McGhin Named Student-Athlete of the Week

February 19, 2024 12:51 PM | Baseball, General, Golf, Men's Swimming & Diving, Rifle, Women's Basketball, Gymnastics, Women's Swimming & Diving, Tennis, Track & Field, Wrestling

VSR Feb. 19, 2024

By: WVU Athletics Communications

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – After sweeping the podium with an 1192 aggregate score at the NCAA Qualifying Match on Feb. 17, senior Molly McGhin has been named the WVU Student-Athlete of the Week, presented by University Apartments.

McGhin scored a 593 in smallbore and a 599 in air rifle. McGhin helped the Mountaineers shoot a 4751 aggregate total, matching the program record set earlier in the season.

Up next, West Virginia will compete at the Great American Rifle Conference (GARC) Championship in West Point, N.Y. The championship will take place Feb. 24-25.

The 2024 NCAA Championships are slated for March 8-9, at the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown.

This Week in Women's Basketball: The Mountaineers are set for two contests this week … WVU opens play with a 7:30 p.m. ET meeting with Kansas State on Wednesday, Feb. 21, on the road in Manhattan, Kan. … the Mountaineers then return home for a matchup with Baylor at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 24, inside the WVU Coliseum.

Last Week in Women's Basketball: West Virginia collected two wins on the week to secure its 11th conference win to sit in a tie for second place in the overall standings … WVU opened the week on Feb. 13, with a 77-52 win over TCU in Fort Worth, Texas … West Virginia then defeated its second top-25 opponent of the season with a 70-66 win against No. 23 Oklahoma … the Mountaineers ended the Sooners' nine-game win streak as OU came into the game as one of the hottest teams in the country.

Notes: West Virginia leads the nation in turnover margin (9.44) and sits second in steals per game steals per game (14.2) … WVU forces 24.2 turnovers per game which is good for third in the nation … the Mountaineers produced a seven-game win streak in Big 12 play, the longest win streak in conference play for WVU since the 2020-21 season when they strung together nine wins.

This Week in Baseball: The Mountaineers play a doubleheader on Monday, Feb. 19, to wrap up a four-game series with Stetson in DeLand, Fla. … WVU will be back on the road this weekend for a three-game series with Charlotte in the Queen City … first pitch on Friday, Feb. 23, is set for 4 p.m. ET, Saturday, Feb. 24, for 2 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 25, for 1 p.m. … all three games will air on ESPN+.

Last Week in Baseball: West Virginia only got two games in against Stetson over the weekend to open the 2024 season, splitting the pair of contests … the Mountaineers won 6-4 on opening night before falling 7-5 in 11 innings on Feb. 17 … sophomore Benjamin Lumsden hit two home runs in the opener, including a go-ahead two-run shot in the eighth inning … graduate student Hambleton Oliver earned the win on Friday night with 2.1 perfect innings in relief.

Notes: The Mountaineers have now won on opening day in four of the last five seasons … Lumsden became the first Mountaineer since Grant Hussey against Texas Tech on May 13, 2023, to have a two home run game … junior JJ Wetherholt has reached base five times and has three steals through two games … junior Aidan Major struck out seven on Friday night, just one shy of his career high … the Mountaineers have yet to commit an error so far through two games.

This Week in Rifle: The Mountaineers compete at the 2024 Great American Rifle Conference Championship (GARC) on Saturday, Feb. 24, and Sunday, Feb. 25, … smallbore is set to take place on Saturday with air rifle on Sunday … both days of competition at the Tronsrue Marksmanship Center in West Point, N.Y. are scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. ET.

Last Week in Rifle: The Mountaineers competed at the NCAA Qualifier, turning in a score of 4751 … the mark matched the program's aggregate score record set earlier this season … WVU added marks of 2361 in smallbore and 2390 in air rifle … senior Molly McGhin swept the podium with an aggregate score of 1192 with marks of 593 in smallbore and 599 in air rifle.

