Wheeling Cardinals

The Wheeling Cardinals are the athletic teams that represent Wheeling University, located in Wheeling, West Virginia, in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sports. The Cardinals compete as members of the Mountain East Conference for all 21 varsity sports. Wheeling was an early member of the Mountain East following the 2013 demise of the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC), of which the university had been a member since 1957.

Wheeling Cardinals
UniversityWheeling University
ConferenceMountain East Conference
NCAADivision II
Athletic directorCarrie Hanna
LocationWheeling, West Virginia
Varsity teams16
Football stadiumBishop Schmitt Field
Basketball arenaMcDonough Center
Baseball stadiumJ.B. Chambers Baseball/Softball Complex
Soccer stadiumBishop Schmitt Field
MascotIggy the Cardinal
NicknameCardinals
ColorsRed, Gold, and Black
   
Websitewucardinals.com

History

Wheeling University competes in NCAA Division II as part of the MEC. It had been a member of the WVIAC from 1957 to 2013. In June 2012, the nine football-playing schools in the WVIAC announced their intention to break away and form a new conference, which then became the MEC.[1] Although the university was initially left out of the split, it would soon receive an invitation to become a charter member of the new conference.

The university amassed 47 WVIAC titles during its tenure in that conference, and also boasts 40 Academic All-Americans.

Varsity teams
The Van Horne Grandstands, part of WU's outdoor athletic complex.

List of teams

Individual sports

Rugby

Rugby, formerly offered as a club sport from 1967 to 1994, was restarted after an 18-year hiatus in December 2011. The university restarted its rugby program in part because the increasing popularity of rugby in Jesuit high schools meant that offering college rugby would be one way to attract more students.[2] The rugby team is a full varsity men's sport and provides scholarships for athletes.[3] The university hired Eric Jerpe as the head coach of the program. Jerpe previously held various leadership positions, including with the Pittsburgh Harlequins, as manager of the US U-17 national team, and as a member of the USA Rugby board of directors.[4]

Wheeling played its first rugby sevens tournament in September 2012, where Wheeling finished fourth in the MAC Sevens despite fielding a team composed entirely of freshmen.[5] Wheeling notched its first win in fifteens on September 8, 2012, when Wheeling defeated the West Virginia Mountaineers 10–6 at home in front of a large crowd at James Larosa Stadium.[6]

The program elevated to the Division 1-A Rugby and joined Rugby East starting in the 2014 season. Governed by USA Rugby, DI-A is the highest level of men's college rugby in the United States and is administered by USA Rugby.[7] Wheeling reached a program-high ranking during the 2015 season when the Cardinals finished 18th in the nation.[8] The team did not play a D-IA schedule during the 2019–20 season, instead the Cardinals played an independent schedule.[9]

Volleyball

The lady Cardinals captured the school's very first NCAA Division II National Championship on Dec. 12, 2015. The team's record for the 2015 season was 39-4.

Swimming and Diving

In 2019, Wheeling University reinstated its men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs, along with lacrosse, men's golf, and competitive cheer.[10] The university dropped the program in 2017.[11]

Cardinals swimming program won three-straight WVIAC titles in men's competition from 2000 to 2002 and won the WVIAC women's swimming championship.[10] In 1998, Zoran Lazarovski won the university's only NCAA championship in the 200-yard butterfly individual event, finishing the race in 1:48.26, at the 1998 NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships.[12] As teams, the women's team finished 16th in 1998 while the men's reached a program-high 14th in the 2000 event.[10]

Football

In 2017 the athletic department announced that the University would be adding football with an exhibition schedule in 2018. Zac Bruney the Offensive Coordinator at Ohio Dominican University was named the program's first head coach on July 7, 2017.[13][14] Team began play during the 2019 season and recorded their first win on November 16, 2019 with a 27–20 victory at Concord University. The Cardinals finished the inaugural season with a 1–10 overall record.[15]

