The Case Western Reserve University distance medley relay team of senior Logan Singer, first-year Josh Bates, sophomore Nate Gilbert, and senior Joe Jaster set a school record in the distance medley relay to highlight the Spartans' performance at a pair of meets on Saturday.
The Singer, Bates, Gilbert, and Jaster took full advantage of their final opportunity to qualify for the NCAA Championships, placing fourth overall at the Tufts National Qualifier in Medford, Massachusetts with a time of 9:54.31 to break their own school record. The time is the 10th-fastest among NCAA Division III teams this year and puts the team in a prime position to earn a spot in the NCAA Championships.
Jaster also competed in the 3,000-meter run at the meet, finishing seventh with a time of 8:31.29.
Senior Melissa Phung led the Spartans at the Polar Bear Qualifier, winning the 800-meter run with a time of 2:18.09. Junior Emily Hopkins was second in the triple jump with a mark of 11.33 meters, and senior Victoria Zhao cleared the bar at 3.40 meters in the pole vault to place ninth. For the men at the meet, graduate student Juan Perez was fourth in the 60-meter run (7.00 seconds) and fifth in the 200-meter run (23.04 seconds), while first-year Bryce Hodge was fifth in the finals of the 60-meter hurdles after recording a time of 8.58 seconds during the preliminaries.
The Spartans will now await the announcement of the field for the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championship, which will be held on March 10-11 at the Birmingham Crossplex in Birmingham, Alabama. With its performance on Saturday, the men's distance medley relay is likely to qualify, while senior Jack Begley currently sits 28th in Division III in the 5,000-meter run.
More information on the NCAA Championship will be posted to athletics.case.edu when made available.
