WVU women's track and field earns gold medal in Distance Medley Relay at Big 12 Championship meet

One might say this past weekend was a golden one for WVU women’s track and field.

The Mountaineers took to the track in Lubbock, Texas for the 2023-2024 Big 12 Indoor Track and Field Championships, and one group of athletes was able to bring some gold back to Morgantown.

The Distance Medley Relay (DMR) squad stepped up in a big way during Day One of the meet on Friday, posting a time of 11:18.08 -- good enough to secure a narrow victory over Oklahoma State’s runner-up team.

The gold-medalist group was paced by senior Ceili McCabe, a multi-time individual Big 12 champion in both track and cross country and multi-time NCAA regional cross country champion who also helped lead WVU to their most-recent Big 12 DMR championship. McCabe was also joined by a pair of redshirt seniors in Sarah Tait and Mikenna Vanderheyden, as well as freshman Kishay Rowe. 

The win marks the program’s first gold medal in the event since 2021. The group’s final time also clocked in as the second-best DMR time in the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Region so far this season.

“Winning the DMR at this meet is a huge accomplishment. We were able to come out here and pull off what is a very special win," WVU coach Sean Cleary told WVUsports.com after the meet. "Over the past 20 years West Virginia has had a lot of great moments with the event, and this win rivals many of them."

The group will now await the final qualifying list for the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championship, which will be held on March 8-9, 2024 in Boston, Massachusetts. The NCAA is set to release the final field on Tuesday, Feb. 27.