This article was originally published on wvusports.com as part of West Virginia University’s official athletics program.Please find the link to the original story here. Read More: McCabe And WVU Rifle Team Named Student-Athletes Of The Week
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (March 17, 2025) – Graduate student Ceili McCabe of the West Virginia University track and field team and the rifle team have been named the WVU Student-Athletes of the Week, presented by University Apartments.
McCabe earns the honor after she clinched the women’s 3,000-meter NCAA Indoor Championship title on March 15. The graduate student shattered the facility record with her 9:01.18 finish. With the time, she earned her tenth All-America honor across her collegiate cross country, indoor and outdoor track & field careers.
Read: WVU’s Matchup Vs James Madison Moved To 6:30 p.m.
Additionally, McCabe is the first Mountaineer to win the event in program history and becomes just the second WVU student athlete to win a NCAA indoor track and field title.
The rifle team won its 20th NCAA title in program history on March 15 at the NCAA Rifle National Championship in Lexington, Kentucky. Senior Natalie Perrin hit the final shot of the match, a 10.1, to push WVU to a 4738-aggregate score. The mark bested Kentucky’s runner-up mark of 4737 while Alaska Fairbanks took third with a score of 4726.
At 45 NCAA National Championships, the Mountaineers have now finished inside the top two 30 times, including 20 titles and 10 runner-up finishes. The 2025 championship marks the first since the 2017 season, which marked the end of five straight titles for WVU.
This Week in Women’s Basketball:
The Mountaineers are set to compete against No. 11 seeded Columbia or Washington on Saturday, March 22, at 2 p.m. ET in the first round of the NCAA Championship… The contest will be played in Chapel Hill, North Carolina inside Carmichael Arena.
Last Week in Women’s Basketball:
West Virginia did not compete.
Notes:
West Virginia earned a bid into the NCAA Tournament for the 16th time in program history … The Mountaineers finished the regular season with a 23-6 overall record on the season and 13-5 mark in Big 12 Conference play … WVU returns eight student-athletes to the floor this season, including four of five starters from an NCAA Tournament team a season ago … All-Big 12 First Team and Defensive Team selection JJ Quinerly highlights the returners … She was also named to the Preseason All-Big 12 team and was named to the Naismith College Women’s Basketball Player of the Year, the 2025 Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard of the Year Watchlist and the Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 Watchlist … Jordan Harrison was named to the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year watchlist … Quinerly has eclipsed 1,500 points in her career this season as Harrison and Zya Nugent have broken the 1,000-point mark… the Mountaineers finished the nonconference schedule a 10-1 … JJ Quinerly is third on the program’s all-time steals list and 7th in the Big 12 Conference all time standings … she also ranks fifth in the programs history for all time points scored … WVU is a perfect 16-0 when playing games inside the WVU Coliseum … WVU collected its 20th 20+ win season in program history against UC … The 13 conference wins are the third most in the 13 seasons in the Big 12.
This Week in Wrestling:
West Virginia has five Mountaineers competing at the 2025 NCAA Wrestling Championships in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from March 20-22 … senior Jett Strickenberger (125), redshirt junior Jordan Titus (141), fifth-year Peyton Hall (165), redshirt senior Dennis Robin (184) and redshirt sophomore Ian Bush (197) will compete at the championships.
Last Week in Wrestling:
The Mountaineers were off.
Notes:
West Virginia looks to make it six years in a row with at least one All-American at the wrestling championships … Ty Watters finished fourth at 149 pounds and Hall placed seventh at 165 pounds in 2024 … Hall has an opportunity for his third top-8 finish at the championships in his career … his best finish came last season when he placed seventh … Hall makes his fifth appearance at the wrestling championships, becoming the first Mountaineer to do so.
