The Case Western Reserve University women's track and field team capped the 2024-25 indoor season with a return to the NCAA Indoor Championships, its first appearance at the national meet in three years. The Spartans had four All-Region and All-University Athletic Association honorees and set a pair of school records during the campaign.
Graduate student thrower Michaela Burkhauser qualified for the national championship in the shot put after tossing the ball 13.78 meters at Oberlin's Crimson and Gold Invite on February 14. The mark ranked second in program history and was just 0.31 meters shy of the record set by Cassandra Laios in 2017. At the national meet, Burkhauser placed 20th with a throw of 11.90 meters. She earned All-Region marks in the event and in the weight throw.
Joining Burkhauser on the All-Region team were two distance runners and a jumper. Junior Lauren Iagnemma set a program record in the 3,000-meter run at the UAA Championships, completing the race in 9:52.68 to secure All-Region recognition. Junior Ashley Novak also received honors for her time of 17:29.72 in the 5,000-meter run at the conference meet. Finally, sophomore Holly Schreiber cleared 3.52 meters in the pole vault in the season-opening Spartan Alumni Meet to place in the top five in the region.
Junior thrower Michelle Lee won the first overall indoor conference championship for a Spartan since 2020 when she took gold in the weight throw on March 1 in Chicago. Lee secured her second career All-UAA honor in the event. Burkhauser placed second in both the weight throw and shot put, and Iagnemma was the runner-up in the 3,000-meter run to earn her first career All-UAA selection during the indoor season. CWRU swept the podium in the weight throw, the only school in the conference to claim the top three spots in any event, with senior Lauren Roskuszka taking third. The Spartans finished fourth in the conference standings with 55.0 points, their best league placement since 2017.
The 4x200-meter relay of sophomore Sarah Ball, junior Grace Misiunas, first-year Siena Kannenberg, and first-year Riley Friedman broke the school record in the event with a time of 1:48.41 at the All-Ohio Indoor Championships on February 15. Overall, Case Western Reserve placed third out of 15 teams competing at the meet with 77.0 points.
The team finished first in a pair of meets at the beginning of the 2024-25 campaign, pacing both the Fighting Scots Invitational at the College of Wooster on January 25 and the Bob Shannon Invitational hosted by Denison University on February 8.
In the classroom, 21 members of the squad received UAA Winter All-Academic honors. Five members of the team—Iagnemma, Novak, Schreiber, junior Ayla Grabenbauer, and senior Rachel Ginn—were recognized by the College Sports Communicators as Academic All-District selections.
Members of the CWRU women's track and field team received the following individual honors during the 2024-25 Indoor Track and Field Season:
The following were top times/marks by Spartan track and field athletes during the indoor 2024-25 season:
55-Meter Dash
|
Sarah Ball
|
7.52
|
Dr. T Team Challenge
|
60-Meter Dash
|
Sarah Ball
|
8.01
|
Ed Finnigan Cleveland Invite
|
200-Meter Dash
|
Riley Friedman
|
26.63
|
UAA Championships
|
400-Meter Dash
|
Siena Kannenberg
|
1:02.57
|
Bob Shannon Invite
|
500-Meter Run
|
Melanie Taylor
|
1:18.51
|
Ed Finnigan Cleveland Invite
|
800-Meter Run
|
Arianna Holbrook
|
2:19.55
|
UAA Championships
|
1,000-Meter Run
|
Ayla Grabenbauer
|
3:09.00
|
Ed Finnigan Cleveland Invite
|
Mile
|
Arianna Holbrook
|
5:11.61
|
UAA Championships
|
3,000-Meter Run
|
Lauren Iagnemma
|
9:52.68 *SR
|
UAA Championships
|
5,000-Meter Run
|
Ashley Novak
|
17:29.72
|
UAA Championships
|
55-Meter Hurdles
|
Sarah Ball
|
8.79
|
Dr. T Team Challenge
|
60-Meter Hurdles
|
Grace Misiunas
|
9.16
|
Ed Finnigan Cleveland Invite
|
4x200-Meter Relay
|
Sarah Ball, Grace Misiunas, Siena Kannenberg, Riley Friedman
|
1:48.41 *SR
|
All-Ohio Championships
|
4x400-Meter Relay
|
Riley Friedman, Melanie Taylor, Julia Hluck, Siena Kannenberg
|
4:07.79
|
UAA Championships
|
Distance Medley
|
Julia Hluck, Siena Kannenberg, Cecilia Postma, Lauren Iagnemma
|
12:23.33
|
UAA Championships
|
High Jump
|
Eyoha Teshome
|
1.51m
|
Fighting Scots Invite
|
Pole Vault
|
Holly Schreiber
|
3.52m
|
Spartan Alumni Meet
|
Long Jump
|
Jordan Su
|
4.90m
|
Spartan Alumni Meet
|
Triple Jump
|
Jordan Su
|
10.87m
|
Ed Finnigan Cleveland Invite
|
Shot Put
|
Michaela Burkhauser
|
13.78m
|
Crimson and Gold Invite
|
Weight Throw
|
Michaela Burkhauser
|
16.27m
|
Polar Bear Final Qualifier
|
*SR – indicates school record