Barnick Named Student-Athlete of the Week – West Virginia University Athletics

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Senior Gavin Barnick of the West Virginia University rifle team collected five first place finishes, leading the Mountaineers to three ranked wins over the weekend to be named the WVU Student-Athlete of the Week, presented by University Apartments.

Barnick tied a career-high mark with his aggregate score of 1193 against No. 11 Ohio State and No. 17 Morehead State. He managed a career-high 594 in smallbore and added a season-high 599 in air rifle to claim first in both disciplines. The Menasha, Wisconsin native bested second place on the overall leaderboard by three points in the field of 25.

His effort in air rifle helped the Mountaineers shoot a 2393 team score which tied a program record.

Barnick tied for first place on the overall leaderboard against No. 11 Akron with a score of 1189. Barnick claimed first in smallbore with a 593 and added a fifth-place finish in air rifle with a 596.

West Virginia closes out the regular season on the road against Kentucky on Saturday, Feb. 8.

 

This Week in Women’s Basketball: The Mountaineers are back at home on Saturday when they take on Oklahoma State inside the WVU Coliseum … tipoff is set for Noon ET … the game is the annual Pink Game in support of the fight against breast cancer … it will also be the alumni game as all former team members will be invited back to Morgantown and will be recognized during halftime.

 

Last Week in Women’s Basketball: The Mountaineers moved to 16-4 on the season and 6-3 in Big 12 Conference play after splitting two road contests … WVU opened the week with an 89-59 win over Arizona State … JJ Quinerly led the scoring effort with 29 points … the Mountaineers fell to Arizona to close out the week by a final score of 77-62 … Quinerly scored a game-high 26 points in the loss.

 

Notes: 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 fourth on the program’s all-time steals list… WVU is a perfect 11-0 when playing games inside the WVU Coliseum.

 

This Week in Wrestling: No. 20 West Virginia hosts No. 5 Northern Iowa on Saturday, Feb. 1, at 7 p.m. ET. 

 

Last Week in Wrestling: West Virginia lost to No. 23 Missouri, 22-16, on Sunday in Columbia, Missouri.

 

Notes: Against the Tigers, senior No. 10 Jett Strickenberger continued his superb season, defeating Missouri’s Gage Walker in the opening match by decision, 7-6 … fifth-year No. 3 Peyton Hall faced his toughest task of the conference slate so far this season against No. 10 Cam Steed … in the opening period, Steed scored two takedowns to lead, 6-2. Hall responded in the second period, registering a takedown to tie the match at six … Hall took his first lead of the match with a takedown in the third period and didn’t look back … Steed was awarded a point for a late escape, but Hall won by decision, 10-8 … West Virginia tied the match at 16 after redshirt sophomore Ian Bush beat Jesse Cassat in the 197-pound match by decision, 8-3 … in the final match, fifth-year Michael Wolfgram battled with No. 29 Jarrett Stoner … through two periods, Wolfgram held the lead, 6-4 … two escapes by Stoner in the third period tied the match at six … however, Wolfgram was injured late, and Stoner won the match by injury default.

 

This Week in Gymnastics: West Virginia returns home for a big matchup against a pair of ranked foes when No. 3 Florida and No. 5 Utah come to Morgantown on Sunday, Feb. 2 … action inside the WVU Coliseum is slated to begin at 2 p.m. ET … it’s a Sunday Slumber Party at the Coliseum, and the first 500 fans will get a WVU gymnastics-branded sleep mask … the Mountaineer Fan Fest also will take place in the concourse pre-meet.

 

Last Week in Gymnastics: WVU tallied a season-high 194.1 team score in a dual meet at No. 16 Denver inside Magness Arena in Denver, Colorado, on Jan. 26 … the host Pioneers secured first place in the dual meet with a 195.975, followed by the Mountaineers (1-3, 0-1 Big 12) in second … West Virginia posted event scores of 48.35 on vault, 48.525 on the uneven bars, 48.575 on balance beam and 48.65 on floor exercise … in the final event results, a pair of Mountaineers made the beam podium, as senior Anna Leigh tied for the event win (9.8) and sophomore Jurnee Lane finished behind her in third (9.75).

 

Notes: The Mountaineers’ score on beam marked a new season high on the event … senior Brooke Alban tallied a new season best on bars (9.8), while freshman Riley Maness reached a career-best 9.75 on floor … in this week’s Road to Nationals rankings, West Virginia is ranked No. 39 nationally on floor exercise and No. 53 overall … elsewhere, WVU ranks No. 61 on vault, No. 41 on bars and No. 64 on beam.

 

This Week in Swimming and Diving: West Virginia faces Penn State on Saturday, Feb. 1, at McCoy Natatorium in University Park, Pennsylvania. 

 

Last Week in Swimming and Diving: West Virginia earned its first dual meet wins of the season … the men’s team beat Villanova and the women’s team defeated Duquesne while losing to Villanova. 

 

Notes: Sophomore Maddie Smutny won two events for WVU, placing first in the 500-yard freestyle and the 200-yard butterfly … for the men’s team, seniors Conner McBeth and Justin Heimes each won two events … McBeth won the 50 and 100 freestyles … Heimes won the 100 and 200 backstrokes … in the diving well, freshman Levi Hellman and junior Abigail Sullivan posted NCAA Zone qualifying scores … Hellman qualified on the men’s 1-meter and Sullivan qualified on the women’s 3-meter … redshirt junior Amari Brown-Swint won her first collegiate event, placing first on the women’s 1-meter.

 

This Week in Rifle: The Mountaineers do not compete this week.

 

Last Week in Rifle: The No. 3-ranked West Virginia University rifle team moved to a perfect 12-0 on the season with three more wins over the weekend … WVU collected two wins on Saturday, defeating No. 11 Ohio State 4756-4707 and No. 17 Morehead State 4756-4663 … the mark of 2392 in air rifle match a program best in air rifle … WVU closed out the week with a 4747-4711 win over No. 11 Akron.

 

Notes: The Mountaineers have won 25 straight regular season matches … Jon Hammond collected his 200^th career win against No. 5 Georgia Southern … West Virginia’s 4742.5 aggregate score is the best in the nation … the 2356.3 mark in smallbore is also the best while the 2386.2 in air rifle sits also the best … senior Gavin Barnick leads WVU in aggregate (1186.7), smallbore (589.9), and air rifle (596.5) … he ranks sixth, fifth and sixth in the nation in each category.

 

This Week in Tennis: West Virginia is on the road to face VCU in Richmond, Virginia, on Saturday, Feb. 1 … the Mountaineers will also face William and Mary on Sunday, Feb. 2, in Williamsburg, Va. 

 

Last Week in Tennis: The Mountaineers lost both of their matches in East Lansing, Michigan … West Virginia lost to Xavier on Saturday and to Michigan State on Sunday. 

 

Notes: Senior Michaela Kucharova was the only Mountaineer to win over the weekend … Kucharova beat Xavier’s Madeleine Rexroat, 6-2, 6-4 … she also defeated Michigan State’s Ellie Blackford, 6-4, 6-1.

 

This week in Track and Field: The Mountaineers did not compete.

 

Last week in Track and Field: West Virginia travels to University Park, Pennsylvania for the Penn State National Open on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 … competition begins inside of the Multi-Sport Facility & Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track on Friday at 11 a.m. ET, followed by a 3 p.m. start on Saturday … both days of competition are available to be viewed live on the Big 10 Plus network.