Carrier-Eades, O’Connell ready for NCAA championships

Seniors Chelsea Carrier-Eades and Jessica O’Connell will be heading to the NCAA championships in Des Moines, Iowa June 6-9 at Drake University.

Carrier-Eades, a Buckhannon, W.Va., native, will represent the Mountaineers after her seventh-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles at the NCAA East regional. She will also be competing in the heptathlon in Iowa. Carrier-Eades will be double qualifying at the NCAA championships – a very rare feat.

"Chelsea will be a very busy girl in Iowa," said WVU head coach Sean Cleary. "She’s had a few weeks to recover and focus on being right on for the finals."

O’Connell, from Calgary in Alberta, Canada, advanced to Iowa after her 10th overall finish in the 5,000-meter run at the NCAA East Regional.

"I’m delighted to be going to the NCAA championships and thrilled to have Chelsea along with me, though her qualification was no surprise," O’Connell said. "A few of my teammates are staying home because of injuries or sicknesses, and they’ll be missed."

As a senior, O’Connell is honored to represent her university for the last time.

"I’m really proud to be able to represent my school one last time," she said. "I’m so grateful for the opportunities that have been given to me during my time at WVU, and I’m so glad that I could take my season as far as it can go in my last year."

With this type of competition, preparation and rest is a key element to success.

"I’ve begun my pre-competition taper, and I’m feeling good and rested," said O’Connell. "I expect the race to be quite grueling as the competition is excellent. The 5,000-meter is a long enough run that pacing strategies can completely affect the race’s outcome.

"My goal is to just get myself in there and run a very smart race that I’m proud of –no regrets."

Carrier-Eades has the same feelings about the race, and she is grateful to be able to compete one last time during her WVU tenure.

"WVU has helped me succeed and accomplish my goals, and I’m grateful for my coaches," she said. "They’re professional, and they’ve known how to help me become an athlete I never thought I could be.

WVU has helped me become better at this sport, and if I had the chance to go back to choose a college again, I would choose West Virginia again."

Obviously, as someone who has two events in the NCAA championships, Carrier-Eades will have to focus on more than one aspect of the competition.

"I just need to take it one event at a time," said Carrier-Eades. "My goal is to get at least second in the heptathlon if I hit everything I know I can. I need to have that perfect meet. I hope it comes this week, as it will be my last time competing for WVU.

"In the 100-meter hurdles, it will be really hard to make finals with the competition, but hopefully I can squeeze in there and try to make finals. I’ll just go out and do my best."

Cleary would like to see solid results for the two athletes for the last event of the year. After all, it is the NCAA championships.

"Both ladies look very well prepared for what is waiting around the corner," he said. "After such a long year, it’s important to go into this meet mentally and physically prepared. This is the cream of the crop. Many athletes competing this weekend will be competing this summer in the Olympic games.

"Both Chelsea and Jessica are seasoned veterans. Both have already achieved numerous all-American awards and represented themselves and WVU countless times at the national championships. They are both very excited to represent the gold and blue one last time at the NCAA championships."