The Case Western Reserve University track and field teams began their outdoor season at the two-day Washington and Lee Track & Field Carnival in Lexington, Virginia on Friday and Saturday. Three Spartans won events at the meet and the teams added five more top-three finishes.
First-year hurdler/jumper Sarah Ozeki took first place in the triple jump with a mark of 11.09 meters. Sophomore sprinter/jumper Emily Hopkins finished fourth in the event with a mark of 10.88 meters. Ozeki also placed sixth in the 100-meter hurdles, finishing in 15.85 seconds. Hopkins finished eighth in the event in 15.86 seconds.
In the pole vault, junior pole vaulter Victoria Zhao tied for first with a mark of 3.07 meters. CWRU took three of the top four positions in the event with junior pole vaulter Shelby Cooper placing third with a 2.92-meter mark and first-year pole vaulter Amelia DiBiase placing fourth with the same mark.
Junior mid-distance runner Liam O'Reilly won the 3000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:56.65. Senior distance runner Christopher Heermann finished seventh in the event in 10:39.79.
Earning second-place finishes for the Spartans were junior jumper Mia Vargo and sophomore distance runner Jessica Kwasny. Vargo placed second in the high jump with a mark of 1.57 meters, while Kwasny finished second in the 800-meter run in 2:20.77. Kwasny also finished third in the 1500-meter run, crossing the finish line at 4:49.12. Senior distance runner Susanna Henry was 10 seconds behind, finishing in 4:59.92 in fifth place.
Sophomore sprinter Elise Moore earned a pair of fourth-place finishes. Individually, she finished the 400-meter dash in 1:00.35 to take fourth. She was also a member of the fourth place 4x100-meter relay, along with Hopkins, Ozeki, and sophomore sprinter/jumper Anna Zinsser, that finished in 51.16 seconds.
Rounding out the top-eight CWRU finishers were senior distance runner Julia Kocherzat (sixth, 5000-meter run) and the 4x400-meter relay of Zinsser, Kwasny, junior mid-distance runner Melissa Phung, and junior hurdler Mia Kilroy (eighth, 4:21.90).
Junior hurdler Peculiar Nzegbuna grabbed a second-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles in 15.64 seconds. The 4x100-meter relay of junior sprinter/jumper Keith Cartwright, first-year sprinter Noah Coyne, sophomore distance runner Michael Smoluk, and senior sprinter Juan Perez placed third with a time of 43.10 seconds. Smoluk and Perez were joined by first-year sprinter William DeYoung and junior mid-distance runner Will Dehmler in the fourth place 4x400-meter relay that finished in 3:25.06. Perez added a pair of top-five finishes, placing fourth in the 100-meter dash (10.85 seconds) and fifth in the 200-meter dash (22.34 seconds).
Sophomore sprinter/jumper Yusuf Shaaban and junior mid-distance runner Parker Straight each earned two top-eight finishes. Shaaban placed fourth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 52.44 seconds and sixth in the high jump with a mark of 1.86 meters, while Straight took fourth in the 800-meter run in 1:55.66 and eighth in the 1500-meter run in 4:01.50. First-year distance runner Nate Gilbert placed sixth in the 800-meter run, finishing 1.50 seconds behind Straight with a time of 1:57.06.
Rounding out the top-four finishes was first-year distance runner Aidan Nathan, who placed fourth in the 5000-meter run with a time of 15:15.79.
DeYoung (eighth, 400-meter dash), senior distance runner Alex Loeper (sixth, 10000-meter run), senior thrower Ben Brisman (seventh, hammer throw), and junior hurdler/jumper Pierce Boucher (eighth, 110-meter hurdles) each had a top-eight finish for Case Western Reserve.
The Spartans will next head to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on March 25 and 26 for the CMU Invitational hosted by Carnegie Mellon.