Notes: WVU has defeated 12 teams ranked inside the top 16 of the CRCA Poll and is a perfect 13-0 overall and 6-0 in the GARC … the Mountaineers hold the highest aggregate (4742.4) and smallbore (2361.8) average in the nation and sit third in air rifle (2380.5) … WVU claimed the GARC regular season title with its perfect record … it marked the 15th title in program history.

This Week in Wrestling: West Virginia is off, as the team will take three weeks to train, before traveling to Tulsa, Okla., for the Big 12 Championship on March 9-10.

Last Week in Wrestling: In front of the second largest crowd of 4,139 passionate fans in program history, the No. 19 West Virginia University wrestling team scored a 42-3 victory over Glenville State to complete its regular season at the fifth annual Beauty and the Beast event on Feb. 18, … WVU scored three technical falls in three of the first four matches to hold a commanding 18-3 lead at the midway point of the dual ... to begin the second half, the Mountaineers continued with their fourth technical fall at 165 pounds, followed by the team's first pin of the day by redshirt freshman Brody Conley in the first period of action at 174 pounds … West Virginia added its fifth technical fall at 184 pounds and proceeded to add a pair of major decisions to seal the victory.

Notes: WVU ended the regular season 10-5 for the second year in a row and marks the first time Mountaineer wrestling has claimed double-digit wins in back-to-back seasons since 1990 and 1991 … nine Mountaineers rank among the top 33 of their respective weight classes in the second coaches ranking and/or RPI leading up to this year's NCAA Championships, including junior Jett Strickenberger (No. 31- 14 RPI) at 125 pounds, redshirt sophomore Jordan Titus (No. 11 - 15 RPI) at 141 pounds, true freshman Ty Watters (No. 6 - 19 RPI) at 149 pounds, senior Caleb Dowling (26 RPI) at 157 pounds, senior Peyton Hall (No. 8 – 22 RPI) at 165 pounds, redshirt freshman Brody Conley (No. 25 - 20 RPI) at 174 pounds, redshirt junior Dennis Robin (No. 30 - 22 RPI) at 184 pounds, redshirt junior Austin Cooley (31 RPI) at 197 pounds and redshirt senior Michael Wolfgram (19 RPI) at heavyweight … this is the second of four rankings to determine the 330 wrestlers across 10 weight classes who will clash for a spot on the podium from March 21-23 at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City … the third NCAA Coaches' ranking is set to be released on February 29.

This Week in Swimming and Diving: West Virginia is off until the 2024 Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championships ... the championships will be held at the Aquatic Center at Mylan Park in Morgantown from Feb. 27-March 2.

Last Week in Swimming and Diving: West Virginia did not compete.

Notes: Senior Ivan Puskovitch competed at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar, from Feb. 3-8 ... he became the fifth American male in history to qualify for the Olympics in open water swimming since the event was added to the Olympics in 2008 ... Puskovitch is the first male from the West Virginia University swimming and diving program to qualify for the Olympics ... he will also be the first Mountaineer to represent the U.S. in swimming at the Olympics.

This Week in Tennis: West Virginia will play host Navy and Mount St. Mary's (Md.) on Saturday, Feb. 24 at Summit Tennis Academy in Morgantown ... the Mountaineers will face Navy at 10 a.m. ET and Mount St. Mary's at 3 p.m.

Last Week in Tennis: WVU improved to 9-1 with wins against Toledo, 4-3, on Feb. 16, and William & Mary, 4-1, on Feb. 18.

Notes: West Virginia's 9-1 record through 10 matches is its best record in that span since 2015 when the team began 9-1 ... senior Momoko Nagato won both of her singles matches over the weekend to improve to 8-1 on the year ... she has the best overall record on the team in singles play ... redshirt sophomore Maja Dodik is the only other Mountaineer to have eight singles wins as she is 8-2 this season ... freshman Maya Bordereau sits at 7-2 on the year ... the doubles team of Bordereau and Dodik is 8-1 this season.

