Marshall Track & Field Recap
By Ben Anderson, FM88 Sports Director
May 20, 2025
HUNTINGTON, W. Va. (WMUL-FM) — Marshall Track & Field made one final stride to conclude the 2024-2025 outdoor season at the Sun Belt Conference Outdoor Championships. Leading the way for the Thundering Herd was a trio of long-distance runners with Destiny Berryman winning silver in the women’s 1500, Hannah Wyler winning bronze in the same event and Taylor Spencer winning bronze in the women’s Steeplechase.
Cross Country head coach Caleb Bowen said it’s been great to watch Wyler take on the leadership role of her previous teammates.
“We all knew once that once Kylee (Mastin) and McKenna (Woodruff) exhausted their eligibility that we needed to find somebody to lead the team.” Bowen said in an interview with FM88 Sports’ Ben Anderson.” “I thought Hannah did a great job filling in that role, it’s something she looked forward to all year and where Kylee and McKenna practiced in the mornings at like 5 a.m. she kind of had that experience already. She was already leading a lot of the practices for the main group, but now it’s like all the spotlights on her and Destiny, so I think she rose to the challenge really well and its going to be fun to see what she does next year.”
Bowen said that the trio’s success will help the team build the foundation for the future.
“They’re great girls,” Bowen said. “They’re really great people. They work really hard. They buy in and they listen and give feedback when needed. Couldn’t imagine three better people to take the lead. We’re trying to find girls that just add to the puzzle rather than trying to take their place because we don’t really need them to take the place, we just need people that fit in with our culture and buy into what Hannah, Destiny and Taylor have brought to the team.”
Director of Track and Field & Cross-Country Keith Roberts said that the team’s overall performance shows the strides necessary to become championship contenders.
“We did have three freshmen score in an individual event,” Roberts said in an interview with FM88 Sports’ Ben Anderson. “I think nine freshman total scored which is good for the future. Out of all our scores I think only two of them graduated or one of them graduates, so I feel like we’re setting ourselves up for the future and I thought the kids went out and battled. Conference is tough, there’s a lot of first round qualifiers, but I feel like we put ourselves out there and performed at a high level.”
Marshall Track & Field now sends it top national qualifiers to Jacksonville, Fla. on May 28 for the NCAA Championships East Preliminaries for a chance to compete for a national championship.