Wrestling

In January 2013, athletic director Danny Sancomb announced that Wheeling would be adding wrestling at the school's 20th intercollegiate sport.[16] Wheeling native and Cornell graduate, Sean Doyle was hired to build the program to compete in the fall of 2013.[17] All-American wrestler JD Ramsey was hired as a Graduate Assistant, while Matt Littleton and BJ Hedger were hired to serve as volunteer assistants in the first year. The first recruiting class of 29, includes wrestlers from 7 different states and the team will compete as an NCAA Division II program immediately.[18] The university has designed a new wrestling facility, which was ready for use in the fall of 2013. The program was positioned to become competitive in a short period of time.[19] The program's success was short-lived when the program was not sponsored for the 2019-20 season after a mass exodus of the roster that coincided with significant cuts to other departments at the university due to on-going financial issues and restructuring from the Jesuits.{</ref>[20]

In May 2020, August Wesley was named as the third head coach in the history of the program and began to rebuild the program to fully compete in the 2020-21 season. [21]

References
  1. Rine, Shawn (August 20, 2012). "Cards, Toppers Set To Jump Into New League". The Intelligencer & Wheeling News Register. Wheeling, WV. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
  2. Rugby Mag, Wheeling Jesuit Hires Varsity Rugby Coach, Jan 6, 2012, http://www.rugbymag.com/college-news/3052-wheeling-jesuit-hires-varsity-rugby-coach.html
  3. Pittsburgh Press, Eric Jerpe named Director of Rugby at Wheeling Jesuit University, http://www.pittsburgh-press.com/article.cfm?id=4201&sport=0&news=1
  4. "Eric Jerpe named Director of Rugby at Wheeling Jesuit University". Wheeling Jesuit University. Retrieved March 26, 2012.
  5. Rugby Mag, First Run-Out for Wheeling Jesuit, Sep 1, 2012, http://www.rugbymag.com/men's-di-college/5675-first-run-out-for-wheeling-jesuit.html
  6. Rugby Mag, Wheeling Wins Varsity Opener in Dramatic Fashion, Sep 8, 2012, http://www.rugbymag.com/men's-di-college/5712-wheeling-wins-varsity-opener-dramatic-fashion.html
  7. Clifton, Pat (July 23, 2013). "Changes Coming To DI-A". Rugby Magazine. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  8. "College Top 25, May 14, 2015", Rugby Today, Pat Clifton.
  9. Goff, Alex (August 23, 2019). "The Rugby East Sets Fall 2019 Schedule". Rugby Report. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  10. Anderson, Jared (August 14, 2017). "WheelingUniversity In West Virginia Reinstates Swim Program, Hires Head Coach". SwimSwam.com. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  11. Keith, Braden (October 19, 2019). "Wheeling Jesuit Quietly Cuts Swimming Diving Programs". SwimSwam.com. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  12. "Division II All-Time Championship Records and Results" (pdf). NCAA. 2013. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
  13. "Wheeling Jesuit University to Launch Football Program". Wheeling Jesuit University. Retrieved 2018-02-16.
  14. "WJU Tackles Coaching Selection – Names Martins Ferry Native Zac Bruney Football Coach". Wheeling Jesuit University. Retrieved 2018-02-16.
  15. Bone, Tom (November 16, 2019). "Wheeling picks up first football win in Concord's season finale". Bluefield Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  16. "Wheeling Jesuit Athletics Expands to 20 NCAA Division II Varsity Athletic Programs". Wheeling University Athletics.
  17. "Sean Doyle Selected to Lead Inaugural Wrestling Program at Wheeling Jesuit University". Wheeling University Athletics.
  18. Leader, Times. "Building Of A Program". Wheeling University Athletics.
  19. "Wheeling Jesuit Wrestling Room Shaping Up". Wheeling University Athletics.
  20. Olson, Alan (April 1, 2019). "Faculty: WJU to remain open 'in name only'". Weirton Daily Times. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  21. "Wesley Named WU Mat Coach". The Intelligencer.
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