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Case Western Reserve University sophomore Donovan Crowley, a distance runner on the men's track and field team, and first-year Gianna Phipps, a sprinter on the women's track and field team, have been named the Spartan Club Athletes of the Week for their performances this past week.

Crowley scored 23 points for the CWRU men's track and field team, leading the squad to a fifth-place finish at the 2026 University Athletic Association Outdoor Track and Field Championships last weekend at DiSanto Field in Cleveland. Crowley won the conference championship in the 1,500-meter run in 3:51.47, the 27th-fastest time in Division III and second fastest in the Great Lakes Region this season. It was his first league title and third career All-UAA honor. Earlier in the weekend, he earned All-UAA honors as the anchor of the 4x800-meter relay that finished second in 7:41.84, a program record time. To conclude the meet, Crowley ran the second leg of the 4x400-meter relay, helping the Spartans finish fourth in 3:19.52. Overall, Case Western Reserve placed fifth in the UAA with 94.5 points.

Phipps scored 24 points for the CWRU women's track and field team, leading the squad to a fifth-place finish at the 2026 UAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships last weekend at DiSanto Field in Cleveland. Phipps became the first member of the Case Western Reserve women's track team to win the UAA title in the 400-meter dash, crossing the finish line first in a program record time of 54.82 seconds. It was her second conference title after she won the indoor version of the event earlier this year. The time ranks ninth in Division III and second in the Great Lakes Region. Phipps added a fourth-place finish in the 200-meter dash in 25.00 seconds and was a member of two scoring relays. She ran the anchor leg of the 4x400-meter relay which finished fourth in 3:57.48, just 0.11 seconds shy of the program record. Phipps was also the anchor runner on the 4x100-meter relay, pushing the Spartans to a fifth place finish in 48.85 seconds.Overall, Case Western Reserve placed fifth in the conference with 75.0 points.

The Spartan Club Athletes of the Week are selected by the CWRU Department of Athletics each Monday, based on their performance during the previous week of competition.

Honorable Mentions

Junior right-handed pitcher Zach Barnes (baseball) picked up the win against 14th-ranked WashU on Sunday. Making the first start of his career in the 6-4 Spartan victory, Barnes went the first five innings and allowed one run on five hits with three walks and three strikeouts, and left the contest with CWRU leading 6-1. He improved to 3-2 on the year with a 4.15 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 34.2 innings with a .271 opponents' batting average. The Spartans split the series with the Bears and ended conference play with an 8-12 record in UAA games, while improving to 19-19 overall.

The Spartans will play their final two games of the season this week, wrapping up their campaign on the road with contests at 17th-ranked Baldwin Wallace on Wednesday and at Oberlin on Sunday.

Graduate student Hannah Kassaie (women's tennis) lost just one match at the 2026 UAA Women's Tennis Championship last weekend at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, Florida. Kassaie went undefeated at first doubles with senior Katalina Wang, winning all three matches to help the Spartans win the doubles point in each contest. The partnership upset third-ranked Emily Kantrovitz and Iris Berman of Emory 7-5 on Friday, defeated Rochester's Jasmin Toor and Sanjana Karnam on Saturday 6-0, and bested Visnja Gusavac and Vera Bondarenko of NYU 6-3 on Sunday. Kassaie went 2-1 in singles play, besting Rochester's Katie Yang 6-2, 6-0, and Gusavac 6-3, 6-0. This season, she is 11-0 in doubles play, including a 10-0 mark with Wang, and 9-2 in singles play. The 15th-ranked Spartans, who placed fifth in the conference, finished the season with a 12-6 record. 

The Spartans will now await the announcement of the field for the 2026 NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Championship, as the squad hopes to qualify as an at-large team. Team selections, along with a full bracket and the host sites for the first three rounds of the tournament, are set to be posted to ncaa.com on Monday, May 4, by 12 p.m.

First-year infielder Jaxon Knutson (baseball) batted .400 (6-for-15) with a run and four RBI over four games last weekend, as the Spartans split a four-game series with 14th-ranked WashU. Knutson also walked once, was hit by a pitch, stole two bases on three attempts, and did not commit an error while seeing time at first base, second base, and third base. He was particularly effective during the Spartans' sweep of a doubleheader on Sunday, collecting five hits in nine at-bats over the two games and scoring the game-winning run in the 10th inning of CWRU's 6-5 win in the first game. Knutson is batting .232 with two home runs and nine RBI this season. 

