First-year hurdler/sprinter Josh Bates and graduate student sprinter Juan Perez each set school records for the Case Western Reserve University men's track and field team on Friday and Saturday, and the Spartan women's track and field team won the Baldwin Wallace Dr. Taraschke Team Challenge on the Harrison Dillard Track in Berea, Ohio, on Saturday with the men's team placing third.
Bates finished the 500-meter dash at the YSU College Mid Major Invitational at the WATTS in Youngstown, Ohio, on Friday night in 1:05.62, placing third in the event. He bested the previous record of 1:06.68 set by Andrew Ibibo in 2016. Perez broke his own school record from last season in the 55-meter dash on Saturday afternoon in Berea, crossing the line in 6.53 seconds with the fastest time in the prelims. In the finals, he finished third with a time of 6.579 seconds. Perez added a fourth place finish in the 200-meter dash, recording a time of 23.22 seconds.
Overall, the women's track and field team won the BW meet with 87.5 points, and the men's team placed third out of six teams with 70 points. There was no team scoring at the Youngstown State meet.
Members of the women's team won three events and recorded 22 top five finishes at the meet. Junior hurdler/jumper Emily Hopkins took first in the triple jump with a leap of 11.29 meters, setting a new meet record. The mark currently ranks 22nd in Division III, second in the University Athletic Association, and second in school history behind the program record mark set in 1990. Hopkins also placed third in the 55-meter hurdles with a finals time of 9.02 seconds. First-year runner Ashley Novak added another of the team's other victories, placing first in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 10:46.13, and junior thrower Adrienne Wachtman won the shot put with a throw of 12.50 meters, the third-best mark in program history and third best in the UAA this season.
First-year hurdler/jumper Grace Misiunas recorded two top five finishes at the meet in the high jump and 55-meter hurdles. She cleared 1.45 meters in the high jump, earning fifth place in the event. In the 55-meter hurdles, she placed second with a time of 8.98 seconds, the fastest time by a Spartan in eight years. Also earning two top five finishes were senior runner Julia Kocherzat and first-year jumper Layla Seaton. Kocherzat took fourth place in both the mile (5:30.85) and 3,000-meter run (11:05.64), and Seaton tallied fourth place finishes in the long jump (4.77 meters) and triple jump (9.67 meters).
Six additional members of the CWRU women's team placed second in their events, including senior vaulter Victoria Zhao, senior jumper Mia Vargo, sophomore hurdler/jumper Sarah Ozeki, senior runner Catherine Phillips, junior sprinter Elise Moore, and senior runner Melissa Phung-Rojas. Zhao took second in the pole vault with a career-best mark, clearing 3.41 meters for the third-best mark in the conference this season. Vargo was the runner-up in the high jump, clearing 1.58 meters which also ranks third in the UAA. In the triple jump, Ozeki finished behind Hopkins by bounding 10.59 meters, while in the 3,000-meter run, Phillips finished behind Novak in 10:53.91. Phung-Rojas recorded the third-best time in program history in the 800-meter run, crossing the line at 2:21.09, and Moore took second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 27.68 seconds.
To close the day, the 4x400-meter relay of first-year runner Melanie Taylor, senior hurdler Mia Kilroy, sophomore sprinter Lalah Saleem, and senior runner Chloe Relf placed second in 4:19.86. Taylor added an individual third place finish in the 400-meter dash, crossing the line at 1:03.92.
Also contributing top five finishes for the Spartans were junior runner Grace Jackson (800-meter run, third), sophomore vaulter Halle Deericks (pole vault, fifth), sophomore sprinter/jumper Jordan Su (triple jump, fifth) and junior runner Jessica Kwasny (800-meter run, fifth).
Two members of the men's team won events at the BW meet, and the Spartans totaled 15 top five finishes. Sophomore runner Hans Holst won the 800-meter run in a meet record time of 1:55.67. The time is the second-fastest in program history and the fastest on a non-banked track. Holst currently ranks third in the conference in the event. Sophomore jumper Andrew Qi added a win in the triple jump, recording a mark of 12.89 meters to claim first place.
The Spartan 4x400-meter relay of senior sprinter/hurdler Pierce Boucher, first-year sprinter Aaron Brula, and sophomore sprinters William DeYoung and Nicolas Lende placed second with a time of 3:36.85. Lende and Boucher finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 400-meter dash, recording times of 52.44 seconds and 52.91 seconds. In the 3,000-meter run, sophomore runner Victor Nash finished second in 9:30.17, and senior runner Jacob Conard took third in 9:37.38.
Two Case Western Reserve student-athletes placed third, with sophomore jumper Joshua Berman earning the bronze in the pole vault by clearing 3.58 meters and junior sprinter Brett Callow finishing ahead of Perez in the 200-meter dash in 23.14 seconds.
Rounding out the top five finishes were first-year vaulter Danny Batyrbaev (pole vault, fourth), senior hurdler Peculiar Nzegbuna (55-meter hurdles, fourth), first-year sprinter Troy Olson (long jump, fourth), and first-year thrower/jumper Connor Evans (high jump, fifth).
Also earning top five finishes in Youngstown were senior runner Joe Jaster and sophomore runner Aidan Nathan, placing first and fifth in the 5,000-meter run, and senior runner Logan Singer, placing second in the mile run. Jaster won the event with a time of 14:51.26, the 22nd-best time in Division III and best in the UAA this season. Nathan placed fifth with a time of 14:57.56, the second-best mark in the UAA. Singer placed second in the mile run with a time of 4:14.19, the fastest for a Division III runner at the event and second fastest in the UAA this season.
The Spartans return to the Veale Center next week for their annual dual meet with archrival Carnegie Mellon, hosting the Tartans for the 14th Annual Battle for the Obelisk on Saturday, February 4.
