Wheeling, W. Va. – With the running of the NCAA DII Indoor Track & Field National Championships on Saturday, the Indoor track season officially concluded. The Wheeling University Track & Field team will keep on rolling as they announced their Outdoor Track & Field schedule on Monday and kick-off the season this weekend. It will be an eight event stretch to the Mountain East Conference (MEC) Outdoor Track & Field Championships as the Cardinals look to make it back to the national stage as the events move outside. 

 Last Outdoor season, the Cardinals rode the backs of strong performances in the sprints and field events as they oved through the season. They had 11 different athletes leading the conference in their respective events during the season, and had three of those athletes hitting NCAA Provisional marks. Heading into the MEC Championship event, the Cardinals were looking to make a splash and did just that. The Men’s team would finish 4th in the field, and crowned an individual champion in the field to round out their three-day showing. On the Women’s side, the team would climb into the top three of the conference, crowning four individual champions. 

The 2024 Outdoor Track & Field season kicks off in nearby Bethany, West Virginia, as the Cardinals head to the Bethany Invitational on Saturday, March 16th. The team heads back to NCAA Division II play the following week at the Lee Invitational and moves up to NCAA DI the Week after that with the Raleigh relays to round out March. During that same week, the Cardinals will get a taste of what the rest of the conference has to offer as they compete at the UC Golden Eagle Invitational. As they hit April, the team will begin to split as those who hit the NCAA Provo Mark will be on the track towards the National Championships while others will be looking to qualify for the conference meet. 

April begins with the Tiffin Track Carnival, which will serve as the final full squad event for the team in the regular season. In their final tune-up before MEC’s the Cardinals will split for a pair of meets as they prepare to go against the best of the best in the conference. Those on the National Championship track will head to Ohio State for the Jesse Owens Invitational, while the others will take on the Otterbein Twilight event. The season then wraps up with the 2024 MEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships, with the Cardinals looking to get into the top three of the field in both side of the event this season. Then, the final push comes toward Nationals, with a Last Chance meet to be decided and the NCAA DII Outdoor Track & Field National Championships running May 23rd through 25th. 

The Wheeling University Outdoor Track & Field team kicks off their season on Saturday, March 16th, when they take on the Bethany Invitational at 10 AM.