Case Western Reserve University senior runner Joe Jaster and graduate student sprinter Juan Perez won University Athletic Association titles to lead the Spartan men's track and field team on the final day of the 2023 UAA Indoor Track and Field Championships hosted by Brandeis University at the Gosman Center in Waltham, Massachusetts, on Sunday.
Jaster set a UAA Championship Meet record with a time of 8:18.74 in the 3,000-meter run to win the conference title. He bested the previous record of 8:21.99, run by WashU's Andrew Padgett at the 2014 conference championship, to become the first-ever 3,000-meter UAA Champion in Case Western Reserve history. Jaster placed second in the event last season and picked up his second All-UAA honor at the 2023 Championships with the win. On Saturday, he placed second as a member of the CWRU distance medley relay. For his career, Jaster has four track and field All-UAA honors with three coming during the indoor season.
Perez claimed the first-ever CWRU UAA title in the 60-meter dash, winning the race in 6.97 seconds. He bested Chicago's Myles Xavier by 0.01 seconds to claim the UAA Championship. Perez, who placed second in the event last season, earned his third career All-UAA track and field honor and second career All-UAA indoor track and field honor. He qualified for the finals with a time of 7.05 seconds in the prelims on Saturday. Perez also placed seventh in the 200-meter dash and was a member of the 4x400-meter relay, along with senior runner Will Dehmler, sophomore sprinter Nicolas Lende, and first-year hurdler/sprinter Josh Bates that placed fifth in 3:26.80.
Sophomore vaulter Quaylen Lamarre earned his first career All-UAA honor in the pole vault with a second place finish in the event. Lamarre cleared 4.64 meters, the same height as Tommaso Maiocco from WashU, the conference champion. However, it took Maiocco just one attempt to clear the bar, besting Lamarre's three attempts at the height.
With the three All-UAA honors on Sunday, the Spartan men's track and field team totaled six top three finishes at the conference meet. On Saturday, the Spartans earned All-UAA honors in the high jump (junior sprinter/jumper Yusuf Shaaban, third), 3,000-meter run (senior runner Jack Begley, third), and distance medley relay (Bates, Jaster, senior runner Logan Singer, and sophomore runner Nate Gilbert, second).
In the 60-meter hurdles, both first-year hurdler/sprinter Bryce Hodge and senior hurdler Peculiar Nzegbuna reached the finals on Sunday. Hodge placed fourth with a finals time of 8.51 seconds, 0.10 seconds faster than his prelims time. Nzegbuna added a point for CWRU with an eighth place finish in 8.76 seconds. In the prelims on Saturday, he recorded a time of 8.72 seconds.
Two Spartans missed All-UAA status in the mile run by less than half a second. Gilbert finished the race fourth with a time of 4:17.94 and Singer crossed the line at nearly the same time, 4:17.95, to place fifth. Jacob Hsu of Carnegie Mellon earned the final All-UAA spot with a time of 4:17.50.
Bates added a fourth place finish in the 400-meter dash with a time of 51.00 seconds in the final. On Saturday, he qualified with the third-fastest time, 51.13 seconds. Junior sprinter Brett Callow beat Perez in the 200-meter dash, placing fifth in 22.70 seconds, 0.01 seconds faster than his time in the prelims on Saturday, earning four points for CWRU. In the triple jump, sophomore jumper Andrew Qi added a point for the Spartans with the eighth-best mark, bounding 12.91 meters in the event.
Overall, Case Western Reserve placed fifth in the conference with 81 points. WashU won the conference championship with 144 points, followed by Carnegie Mellon with 140.33 points.
The Spartans will have one final weekend to improve marks for selection to the NCAA Championships, traveling to Ada, Ohio, for the Polar Bear Qualifier and Medford, Massachusetts, for the Tufts National Qualifier on March 3 and 4.
