First-year vaulter Annie Wank of the Case Western Reserve University women's track and field team set a school record in the pole vault as the Spartans men's and women's teams dropped the 15th Annual Battle for the Obelisk to Carnegie Mellon University on Saturday at the Veale Center in Cleveland.
Wank won the event by clearing 3.64 meters on her first attempt, breaking the previous record of 3.63 meters set by Abbey Waltz in 2019. She tried to further her record by clearing 3.70 meters but was unable to do so in three attempts.
Including the win in the pole vault, the CWRU women's team was victorious in seven events at the dual meet. Senior Adrienne Wachtman swept the throwing events, placing first in the shot put with a heave of 12.05 meters and first in the weight throw with a toss of 16.06 meters. Sophomore Michelle Lee and senior Ailean Duffie placed second and third, respectively, in the event with marks of 15.23 meters and 14.83 meters.
On the track, senior Grace Jackson won the mile run with a meet record time of 5:11.13, the fourth-fastest time in school history. Jackson joined senior Jessica Kwasny, junior Marquis Globokar, and sophomore Arianna Holbrook for the winning distance medley relay, finishing with a time of 12:36.76. The Spartans also won the 4x400-meter relay as senior Anna Zinsser, juniors Sophia Stellabotte and Lalah Saleem, and sophomore Grace Misiunas placed first with a time of 4:24.45.
Finally, senior Emily Hopkins placed first in the triple jump by bounding 11.12 meters.
Members of the Case Western Reserve men's team took first place in five events. Senior Brett Callow helped the Spartans win two events, placing first in the 200-meter dash and as a member of the 4x400-meter relay. He won the 200-meter dash in a meet record time of 22.65 seconds which is tied for the second-fastest mark in school history. For the relay, Callow joined senior Yusuf Shaaban, graduate student Pierce Boucher, and first-year Jeremiah Broughton for a winning time of 3:26.65. CWRU swept the podium in the 200-meter dash with graduate student Keith Cartwright finishing second in 22.84 seconds and first-year Aidan Rogers finishing third in 23.19 seconds.
Cartwright won an event of his own, crossing the line first in the 60-meter dash in 7.05 seconds. In distance events, junior Aidan Nathan won the 5000-meter run in 14:55.62, and first-year Seth Tivakaran, junior Nicolas Lende, sophomore Josh Bates, and junior Nate Gilbert placed first in the distance medley relay with a time of 10:20.04.
Overall, Carnegie Mellon outscored CWRU 173-98 with the Tartan women's team scoring 77 points to the Spartans' 58 and the men's team earning 96 points to Case Western Reserve's 40.
Next weekend, the Spartans will send team members to three meets, the GVSU Big Meet in Allendale, Michigan, on Friday and Saturday, the Crimson & Gold Invitational hosted by Oberlin College on Friday night, and the All-Ohio Indoor Championships at Otterbein University on Saturday.
