The Case Western Reserve University men's and women's track and field teams started the 2022-23 indoor season on Saturday with the Ninth Annual CWRU Spartan Holiday Classic at the Veale Center in Cleveland.
The Spartans won nine events at the season-opening meet, including seven for the men's team and two for the women's team.
Graduate student sprinter Juan Perez contributed to three of the first place finishes with two individual victories and one relay win. Perez won the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.00 seconds in the finals and was a member of the winning 4x200-meter relay, along with senior sprinter/jumper Keith Cartwright, junior sprinter Brett Callow, and sophomore sprinter Nicolas Lende, that finished in 1:32.77. Perez, Lende, and Callow swept the 200-meter dash podium, with Perez winning in 23.06 seconds, Lende taking second in 23.28 seconds, and Callow finishing third in 23.29 seconds. Lende added a second place finish in the 400-meter dash with a time of 51.59 seconds, and Callow placed third in the 60-meter dash in 7.09 seconds.
First-year sprinter Troy Olson, senior runner Will Dehmler, and senior hurdler Peculiar Nzegbuna each won events for CWRU. Olson, competing in his first collegiate meet, won the long jump with a mark of 6.55 meters. Dehmler won the 800-meter run with a time of 2:00.08, and Nzegbuna finished first in the 60-meter hurdles, crossing the line at 8.69 seconds.
The Spartan 4x400-meter relay of junior runner Andrew Baierl, senior sprinter/hurdler Pierce Boucher, senior runner Bryden Moxley, and sophomore sprinter William DeYoung claimed the team's final victory of the night, winning the event in 3:35.62. Moxley also contributed a third place finish in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:01.23.
Sophomore pole vaulter Quaylen Lamarre and junior sprinter/jumper Yusuf Shaaban placed second in a pair of events for Case Western Reserve. Lamarre cleared 4.10 meters in the pole vault for his runner-up finish, and Shaaban cleared the 1.90-meter bar in the high jump to place second in the event. Adding third place finishes were sophomore jumper Andrew Qi (long jump), first-year pole vaulter Anthony DeCarlo (pole vault), first-year sprinter Aaron Brula (high jump), and first-year runner Matias Facchinato-Sitja (mile run).
For the CWRU women's team, senior jumper Mia Vargo and junior thrower Adrienne Wachtman each won an event. Vargo cleared 1.55 meters in the high jump to place first, and Wachtman recorded a mark of 12.21 meters in the shot put to pace the meet.
Three individuals and two Spartan relays earned second place finishes. Senior pole vaulter Victoria Zhao was the runner-up in the pole vault after clearing 3.30 meters. Junior hurdler/jumper Emily Hopkins placed second in the triple jump with a leap of 10.90 meters. First-year runner Melanie Taylor was the second runner to cross the line in the 800-meter run, finishing in 2:27.97. Taylor joined senior hurdler Mia Kilroy, first-year sprinter Hannah Driscoll and first-year hurdler/sprinter Gabby Alphonse in the 4x400-meter relay, which took second in 4:21.90. Alphonse, junior sprinter/jumper Anna Zinsser, first-year sprinter Emily Walton, and first-year hurdler/jumper Grace Misiunas finished second in the 4x200-meter relay in 1:51.41.
Misiunas added a third place finish for the Spartans with a time of 27.58 seconds in the 200-meter dash. Sophomore runner Alyssa Storm (800-meter run), senior runner Chloe Relf (400-meter dash), and sophomore sprinter/jumper Jordan Su (long jump) each placed third in their events.
The Spartans will compete one more time in 2022, heading to Tiffin, Ohio for the Tiffin Open on Saturday, December 10, before resuming their seasons in 2023 with the Otterbein Invite on January 21.