This Week in Gymnastics:
West Virginia looks ahead to the 2025 Big 12 Gymnastics Championship, scheduled for Saturday, March 22, at the Maverick Center in West Valley City, Utah … the championship will consist of two sessions and seeding will be determined based on teams’ National Qualifying Scores (NQS) on Road to Nationals … WVU will compete in the afternoon session, beginning at 2 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
Last Week in Gymnastics:
WVU wrapped up the regular season with a pair of road meets last week, beginning with a 196.0-195.625 win at Penn on March 14 … West Virginia tallied scores of 49.125 on vault, 48.625 on the uneven bars, 49.075 on balance beam and 49.175 on floor exercise … in the final event standings, freshman Sophia Rice finished in second on vault with a 9.9, followed by classmate Karleigh DiCello in third with a 9.875 … sophomore Amber Lowe secured the title on bars, scoring a 9.85, while DiCello earned the title on beam with career-high matching 9.925 … junior Carlee Nelson, sophomore Julia Brown and freshman Eden Webster also finished in a tie for third place on beam with a trio of 9.8’s … on floor, senior Anna Leigh topped the podium with a 9.9, and Rice finished in a tie for third place with a 9.85 … capping the weekend and the regular season at Ohio State on March 16, West Virginia finished in third place with a 195.85 team score … Ohio State took first (196.875), Pitt finished in second (195.925) and Kent State finished in fourth place (195.65) … WVU posted scores of 49.225 on vault, 48.75 on uneven bars, 48.725 on balance beam and 49.15 on floor exercise … the meet was highlighted by Rice’s career-high 9.975 on vault, as she topped the podium for the second time in her career … Rice was the last gymnast to compete for the Mountaineers in the meet, anchoring the vault lineup in the fourth rotation with a stuck Tsuk full vault … she received a perfect 10.0 from one judge and a 9.95 from the other for an impressive 9.975 … DiCello followed her in a tie for second on vault, scoring a career-best 9.9, while she also scored a 9.9 on beam to seal the win on the event … freshman Emerson Smith tied for second on floor with a 9.9.
Notes:
Rice’s 9.975 at Ohio State marked the first for the Mountaineers on vault since Kari Wiliams earned the score on Feb. 13, 2005 … it also is the first 9.975 on any event since Kirah Koshinski earned it on floor on Feb. 17, 2019 … Rice is now one of just seven Mountaineer gymnasts who have earned a 9.975 on vault in program history … additionally, she is the first freshman in the Big 12 to score a 9.975 on vault this season … WVU hit a pair of season highs on vault this weekend, besting its 49.125 on March 14 with a 49.225 on March 16 … in this week’s Road to Nationals rankings, West Virginia jumped to No. 34 nationally with a National Qualifying Score (NQS) of 195.855, moving into the top 36 for the first time this season … WVU also sits at No. 33 on vault, No. 46 on bars, No. 40 on beam and No. 31 on floor … individually, Leigh ranks No. 35 nationally, No. 4 in the Big 12 and No. 6 in the southeast region on floor with an NQS of 9.905 … on vault, DiCello ranks No. 10 in the conference and No. 13 in the region with an NQS of 9.84, while she also is No. 19 in the Big 12 and the region on beam (9.825 NQS) … Rice also ranks No. 13 in the Big 12 and No. 14 in the region with a 9.835 NQS.
This Week in Rifle:
West Virginia does not compete this week.
Last Week in Rifle:
The Mountaineers collected the program’s 20th NCAA Rifle National Championship over the weekend with an aggregate score of 4738 … the Mountaineers won the championship by one point over Kentucky who finished in second with a 4737 … after the opening day of smallbore action, WVU trailed both Alaska Fairbanks and Kentucky in this place with a 2350 … Alaska Fairbanks sat first with a 2355 and Kentucky was second with a 2354 … Kentucky took a 10 point lead into the final air rifle relay before WVU made a final push to claim the championship with a 2388 air rifle score … freshman Ashlyn Blake finished in third place in air rifle … Natalie Perrin made two finals to finish in eighth in smallbore and fifth in air rifle … sophomore Griffin Lake also made the smallbore final where he finished in sixth place.
