The Case Western Reserve University men's and women's track and field teams began their 2023-24 indoor seasons with the 10th Annual Spartan Holiday Classic at the Veale Center in Cleveland on Saturday.
Three members of the women's team and one member of the men's team won events at the meet. Junior hurdler/jumper Sarah Ozeki placed first in the triple jump with a mark of 11.07 meters, just 0.04 meters better than senior hurdler/jumper teammate Emily Hopkins, who placed second. Ozeki finished third in the finals of the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.69 seconds, 0.20 seconds slower than the winner of the event, sophomore hurdler/sprinter Grace Misiunas. In the 800-meter run, senior runner Grace Jackson crossed the line first at 2:23.21. For the men's team, three Spartans placed in the top five with sophomore hurdler/sprinter Josh Bates winning in 1:57.49, senior hurdler/jumper Yusuf Shaaban placing third in 2:02.14, and sophomore sprinter/hurdler/jumper Aaron Brula placing fifth in 2:05.33.
In the women's weight throw, three CWRU throwers placed in the top five. Juniors Lauren Roskuszka and Rachel Ginn finished second and third with marks of 14.87 meters and 14.41 meters, respectively, and senior Ailean Duffie finished fifth with a heave of 14.20 meters.
Misiunas added a second-place finish in the 200-meter dash in 27.51 seconds, besting senior sprinter Anna Zinsser, who finished third in 27.68 seconds. First-year vaulter Holly Schreiber had the first runner-up finish for the Spartans on the day, clearing 3.20 meters in the pole vault to place second.
Sophomore sprinter Melanie Taylor placed third for Case Western Reserve in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:03.71. Finally, the 4x400-meter relay of Jackson, Zinsser, Taylor, and junior sprinter Lalah Saleem finished second with a time of 4:24.59.
Three members of the CWRU men's team, led by first-year sprinter Aidan Rogers, recorded top five finishes in the 200-meter dash. Rogers placed second with a time of 22.78 seconds, senior sprinter Brett Callow finished fourth in 22.92 seconds, and graduate student sprinter Keith Cartwright followed in 23.10 seconds.
First-year jumper Tanush Anand also recorded a runner-finish, placing second in the triple jump by bounding 13.63 meters, the second-furthest distance in program history.
Bates, Shaaban, first-year runner Praveen Sureshkumar, and first-year sprinter Jeremiah Broughton, combined to place third in the 4x400-meter relay with a time of 3:28.70.
Three Spartans earned fourth place finishes and a pair of Spartans placed fifth. In the 400-meter dash, junior sprinter Nicolas Lende recorded a time of 52.83 seconds, fourth-fastest in the field. Shaaban added a fourth-place finish in the high jump by clearing 1.85 meters, and sophomore vaulter Anthony DeCarlo cleared 3.97 meters in the pole vault to place fourth.
On the track, sophomore sprinter Jonathan Agrinya finished fifth in the finals of the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.03 seconds, and in the field, sophomore sprinter/jumper Troy Olson placed fifth with a leap of 6.54 meters in the long jump.
The Spartans will resume the indoor season in 2024, traveling to the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio, on January 20 for the SPIRE Midwest Invitational.
