The Case Western Reserve University 4x100-meter relay of senior sprinter/jumper Keith Cartwright, junior sprinter Brett Callow, first-year hurdler/sprinter Josh Bates, and graduate student sprinter Juan Perez set a school record to lead the Spartan track and field teams at the two-day Ashland Alumni Open in Ashland, Ohio.
The quartet finished the race in 41.58 seconds, besting the previous record of 41.88 seconds set in 2016 by former Spartans Nathaniel Wahner, Adrian Cannon, Zak Hurd, and Rasheed Ajala. Case Western Reserve placed second in the event, trailing only Division I Akron.
A pair of Spartans won distance events at the meet. Senior runner Logan Singer was the first to cross the line in the 1,500-meter run, finishing the race in 3:50.69. He was immediately followed by senior runner Joe Jaster, who placed second in 3:52.36 and later followed by sophomore runner Nate Gilbert, who finished fifth with a time of 3:56.62. In the 3,000-meter steeplechase, sophomore runner Luke Kishna finished first with a time of 9:44.31.
Perez and Bates were joined by junior sprinter/jumper Yusuf Shaaban and senior sprinter/hurdler Pierce Boucher for the 4x400-meter relay, placing third with a time of 3:21.90. Bates added a sixth place finish in the 400-meter hurdles with the fastest time by a Spartan this season, 55.59 seconds. Shaaban finished eighth in the event in 56.13 seconds. After running the fifth-fastest time in the prelims of the 100-meter dash, Callow placed fifth in the finals with a time of 10.98 seconds.
Both first-year hurdler/sprinter Bryce Hodge and senior hurdler Peculiar Nzegbuna finished in the top six in the 110-meter hurdles, with Hodge placing fifth with a finals time of 15.58 seconds and Nzegbuna placing sixth with a finals time of 15.84 seconds after recording a time of 15.47 seconds in the prelims. Sophomore runner Hans Holst added a fifth place finish in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:53.96.
For the CWRU women's track and field team, sophomore hurdler/jumper Sarah Ozeki recorded the highest finish of any participant, placing second in the triple jump by bounding 10.83 meters. Ozeki added an eighth place finish in the 100-meter hurdles with a finals time of 16.44 seconds, improving on her time in the prelims by 0.03 seconds.
Both first-year runner Lauren Iagnemma and sophomore thrower Lauren Roskuszka reached the podium with third place finishes. Iagnemma finished third in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:48.28, and Roskuszka placed third in the javelin throw with a mark of 36.94 meters. Senior runner Julia Kocherzat placed seventh in the 1,500-meter run in 4:55.24.
Senior runner Melissa Phung-Rojas placed fifth in a pair of events, crossing the line fifth in the 800-meter run at 2:16.54 and finishing fifth in the 5,000-meter run in 18:51.35. She was followed in the 800-meter run by junior runner Jessica Kwasny who finished sixth with a time of 2:19.25.
In the field, senior jumper Mia Vargo placed fifth in the high jump by clearing 1.58 meters, and junior thrower Ailean Duffie finished eighth in the hammer throw with a heave of 44.87 meters.
After a week off from competition, the track and field teams will split their squads and head to the Chicagoland area for a pair of meets next weekend, competing at the Carius-Gregory Invitational on May 11 and 12 in Naperville, Illinois, and the St. Francis Fighting Chance Invite on May 12 and 13 in Joliet, Illinois.
