Paced by an All-University Athletic Association finish for junior distance runner Jack Begley, the Case Western Reserve University men's track and field team finished the first day of the UAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships held at the Bushyhead Track in St. Louis, Missouri in fifth place with 29 points.
Carnegie Mellon leads the conference after the first day with 78 points, followed by host Washington University in St. Louis (77 points), University of Chicago (54), and Emory University (48).
Begley placed third in the 10,000-meter run with a time of 32:12.43. It is Begley's third All-UAA honor this season after earning two at the Indoor Track & Field Championships in the 3,000-meter run and 5,000-meter run in February. First-year distance runner Aidan Nathan finished in fifth place in the event with a time of 32:27.36, earning four points for CWRU.
Five Spartans earned points in individual events. In the pole vault, sophomore jumper Jack Wragan finished fourth with a mark of 4.30 meters, while first-year pole vaulter Quaylen Lamarre placed eighth with a mark of 4.00 meters. Senior thrower Ben Brisman earned a sixth-place finish in the hammer throw, tossing the hammer 46.22 meters. With a mark of 47.50 meters in the javelin throw, junior sprinter/jumper Keith Cartwright added three points to the team's total with a sixth-place finish. Junior mid-distance runner Liam O'Reilly wrapped up the individual scoring, securing a seventh-place finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:41.16.
The 4x800-meter relay, consisting of first-year distance runners Nate Gilbert and Hans Holst and junior mid-distance runners Joe Jaster and Will Dehmler, placed fourth with a time of 7:49.78, the second-fastest time in program history.
Six additional CWRU athletes advanced to the finals in their events with solid prelim performances, led by first-year sprinter Nicolas Lende. Lende qualified for the finals in the 400-meter dash and 200-meter dash after recording the seventh- and eighth-best times in the events at the meet. He finished the 400-meter dash in 49.99 seconds and the 200-meter dash in 22.33 seconds.
Two Spartans recorded top-eight times in the 400-meter hurdles with sophomore sprinter/jumper Yusuf Shaaban crossing the line in 56.20 seconds and junior hurdler/jumper Pierce Boucher behind him in 57.72 seconds. Senior mid-distance runner Logan Singer finished with the fourth-fastest time in the 800-meter run in 1:52.82. In the 110-meter hurdles, junior hurdler Peculiar Nzegbuna advanced to the finals with a time of 15.43 seconds, while in the 100-meter dash, sophomore sprinter Brett Callow moved to the finals with a time of 11.07 seconds.
The UAA Championships conclude on Sunday with field events slated to start at 11 a.m. ET and track events beginning at 12:30 p.m. ET
