in 35:21.96 … redshirt sophomore Candace Jones (4:26.64) and Wills (4:32.71) each registered personal-best times in the 1,500 meters … WVU is set to make back-to-back trips to Charlottesville for the second consecutive season … at last season's Virginia Grand Prix, Cashin won the women's 1,500 meters in 4:21.18 … Marseille McBeam and Shamoya McNeil each added runner-up finishes in the high jump and triple jump, respectively.
This Week in Rowing: West Virginia returns to action on Saturday, April 28, as it takes on Saint Joseph's, Delaware and Navy in Philadelphia.
Last Week in Rowing: The Mountaineers competed in the George Mason Invitational in Fairfax Station, Virginia, where they won two of their three 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 ... the Big 12 was able to take the competition for the second straight year by securing 41 points ... the Colonial finished second with 36 points and the Atlantic 10 finished third with 31 … the Mountaineers second varsity eight and first varsity four crews were able to win their respective events, while the first varsity eight finished in second.
Coach Jimmy King following Sunday's George Mason Invite: "Considering that we had only three rows this week and that two of them were here yesterday, we're generally happy with how the team performed today. Despite the challenging circumstances all season, our team's spirits have remained high, and we're hopeful of having some quality water time at home in the remaining weeks of the season. Thanks to Coach Nagorsen and the GMU staff for staging this regatta format. We enjoy the opportunities to face off against our conference foes in the morning, then compete with them in the afternoon."
Gardner earned a mark of 4.41 meters (14 feet, 5.50 inches) in a second-place finish in the women's pole vault invitational at the Virginia Challenge, in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Friday night. The jump smashed her previous WVU-best mark of 4.13 meters, which she set in 2017. The Williamstown, West Virginia, native cleared marks of 4.21, 4.31 and 4.41 meters, breaking the outdoor school record three times on the day.
The jump also topped the former meet and facility records for the event, and it ranks No. 1 in the Big 12 Conference this season.
Gardner and the Mountaineers return to Virginia this weekend to compete in the Virginia Grand Prix, on Saturday, April 28, in Charlottesville.
This Week in Baseball: This week, WVU travels to Marshall for a midweek matchup in Charleston, West Virginia, before a three-game home series against No. 19 Texas … the week begins with in-state foe Marshall on Tuesday, April 24, at 6:30 p.m. ET … the game at Appalachian Power Park is hosted by Marshall, and tickets are available at HerdZone.com … this weekend, from April 27-29, West Virginia hosts No. 19 Texas at Monongalia County Ballpark, with first pitch set for 6:30 p.m. on Friday, April 27 … the series continues on Saturday at 4 p.m. before Sunday's finale at 1 p.m. … tickets for all three games are available at WVUGAME.com, by calling 1-800-WVU GAME, at the Mountaineer Ticket Office at the WVU Coliseum or on game day at Monongalia County Ballpark … Friday's promotions include Friday Night Happy Hour, with half-off beverages from 5:30-6:30, and all fans can play Baseball Bingo … Saturday is Family Day, where fans can purchase four tickets and receive a $10 concession voucher for just $25 … Sunday is the third trading card giveaway of the season, as well as Kids Day, postgame autographs and running the bases, with a new Kids Zone Presented by WVU Medicine Children's and Mr. Twister's Balloon Art and Face Painting.
