MORGANTOWN– The West Virginia University track and field team completed its trip to the 2011 NCAA Indoor Championships with two student-athletes earning All-America honors.
Senior Chelsea Carrier posted her second honor of the weekend with a fourth-place showing in the 60-meter hurdles. The Buckhannon, W.Va., native earned the honor with a school-record time of 8.08, which breaks her previous record of 8.15.
Carrier won her first honor of the weekend with a fifth-place finish in the pentathlon on Friday.
“After a monster day yesterday, Chelsea made a come-back to run the finest footrace of her life,” coach Sean Cleary says. “This weekend’s performance for Chelsea has to place her into the category of one of the finest female student-athletes ever to wear the Old Gold and Blue.”
Senior Keri Bland won her second-straight All-America honor in the mile with a sixth-place showing. The Fairview, W.Va., native finished with a time of 4:35.24.
“After a very spotty late summer and fall training, we set the goal three months ago to have Keri lining up with the best-ten milers in the country,” Cleary says. “I am very proud that she found a way to make this dream a reality. Keri’s first-team honor ties her with Olympian Megan Metcalfe as the most decorated All-American in school history.”
Also, racing today, junior Jessica O’Connell posted a 16th-place finish in the 3,000-meter run for second-team All-America honors.
After sustaining an achilles injury after qualifying for nationals last weekend, we are both proud of Jessica for being named to the second-team and disappointed as we know that she is a better runner than this. We will regroup, train hard and come out swinging for the outdoor championships.
West Virginia finished the weekend with an overall 18th-place team showing.
“Although 18th was not our goal at the beginning of the season, I am more than pleased with this team’s accomplishments during the final stretch of the season,” Cleary says. “This marks the third season in a row that this group of women has accomplished a top 20 finish.”
The Mountaineers have completed the indoor season and will begin the outdoor season on March 25-26 at the Stanford Invitational.
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