The Case Western Reserve University track and field team opened its 2017 outdoor season this weekend, with the men and women combining to win three events at the 2017 W&L Carnival, hosted by Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia on Friday and Saturday.
The Spartans women were strong in the hammer throw at the meet, taking three of the top-four spots in the event. Junior Cassandra Laios won the hammer throw with a mark of 47.38 meters (fourth longest in Division III entering the weekend), while junior Nimi Gupta claimed third with a mark of 39.53 meters and sophomore Marina Yu finished fourth with a distance of 37.28 meters. Laios also earned a second-place finish in the discus throw with a toss of 38.19 meters.
Sophomore Shannon Carroll won the shot put with a mark of 11.56 meters. She also placed fourth in javelin with a distance of 33.14 meters.
For the men, junior Andrew Ibibo won the 400-meter dash with a time of 49.11, while freshman Jonathan Haling added a fifth-place finish in the event with a time of 50.71. Ibibo also claimed a fifth-place finish in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.72.
The Spartan men also turned in third place finishes in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and 400-meter hurdles. Senior Galen Caldwell placed third in the steeplechase with a time of 9:46.22, while freshman Brian Holden placed third in the Javelin with a mark of 54.51 meters.
Freshman Dominic Oddo gathered four top-ten finishes during the meet. He finished fifth in the 400-meter hurdles (58.10), seventh in the long jump (6.28 meters), eight in the high jump (1.79 meters) and eighth in the 110-meter hurdles (16.46).
Other top finishers for the CWRU men included junior Jason Lockamy in the discus throw (fifth, 38.29 meters) and freshman Ananth Suresh in the triple jump (fifth, 12.95 meters).
For the women, junior Claire Plunkett was the team's top performer in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, finishing second with a time of 11:58.49. Sophomore Olivia Newman was the team's top performer in both the 400-meter hurdles (second, 1:07.08) and 100-meter hurdles (fourth, 16.63).
Other top performers for the CWRU women during the meet included freshman Vanessa Pasadyn in the 1,500-meter run (fourth, 4:53.61) and in the 800-meter run (fourth, 2:19.07), junior Rachel Laveson in the 10,000-meter run (third, 39:00.35), junior Marie-Louise Kloster in the 400-meter hurdles (fourth, 1:08.10), senior Abby Casalnova in the 400-meter dash (fifth, 1:02.29), sophomore Maria DeRenzo in the 800-meter run (sixth, 2:25.59) and sophomore Mikhaylan Price in the discus throw (sixth, 30.70 meters).
Case Western Reserve will be back in action next weekend, competing at the Amy Adams Memorial Invitational in New Concord, Ohio. The meet will be hosted by Muskingum University and is scheduled to start at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, March 24th.
