The Case Western Reserve University men's and women's track and field teams turned in strong performances at the Ed Finnigan Greater Cleveland Colleges Invite in the Veale Center on Friday evening.
In the final meet before the University Athletic Association Championships, the women's team placed second with 140 points and the men's team finished first with 214 points. The women's team had seven first-place finishes and four second-place finishes, while the men's team had seven first-place finishes and eight second-place finishes.
First-year hurdler/jumper Sarah Ozeki earned a first place finish and a pair of second place finishes at the meet. She won the long jump with a mark of 4.94 meters, the best mark by a Spartan this season, took second in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.90 seconds, and placed second in the triple jump with a mark of 10.65 meters.
Winning two events for CWRU was sophomore sprinter/jumper Emily Hopkins. She took first in the 60-meter hurdles in 9.75 seconds and first in the triple jump with a mark of 10.84 meters, the best mark for a Spartan this season.
Senior distance runner Elise Epstein, first-year distance runner Marquis Globokar, and junior jumper Mia Vargo also grabbed first place finishes for Case Western Reserve. Epstein won the 5000-meter run in 20:11.13, Globokar won the 800-meter run in 2:31.65, and Vargo took first in the high jump with a mark of 1.60 meters. Epstein also added a third-place finish in the 3000-meter run, finishing in 11:42.93. Graduate student distance runner Anna Mollnhuber won the event in 11:16.05.
A pair of Spartans added second-place finishes. Sophomore sprinter/jumper Anna Zinsser placed second in the 60-meter dash in 8.33 seconds and added a third-place finish in the 200-meter dash in 27.29 seconds. Junior pole-vaulter Shelby Cooper placed second in the pole vault with a mark of 3.05 meters.
Junior hurdler Mia Kilroy, graduate student distance runner Molly Gniady, and sophomore sprinter Elise Moore all had third-place finishes at the meet. Kilroy finished third in the 60-meter hurdles in 9.95 seconds, Gniady placed third in the one-mile run in 5:35.63, and Moore finished third in the 400-meter dash in 1:02.55.
For the men's team, junior sprinter/jumper Ben Pinkowski won the high jump with a mark of 1.90 meters and took second in the long jump with a mark of 6.38 meters. His jump is the furthest by a Spartan this season.
Six more Spartans picked up first place finishes: sophomore jumper Jack Wragan, first-year distance runner Luke Kishna and Mike Lombardi, junior hurdler/jumper Pierce Boucher, sophomore distance runner Stephen Henry, and senior sprinter Juan Perez. Wragan took first in the pole vault with a mark of 3.80 meters, Kishna won the one-mile run in 4:28.40, and Boucher took the top spot in the 60-meter hurdles in 8.86 seconds. Henry won the 800-meter run in 2:02.42, while Perez won the 200-meter dash in 23.03 seconds, the best mark by a Spartan this season. Perez also finished second in the 400-meter dash with a time of 51.93 seconds. Lombardi had the top time in the 3000-meter run, finishing in 9:14.48, and added a second place finish in the one-mile run in 4:31.03.
Case Western Reserve took the top three spots in the 60-meter hurdles, with junior hurdler Peculiar Nzegbuna finishing second in 8.87 seconds and junior sprinter/hurdler Eli Fragnoli placing third in 9.03 seconds.
Junior sprinter/jumper Keith Cartwright picked up a pair of second-place finishes in the 60-meter dash and the 200-meter dash. He finished the former in 7.22 seconds and the latter in 23.40 seconds.
Sophomore distance runner Matthew Smutny and senior distance runner Alex Loeper also earned second for CWRU. Smutney placed second in the 5000-meter run in 16:10.46, while Loeper finished second in the 3000-meter run in 9:20.31.
A trio of Spartans, first-year jumper Andrew Qi, junior distance runner Jacob Conard, and sophomore sprinter/jumper Yusuf Shaaban, had third-place finishes. Qi finished third in two events, the long jump with a mark of 6.11 meters, and the third triple jump with a mark of 11.88 meters. Conard placed third in the 5000-meter run in 16:15.26, while Shaaban placed third in the 400-meter dash in 52.30 seconds.
The namesake of the meet, Ed Finnigan, was the first student at Western Reserve University to earn nine varsity letters, three each in track, football, and basketball. He graduated from the university in 1933 and went on to become the head football and track and field coach at both Baldwin Wallace University and Western Reserve, later serving as athletic director at his alma mater from 1951-1968. He was posthumously inducted into the Spartan Club Hall of Fame in its inaugural class and was inducted into the Baldwin Wallace Alumni Athletics Association Hall of Fame.
The Spartans will be hosting the 2022 UAA Indoor Track & Field Championships next Saturday and Sunday inside the Veale Center. Action is slated to start at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday and 9:00 a.m. on Sunday.
