North Panhandle Times

Strong Performances Earn Pair of Freshman Cardinals High Flyer of the Week Awards

 It is nearly crossover season as winter sports start to mix with spring as we close out the month of January. With the month ending, the Wheeling University Athletics Department released their final Cardinal High Flyers of the Week Awards for the month as a pair of strong performances from two freshmen earned them the title. Wheeling Women's Swimmer Gabby Baiano takes home the Female High Flyer of the Week award while Men's Basketball's Caleb Murray brings home the Men's High Flyer of the Week Award. 

The Cardinals closed out the month of January with another strong week of action both on the hardwood and in the pool. Of the six "record" competitions of the week, the Cardinals combined to go 4-2 across the six contests. Men's and Women's Basketball each split their two contests this week, with the women falling to West Virginia Wesleyan and bouncing back against Davis & Elkins and the men flipping the script with a win over Wesleyan before falling to Davis & Elkins. It was a big weekend for Wheeling Swimming as they swept a home dual meet against Bethany, where the men picked up their first dual meet win in six years. Wheeling Track & Field had some strong performances at the YSU Mid Major, and Wheeling Wrestling rounded out the week with two fourth place finishes at the 2023 MEC Wrestling Championships. 

On the women's side, Wheeling Women's Swimmer Gabby Baiano takes home her second Female Cardinals High Flyer of the Week award in the last three weeks. The freshman wrote her name in the program history books over the weekend in the 1650 Freestyle. Not only did she pick up the win, but she set the new Pool record in the event with a time of 18:21.64 as she completed her 66 laps. She was able to beat the old record by .60 seconds as she kicked off a strong day. Baiano would also take home silver in the 200 Yard Individual Medley and was part of the winning 200 Yard Freestyle Relay team to end the day. Baiano has been the top distance swimmer for the Women's team this season and enters the 2023 Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC)/Mountain East Conference (MEC) Championships looking to continue to lower her times. 

The Men's side sees Wheeling Men's Basketball freshman Caleb Murray earn his first Male Cardinals High Flyer of the Week Award of the season. Murray got in during the end of the West Virginia Wesleyan game and was electric from three-point range, going 3-3 and scoring nine points on the night. That success earned him more playing time and he took advantage, doubling his point total to set a new career-high with 18 points. Murray scored a combined 27 points across the two games and shot an impressive 50% from the arc. Murray looks to continue his success off the bench this coming week as the Cardinals get set for a pair of tough matchups with Charleston and West Virginia State. 

The Wheeling Women's Swimming team earns its fourth Female High Flyer of the Week, with Baiano winning twice along with teammates Jade Miller and Meredith Mandal each winning an award this season. Wheeling Men's Basketball had their fifth award winner with John Korte, Marcus Johnson, Andrew Taylor, and Brent Price also winning awards earlier this season. The Cardinals now open February this week as they open the spring seasons and begin the winter stretch playoff run into March. 

The next Wheeling University athletic event will be on Wednesday, February 1st, when the Wheeling University Women's Basketball team hits the road to face Charleston with tip-off scheduled for 5:30 PM. 

Original source can be found here