Last Week in Baseball: West Virginia went 3-1 last week, with a 9-2 victory over Canisius before a weekend series win against Kansas State … seven starters had at least one hit, seven scored at least one run and six drove in one or more runs on April 18, as WVU defeated Canisius, 9-2 … Marques Inman drove in West Virginia's first three runs, while Tyler Doanes had two hits and two RBIs to lead the Mountaineer offense … WVU pitchers struck out 12 batters, led by sophomore right-handed starter Isaiah Kearns, who had eight in just 4.0 innings and allowed two runs on five hits with one walk to earn the win … West Virginia won its first Big 12 series with a weekend series win over Kansas State … the Mountaineers won the first two games, 8-5 and 6-0, before a 7-4 loss in the finale … in the series opener on April 20, the Mountaineers trailed 4-0 in the third inning and 5-3 in the middle of the seventh before they rallied with two runs in the seventh inning, one on a wild pitch and another unearned to tie the game … the rally continued with three runs in the eighth, one on another wild pitch to take the lead and the next two on a two-run home run by Darius Hill … Inman led the offensive attack with a career-high-tying four hits, while Hill had three hits and a team-best two RBIs … the next day, WVU held K-State to just four hits in a 6-0 shutout victory ... WVU's offense again was led by Inman, who had a team-leading three hits with two RBIs, both coming on two-out run-scoring doubles … Chase Illig hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning to join Inman with two RBIs … on the mound, Kade Strowd allowed just two hits and no runs in 5.2 innings while striking out seven and walking seven … he gave up a single in the first and another in the second but did not surrender a base hit the rest of the day … in Sunday's finale, WVU scored two runs in the eighth inning and one in the ninth, but could not add any more in a 7-4 loss … the Mountaineers trailed 7-1 in the eighth inning, but rallied to send the tying run to the plate in the ninth with two outs … however, the Wildcats got a lineout to end the game to avoid the sweep ... all but one starter had at least one hit, while six had an RBI or scored a run … Inman continued his hot hitting and was one of three Mountaineers with two hits … Wednesday's game vs. Canisius was organized a day earlier after inclement weather canceled the Mountaineers' game at Pitt on Tuesday night.
Notes: West Virginia (19-18, 4-8 Big 12) has won three of its last four and nine of its last 13 games … West Virginia is ranked No. 32 in the NCAA RPI and has the No. 5 strength of schedule in the nation, according to WarrenNolen.com … WVU and Marshall meet for the 70th time on Tuesday, and the Mountaineers lead the all-time series 45-24 … West Virginia has won four in a row vs. Marshall, six of the last seven games and 15 of the last 18 … West Virginia earned its third shutout of the season and first in Big 12 play on Saturday … Hill hit his 10th career home run and third of the season on Friday … Illig homered on Saturday, his fifth of the year and eighth in his career … Kearns struck out a career-high-tying eight batters on Wednesday and earned the win … Sam Kessler got the win on Friday and improved to 3-0 in 2018 … Strowd improved to 4-3 with the win on Saturday … Kyle Gray extended his hitting streak to a career-best 14 games, while Hill tied his career-long hitting streak at 13 games … Gray has reached base in a career-long-tying 15 games in a row, while Braden Zarbnisky (14) and Hill (13) also tied their career-long reached-base streaks … Inman extended his career-long reached base streak to 12 consecutive games.
This Week in Golf: The Mountaineers did not compete.
Last Week in Golf: West Virginia heads to the 2018 Big 12 Championship ... the event runs Monday through Wednesday at the par-70, 7,151-yard Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma ... WVU enters the event as the No. 9 seed and will be paired with Kansas State for the first two rounds of play ... the Mountaineers and the Wildcats will tee off starting at 10:30 a.m. ET on Monday, playing 36 holes on the first day of action ... Tuesday's third-round pairings will be based on Monday's scores, while Wednesday's final-round pairings will be based on 54-hole totals with the leaders teeing off last ... the 2018 season marks the third Big 12 Championship for WVU, as the Mountaineers resumed varsity competition in the 2015-16 season ... junior Max Sear and sophomore Etienne Papineau return for their third and second Big 12 Championship appearances, respectively ... senior Avery Schneider, along with freshmen Mark Goetz and Matthew Sharpstene, will all make their debuts at the tournament.
Notes: Southern Hills Country Club has played host to seven major championships ... it previously hosted the U.S. Open in 1958, 1977 and 2001, and played host to the PGA Championship on four occasions, most recently in 2007 ... five of the Big 12's 10 teams rank inside the top 20 of the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings ... No. 1 Oklahoma State leads the way, followed by defending National Champion Oklahoma, who comes in at No. 4 ... No. 10 Baylor, No. 13 Texas Tech and No. 18 Texas also are at the top of the rankings ... Sear posted the program's best-ever individual finish at the event as a freshman in 2016, finishing 12th overall to narrowly miss earning All-Big 12 accolades (top 10).