Notes:
The NCAA Title is the Mountaineers’ first since the 2017 season … WVU has now finished in first or second at the NCAA National Championship 30 times across 45 competitions … Jon Hammond has now won seven titles during his time as head coach of WVU … the Mountaineers have won 26 straight regular season matches … Jon Hammond collected his 200th career win against No. 5 Georgia Southern … West Virginia’s 4742.6 aggregate score is the second best in the nation … the 2355.8 mark in smallbore and the 2386.7 in air rifle sits second … senior Gavin Barnick leads WVU in aggregate (1187.1), smallbore (590.3), and air rifle (596.8) … he ranks fourth, sixth and sixth in the nation in each category … West Virginia qualified as the NCAA National Championships second-ranked team with a qualifying mark of 9496 … joining WVU at this year’s championships are No. 1 Alaska Fairbanks, No. 3 Kentucky. No. 4 TCU, No. 5 Ole Miss, No. 6 Murray State, No. 7 Georgia Southern and No. 8 Air Force.
This Week in Tennis:
West Virginia hosts Utah on Thursday, March 20, and BYU on Saturday, March 22, in Morgantown.
Last Week in Tennis:
The Mountaineers lost to No. 30 Arizona State and No. 31 Arizona to remain winless in Big 12 play.
This week in Track and Field:
West Virginia begins their outdoor campaign by sending split squads to the USF Alumni Invitational in Tampa, Florida and hosting the Marty Pushkin Invitational in Morgantown, West Virginia on March 21-22.
Last week in Track and Field:
Graduate student Ceili McCabe became the first Mountaineer to win the women’s 3,000 meter indoor championship title at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships on March 15 in Virginia Beach, Virginia … McCabe took the race with a facility record time of 9:01.18 … additionally, she earned her tenth All-America honor across her collegiate cross country, indoor and outdoor track & field careers.
This week in Golf:
The golf team returns to action in its spring schedule on Monday and Tuesday at The Johnnie-O at Sea Island at Sea Island Resort in St. Simons Island, Georgia. … ten Top 100 teams will compete in the 13-team field, including No. 48 Kansas, No. 50 Marquette, No. 56 Florida Gulf Coast, No. 59 Michigan State, No. 66 Cincinnati, No. 70 Princeton, No. 85 Nebraska, No. 88 Memphis, No. 91 West Virginia, No. 94 Georgia Southern, UNCG, host Rutgers and Penn State … West Virginia’s lineup will consist of seniors Max Green and Todd Duncan, juniors Kaleb Wilson and Carson Kammann and freshman Ryan Leach. Junior Westy McCabe will compete as an individual … golfers will tee off at 8 a.m. on Monday to play 36 holes, followed by the final 18 holes set to begin Tuesday morning … After this tournament, the Mountaineers will remain on the road to compete in the Schenkel Invitational in Statesboro, Georgia, Friday to Sunday.
Last Week in Golf:
The Mountaineers did not compete.
This Week in Baseball:
West Virginia is back home this week for five games, beginning with two against James Madison on Tuesday and Wednesday … first pitch on Tuesday is set for 6:30 p.m. while Wednesday is scheduled for 2 p.m. … the Mountaineers remain home for a Big 12 weekend series against Arizona … first pitch on Friday is set for 6:30 p.m., Saturday for 4 p.m., and Sunday for noon.
Last Week in Baseball:
The Mountaineers went 2-0 on the week, defeating Towson, 16-5, on Tuesday before defeating Oklahoma State, 8-6, in Stillwater on Sunday in their Big 12 opener … against the Tigers, sophomore Spencer Barnett hit two home runs, including a game-ending grand slam in the eighth inning to win by run rule … against the Cowboys,
senior Jace Rinehart, freshman Gavin Kelly, and senior Kyle West each hit home runs … redshirt senior Griffin Kirn struck out eight batters while sophomore Chase Meyer had nine punchouts in 3.2 hitless innings.
Notes:
The Mountaineer pitching staff stuck out 19 Oklahoma State Cowboys on Sunday, the most since 1965 and tied for the fourth most in program history … Meyer went 2-0 on the week with 12 strikeouts in 5.2 hitless, scoreless innings … Friday and Saturday’s game against Oklahoma State got cancelled due to the Oklahoma wildfires … the games are not
expected to be rescheduled … after the Mountaineers made trips to Tucson the past two seasons in non-conference play and NCAA Regional action, Arizona will make its first ever trip to Morgantown this weekend … this past week, the Mountaineers were ranked No. 13 by Perfect Game, No. 21 by NCBWA, and No. 24 in the USA Today Coaches poll.
