Mountaineers travel to Penn Relays and Ashland Alumni Invitational

Hoping to earn the last bit of qualifiers for the Big East Conference Championships, the West Virginia track and field team travels to Philadelphia, Pa., and Ashland, Ohio, for the Penn Relays and Ashland Alumni Invitational this weekend.

"We have a very small group going into Penn this week," said coach Sean Cleary. "Two in the 3,000-meter, Kaylyn Christopher and Letitia Propst; this will be the first time that Letitia has run this event, while Kaylyn is simply looking for a little tune up for the Big East Championships.

"This marks the first time that Kaylyn will race for us this spring. We are looking for her to blow out the cobwebs and prepare for the Big East Championships. For Letitia, we want to show her another level of competition."

As the Big East Championships near, the Ashland Alumni Invitational will deal with throwers to get them prepared for the upcoming important Big East Championships and NCAA Regionals.

"The meet at Ashland is for throwers," Cleary said. This is a big throwing meet and is specifically on the schedule for the opportunities presented in their event area. The entire group will throw. We are looking for them to fine-tune themselves also for the Big East Championships."

For these last meets before the big stages, it’s important to have good confidence and momentum according to Cleary.

"It’s important to go into the Big East Championships with confidence," he said. The momentum gained over the past few weeks and those competing this weekend is very important."

Propst hopes to have a good mark in order to qualify for the Big East Championships and get some experience with this level of competition.

"I hope to run somewhere around 10:20 or better," she said. "I don’t know if I’ll be going to the Big East Championships or not, but if I do, it will be very important to ride with confidence. Since I’ve never run in a championship meet, the Penn Relays could give me a better feel for a big-time competition."

It’s an important time to be getting high marks and to ride into the Big East Championships with confidence and momentum. The Penn Relays and Ashland Alumni Invitational could give the Mountaineers just that.