Behind school records from junior mid-distance runner Joe Jaster and junior distance runner Jack Begley, the Case Western Reserve University track and field teams completed an impressive weekend at the All-Ohio Outdoor Championships on the campus of Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio, and the Bison Outdoor Classic on the campus of Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania on Friday and Saturday.
At the All-Ohio Championships, the CWRU women's team finished first with 132 points while the men's team placed second with 111 points. Denison's men's team finished first with 111.50 points.
Jaster and Begley set new program-best marks at Bucknell. Jaster finished 10th overall and fourth among Division III competitors with a time of 14:14.74 in the 5,000-meter run, besting the previous mark of 14:24.91 set by former Spartan Trey Razanauskas in 2019. Begley, competing in the 10,000-meter run, broke a 44-year-old record by finishing in 30:26.61, good for fifth among Division III finishers. The previous program best was 30:32.00, run by Spartan Club Hall of Famer Peter Kummant in 1978.
Senior mid-distance runner Logan Singer and junior mid-distance runner Will Dehmler also competed for the Spartans in Pennsylvania. Singer finished the 1,500-meter run in 3:54.35, the second-best time in program history and just 0.10 seconds slower than the school record. In the 800-meter run, he finished in 1:52.65, the second-fastest time in program history. Dehmler, also racing in the 800-meter run, finished in 1:55.26
At the All-Ohio meet, the men's team totaled three first place finishes, while the women's team won four events.
Sophomore distance runner Matthew Smutny finished first in the 10,000-meter run in 32:31.67, junior mid-distance runner Liam O'Reilly finished first in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 9:24.42, and first-year distance runner Aidan Nathan finished first in the 5,000-meter run in 15:11.52. O'Reilly's time was the fourth-fastest time in program history. Sophomore distance runner Arjun Thillairajah trailed Smutny, finishing second with a time of 32:31.77, while sophomore distance runner Stephen Henry (fifth, 15:52.83) and senior distance runner Christopher Heerman (sixth, 15:57.46) each placed in the 5,000-meter run behind Nathan.
First-year distance runner Luke Kishna recorded the only runner-up finish for the Spartan men's team, finishing second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 9:46.41.
Recording a pair of individual fourth place finishes was sophomore sprinter/jumper Yusuf Shaaban. Shaaban was fourth in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 56.74 seconds and fourth in the high jump with a mark of 1.83 meters. He was also a member of the 4x400-meter relay and 4x100-meter relay. In the longer race, Shaaban joined senior sprinter Juan Perez, sophomore sprinter Brett Callow, and first-year sprinter Nicolas Lende to finish in 3:27.69 and fifth place, while in the shorter sprint he teamed up with Callow, Perez, and junior sprinter/jumper Keith Cartwright to finish sixth in 43.34 seconds. Individually, Callow placed fifth in the 100-meter dash in 1.05 seconds, the seventh-best mark in program history. Cartwright also added points for CWRU, placing eighth in the 100-meter dash in 11.14 seconds.
The Spartans had a pair of top-eight finishes in the pole vault and 800-meter run. First-year pole vaulter Quaylen Lamarre finished third in the pole vault with a mark of 4.15 meters and sophomore jumper Jack Wragan took seventh place with a mark of 4.00 meters. Meanwhile, first-year distance runner Hans Holst (fourth, 1:56.89) and senior mid-distance runner Bryden Moxley (fifth, 1:58.02) placed in the top five in the 800-meter run.
Also earning top finishes for the Case Western Reserve men's team were first-year distance runner Nate Gilbert, who placed third in the 1,500-meter run in 4:00.18, senior distance runner Alex Loeper, who placed fourth in the 10,000-meter run in 33:06.69, junior hurdler Peculiar Nzegbuna, who placed fourth in the 110-meter hurdles in 15.73 seconds, and junior hurdler/jumper Pierce Boucher, who placed seventh in the 400-meter hurdles in 59.11 seconds.
Four individuals earned top finishes for the Case Western Reserve women's team. Sophomore sprinter Elise Moore took first in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:00.86, sophomore distance runner Jessica Kwasny finished first in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:18.37, sophomore distance runner Grace Jackson placed first in the 1,500-meter run in 4:46.12, and sophomore thrower Adrienne Wachtman had the farthest javelin throw with a mark of 36.19 meters. Jackson's time in the 1,500-meter run is the sixth fastest in program history. Wachtman had a productive day, finishing sixth in the shot put with a toss of 11.08 meters and sixth in the discus throw with a heave of 35.77 meters, the eighth-best mark in program history.
Moore and Kwasny were joined by junior hurdler Mia Kilroy and junior mid-distance runner Melissa Phung for the 4x400-meter relay, which finished second with a time of 4:10.72. Moore was also a member of the 4x100-meter relay, along with sophomore sprinter/jumper Emily Hopkins, sophomore sprinter/jumper Anna Zinsser, and first-year hurdler/jumper Sarah Ozeki that placed fourth in 50.91 seconds.
Ozeki earned a pair of third-place finishes individually, earning the bronze in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 15.86 seconds and taking third in the triple jump with a mark of 10.72 meters. Hopkins was just behind Ozeki in both events, placing fourth in the triple jump with a mark of 10.70 meters and fourth in the 100-meter hurdles in 15.89 seconds. Kilroy finished sixth in the hurdling event with a time of 16.04 seconds.
Junior pole vaulter Victoria Zhao, first-year pole vaulter Amelia DiBiase, and junior pole vaulter Shelby Cooper finished fourth, fifth, and sixth respectively in the pole vault with a mark of 3.21 meters, the fourth-best in program history. In the 1,500-meter run, senior distance runner Susanna Henry placed third in 4:51.58. Graduate student distance runner Anna Mollnhuber finished fifth in the same event with a time of 4:53.00, and senior distance runner Julia Kocherzat followed in 5:01.30.
Senior distance runner Elise Epstein and junior jumper Mia Vargo each earned a fourth-place finish. Epstein ran the 10,000-meter run in 41:04.04 to finish fourth, while Vargo placed fourth in the high jump with a mark of 1.58 meters.
Phung and Jackson added points for the Sparants in the 800-meter run, with Phung finishing fifth in 2:25.07 and Jackson placing seventh in 2:26.88.
Rounding out the top-eight finishes for CWRU were junior distance runner Catherine Phillips (fifth, 5,000-meter run, 18:52.92), graduate student distance runner Molly Gniady (sixth, 3,000-meter steeplechase, 12:26.06), and first-year distance runner Medha Patria (seventh, 5,000-meter run, 18:56.70).
The Spartans will next head to St. Louis, Missouri for the University Athletic Association Outdoor Track & Field Championships on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis. The two-day meet begins on Saturday, April 22 and concludes on Sunday, April 23.
