Carrier-Eades, O’Connell finish strong at NCAA championships

Seniors Chelsea Carrier-Eades and Jessica O’Connell represented the West Virginia track and field team at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. The events took place from June 6-9.

O’Connell competed in the 5,000-meter run finals, while Carrier-Eades took part in the 100-meter hurdles and the heptathlon. The heptathlon events included the 100-meter hurdles, the high jump, the shot put and the 200-meter dash on Thursday.

On Friday, Carrier-Eades competed in the long jump, the javelin throw and the 800-meter run.

Carrier-Eades qualified to advance to Saturday’s final in the 100-meter hurdles. She also was in fourth in the women’s heptathlon with 3,576 points Thursday.

She finished in third place with a 12.78 distance in the 100-meter hurdles. It broke her career-best mark of 12.93. With the 12.78 mark, Carrier-Eades was able to earn first team All-America honors.

"Chelsea just finished off a tremendous day," said WVU coach Sean Cleary following Thursday’s action. "The hurdles race she ran after a full day’s competition in the heptathlon was the talk of the meet. A 12.78 is out of this world. A wind-aided 12.93 at the Big East Championships as a lifetime-best to a 12.78 is phenomenal."

Clemson’s Bridgette Owens and Brianna Rollins secured the top spots in the hurdles with a 12.71 and 12.73.

In the heptathlon, Carrier-Eades tied for sixth in the high jump. Her height of 1.69 meters was good for 842 points. Action continued in the shot put where she finished in 13th place after a distance of 11.46 meters, earning her 625 points.

The 200-meter dash saw Carrier-Eades finishing in 23.37 for 1,007 points.

"Sitting fourth in the heptathlon but within striking distance of second is now the goal," Cleary said. "She should come out with a vengeance tomorrow; she certainly has it within her grasp."

Friday, Carrier-Eades competed in the final three events of the heptathlon with the long jump, the javelin throw and 800-meter run.

She ended up with a third-place finish after a season-best 5,839 points. It topped her previous season high at the Texas Relays of 5,821 points.

"We are very proud of Chelsea’s last two days," Cleary said. "The heptathlon brings with it so many emotions with seven events coming together for one end result. We felt that on a perfect weekend she could be in the top three, so we are excited for her to pull this off."

Finishing in first was Oregon’s Brianne Theisen with 6,440 points, followed by UC Santa Barbara’s Barbara Nwaba, who finished with 5,927 points.

The last day of action took place Saturday with Carrier-Eades competing in the 100-meter hurdles and O’Connell in the 5,000-meter run.

Both concluded the 2012 season, Carrier-Eades finishing in seventh in the 100-meter hurdles with a 13.31. The winner was Ohio State’s Christina Manning with a 12.89.

O’Connell placed 19th in the 5,000-meter run finals in 17:10:43. The winner of the event was Dartmouth’s Abbey D’Agostino.