This week in Indoor Track & Field: West Virginia heads to the Big 12 Indoor Championships on Friday, Feb. 23, through Saturday, Feb. 24 ... this year's Big 12 championships will be hosted by Texas Tech at the Sports Performance Center in Lubbock, Texas ... the championship will be streamed on ESPN+ while live results can be viewed on wvusports.com

Last Week in Indoor Track & Field: West Virginia competed at the Penn State Tune-Up on Feb. 16, in University Park, Pa., which concluded the regular indoor season … redshirt freshman Annishka McDonald claimed victory in the women's high jump at the 1.70-meter mark … freshman Sierra Heisey finished third in the 60-meter dash with a time of 8.31, followed by redshirt junior Ghamani Hogue who also claimed third place in the 60-meter hurdles with a 9.44 time … redshirt junior Cassandra Williamson ran a 2:09.48 time in the 800 meters, claiming sixth place.

Notes: At the 2023 Big 12 Indoor Championship, then redshirt junior Ceili McCabe claimed the conference title in the women's 3,000 meters, running for a time of 9:21.21 … West Virginia's distance medley relay team claimed second in the event with a time of 11:23.76, the DMR team consisted of Mikaela Lucki, Tessa Constantine, Cassandra Williamson and Ceili McCabe ... the Mountaineers also collected 11 All-Big 12 indoor performances in 2023.

This Week in Gymnastics: West Virginia now hits the road again, continuing Big 12 Conference competition against No. 1 Oklahoma on Friday, Feb. 23 ... competition will take place inside the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla., at 7:45 p.m. ET.

Last Week in Gymnastics: WVU tallied a season-high 195.25 team score to close out its Beauty and the Beast meet with the WVU wrestling team inside the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown on Feb. 18 ... West Virginia's total marked just its second score of 195.0 or higher this season and was good for third place in the final team standings … No. 7 Denver claimed first place in the meet with a 197.65, while Iowa State finished in second with a 195.675 … the Mountaineers posted a season-high 49.025 on vault and matched their season high on floor exercise with a 49.25. West Virginia secured a 48.5 on balance beam and added a 48.475 on the uneven bars … in the final event standings, senior Kiana Lewis earned a share of the vault title, while fifth-year senior Abbie Pierson was just behind her in a tie for third … Pierson represented WVU in the all-around competition, tallying a 38.925 for fourth place.

Notes: Sunday's Beauty and the Beast meet drew an impressive crowd of 4,139 fans, marking the second-largest crowd in WVU gymnastics and wrestling history … freshman Amber Lowe tallied career-high scores of 9.875 on both bars and floor to lead the rotations … Lewis scored a season-high 9.875 to lead the vault squad, while freshman Julia Brown's 9.8 paced the beam lineup … Lewis surpassed 1,000 career points on Sunday, bringing her career total to 1,006.3 … the 2024 campaign marks the 50-year anniversary of the Mountaineer gymnastics program, as West Virginia will celebrate 50 years of varsity status, dating back to 1974 … Pierson returns for her fifth season of competition at West Virginia, as she leads the team with 54 meets competed in her career.

This Week in Golf: West Virginia will begin play from Sunday, Feb. 25, to Tuesday, Feb. 27, at the Dorado Beach Collegiate in Dorado, Puerto Rico … four WVU golfers will compete in the Wolfpack Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 24, and Sunday, Feb. 25.

Last Week in Golf: The team competed at the Gators Invitational in Gainesville, Fla. … junior Max Green and sophomore Kaleb Wilson recorded top 30 finishes for the Mountaineers with both golfers tying for 27th place … Green posted rounds of 67-70-75=212 (+2), while Wilson shot 75-67-70=212 (+2). Green's 67 in the first round ties his career best set last season … Wilson's 67 in the second round matches his career best set two weeks ago in Arizona … senior Jackson Davenport tied for 45th place with rounds of 72-70-76=218 (+8), senior Oli Ménard recorded rounds of 71-75-73=219 (+9) and junior Todd Duncan had rounds of 76-76-79=231 (+21) … the Mountaineers finished 11th with rounds of 285-282-294=861 (+21).