This Week in Tennis: The No. 9-seeded Mountaineers will get a rematch against No. 8 TCU in the Big 12 Championship first round … the two teams will square off at 11 a.m. ET at the Texas Tennis Center in Austin, Texas … should WVU advance, they will face the No. 1 seed Texas on Friday, April 27 at 1 p.m.
Last Week in Tennis: West Virginia (7-13, 1-8 Big 12) dropped a pair of matches against conference opponents, falling to No. 13 Texas Tech, 4-0, on Friday, and TCU, 4-0, on Sunday … on Friday, the Mountaineers dropped the doubles point to the Lady Raiders, and TTU won the first three singles matches to win the contest … on Sunday, the Mountaineers honored two seniors, Lyn Yuen Choo and Yvon Martinez … after taking the doubles point, TCU powered past WVU in singles play to win the match, 4-0.
Notes: Senior Lyn Yuen Choo and freshman Giovanna Caputo lead the Mountaineers in singles play with eight wins apiece … the doubles pair of Choo and Paula Goetz pace the Mountaineers with nine wins in doubles action.
This Week in Track and Field: WVU returns to Charlottesville, Virginia, to compete in the Virginia Grand Prix on Saturday, April 28 ... the meet, held at Virginia's Lannigan Field, is set to begin at 11 a.m. ET.
Last Week in Track and Field: The Mountaineers claimed a total of 11 top-10 finishes at the Virginia Challenge, from April 20-21, in Charlottesville, Virginia … redshirt junior Madelin Gardner highlighted the weekend with a school-record performance in the women's pole vault invitational, jumping 4.41 meters (14 feet, 5.50 inches) in a second-place finish … redshirt senior Amy Cashin also earned a runner-up finish in the women's 1,500 meters invite in 4:20.29 … freshman Ellie Gardner (women's pole vault – unseeded), redshirt freshman Sarah Wills (women's 1,500 – unseeded) and junior Faith Penny (women's high jump) also recorded second-place finishes in their respective events … junior Danique Bryan took fifth in the women's triple jump invitational on Friday (12.58 meters – 41 feet, 3.25 inches), before finishing seventh in the women's long jump invitational on Saturday (5.79 meters – 19 feet) … in the heptathlon, redshirt senior Meghan Jean-Baptiste finished seventh overall, earning 4,388 points in the two-day competition.
Notes: Gardner took down her previous WVU-best jump of 4.13 meters, which she set at the Virginia Challenge in 2017 … the Williamstown, West Virginia, native cleared marks of 3.86, 4.01, 4.11, 4.21 and 4.31 meters before her final successful jump of 4.41 meters … Gardner also topped the previous meet and facility records with the performance … redshirt senior Jillian Forsey made her 2017-18 season debut on Friday night, earning an eighth-place finish in the women's 10,000 meters in 35:21.96 … redshirt sophomore Candace Jones (4:26.64) and Wills (4:32.71) each registered personal-best times in the 1,500 meters … WVU is set to make back-to-back trips to Charlottesville for the second consecutive season … at last season's Virginia Grand Prix, Cashin won the women's 1,500 meters in 4:21.18 … Marseille McBeam and Shamoya McNeil each added runner-up finishes in the high jump and triple jump, respectively.
This Week in Rowing: West Virginia returns to action on Saturday, April 28, as it takes on Saint Joseph's, Delaware and Navy in Philadelphia.
Last Week in Rowing: The Mountaineers competed in the George Mason Invitational in Fairfax Station, Virginia, where they won two of their three 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 ... the Big 12 was able to take the competition for the second straight year by securing 41 points ... the Colonial finished second with 36 points and the Atlantic 10 finished third with 31 … the Mountaineers second varsity eight and first varsity four crews were able to win their respective events, while the first varsity eight finished in second.
Coach Jimmy King following Sunday's George Mason Invite: "Considering that we had only three rows this week and that two of them were here yesterday, we're generally happy with how the team performed today. Despite the challenging circumstances all season, our team's spirits have remained high, and we're hopeful of having some quality water time at home in the remaining weeks of the season. Thanks to Coach Nagorsen and the GMU staff for staging this regatta format. We enjoy the opportunities to face off against our conference foes in the morning, then compete with them in the afternoon."
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