Case Western Reserve University first-year sprinter Gianna Phipps won a University Athletic Association Championship to lead the Spartan women's track and field team to a fifth-place finish at the 2026 UAA Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships at DiSanto Field in Cleveland on Sunday.
Phipps won the conference title in the 400-meter dash in a school record time of 54.82 seconds. Overall, CWRU scored 75.0 points at the two-day meet to place fifth out of seven teams.
UAA Champion
- Phipps
- 400-meter dash, 54.82 seconds
- Second career UAA title, first outdoor
All-UAA
- Phipps
- 400-meter dash, first, 54.82 seconds
- Fourth career, first outdoor
- Senior Grace Misiunas
- 100-meter hurdles, third, 14.94 seconds
- Second career, first outdoor
School Record
- Phipps
- 400-meter dash, 54.82 seconds
- Previous record: 55.36 seconds set by Phipps earlier this season
Top Eight Finishes
- Phipps
- 200-meter dash, fourth, 25.00 seconds
- 4x400-meter relay, fourth, 3:57.58
- 4x100-meter relay, fifth, 48.85 seconds
- First-year Esther Umezurike-Chukwu
- 4x100-meter relay, fifth, 48.85 seconds
- 100-meter hurdles, seventh, 16.27 seconds
- First-year Elizabeth Crossan
- 4x400-meter relay, fourth, 3:57.58
- 4x100-meter relay, fifth, 48.85 seconds
- First-year Samaria Benochi
- 4x400-meter relay, fourth, 3:57.58
- Senior Melanie Taylor
- 4x400-meter relay, fourth, 3:57.58
- Misiunas
- 4x100-meter relay, fifth, 48.85 seconds
- Junior Sarah Ball
- 100-meter hurdles, eighth, 17.52 seconds
- Senior Ayla Grabenbauer
- 1,500-meter run, eighth, 4:41.39
- Senior Lauren Iagnemma
- 5,000-meter run, eighth, 17:30.47
- Senior Michelle Lee
- Discus throw, eighth, 37.62 meters
Final Team Standings
- WashU, 221.0 points
- Emory, 198.5 points
- Chicago, 113.5 points
- Brandeis, 81.5 points
- CWRU, 75.0 points
- Carnegie Mellon, 73.5 points
- NYU, 46.0 points
Spartan Notes
- Grabenbauer recorded the fourth-best time in program history in the 1,500-meter run
- The 4x400-meter relay fell 0.11 seconds shy of the school record set in 2003
- Phipps is the first-ever Spartan to win a UAA championship in the 400-meter dash and the first CWRU sprinter to earn All-UAA honors in the event since Katherine Beck placed second in 2000
- The last member of the Case Western Reserve women's track and field team to earn All-UAA honors in the 100-meter hurdles was Rachel Tan, who finished second in 2015
Up Next
CWRU will take a week off from competition before a contingent of student-athletes will attempt to improve their marks and times for postseason qualification. Their first chance will be at the Harrison Dillard Twilight in Berea, Ohio, on May 7 and 8.