Junior thrower Toby Langsner (men's track and field) totaled 14 points for CWRU at the UAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships last weekend. Langsner scored in three of the four throwing events for the Spartans, placing in the top five in the hammer throw, discus throw, and shot put. In the shot put, he finished fourth with a toss of 14.44 meters. He added a fourth-place finish in the hammer throw with a season-best mark of 47.13 meters and finished fifth in the discus throw with a season-best fling of 42.16 meters. 

Junior thrower Madison Martinez (women's track and field) earned an All-UAA honor and totaled nine points for CWRU at the UAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships last weekend. Martinez received her first career All-Conference recognition by placing second in the javelin throw with a toss of 35.49 meters, the 13th-best mark in the Great Lakes Region. She added a point for Case Western Reserve in the hammer throw by placing eighth with a mark of 40.09 meters. 

Junior infielder Karen Potts (softball) led the CWRU offense last weekend during the team's three-game home series against Brandeis in Cleveland. Potts hit .556 (five-for-nine) with a pair of home runs, seven runs batted in, and four runs scored. She had a .636 on-base percentage and 1.222 slugging percentage for a 1.859 OPS, adding two steals. In the first game of the series, Potts drove in three of the team's four runs with a three-hit showing, adding two singles to her game-tying solo home run in the fifth inning. She slugged her ninth homer of the season in the second contest, ending the game two-for-three with three RBI. Despite not recording a hit in the series finale, an 11-1 Spartan win, Potts walked twice, drove in a run, stole a base, and scored. This season, she is leading the team with a .409 batting average and 1.228 OPS, slugging nine home runs, driving in 29 runs, and scoring 43 times. Potts has been even better in conference play, hitting .510 with a 1.518 OPS. CWRU fell to 21-12 and 9-6 in UAA contests.

The Spartans will head across town on Saturday, May 2 for a non-conference doubleheader against Baldwin Wallace in Berea, Ohio. First pitch is scheduled for 12 p.m.

Senior Bryce Ware (men's tennis) went 2-0 in singles matches and 1-1 in doubles play to help the sixth-ranked Spartans place second at the 2026 UAA Men's Tennis Championship at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, Florida, last weekend. In singles play, Ware won the sixth singles match in the Spartans' 4-1 win over fifth-ranked Carnegie Mellon in the semifinals (6-2, 6-3 over Michael Larinov) and in the team's 4-1 loss in the championship match to top-ranked UChicago (6-2, 6-2 over Christian Liew). He also helped CWRU clinch the doubles point with a 7-5 win with Trey Lambright over 20th-ranked Brandeis' Aidan Wang-Fan and Oliver Lorenz in the team's 4-1 victory against the Judges in the quarterfinals. Ware improved to 11-5 in singles matches and 25-8 in doubles play this season. CWRU recorded its fifth-consecutive top-two finish at the UAA Championship and stands at 26-8 overall.

The Spartans will now await the announcement of the field for the 2026 NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championship, as the squad hopes to qualify as an at-large team. Team selections, along with a full bracket and the host sites for the first three rounds of the tournament, are set to be posted to ncaa.com on Monday, May 4, by 12 p.m.

2025-26 Spartan Club Athletes of the Week

Sept. 2: Jacob Slater (men's cross country) & Jamie Goldfarb (women's soccer)
Sept. 8: Mitchell Fein (men's soccer) & Maggie Farra (women's soccer)
Sept. 15: Bradley Winter (men's soccer) & Ceci Dapino (women's soccer)
Sept. 22: Daniel King (football) & Halina Tompkins (women's cross country)
Sept. 29: Sam DeTillio (football) & Kalli Wall (volleyball)
Oct. 6: Osi Chukwuocha (football) & Ceci Dapino (women's soccer)
Oct. 13: Kalli Wall (volleyball) & Claire Kozma (women's swimming and diving)
Oct. 20: Jacob Slater (men's cross country) & Halina Tompkins (women's cross country)
Oct. 27: Bradley Winter (men's soccer) & Ellie Palaian (women's soccer)
Nov. 3: Art Martinez (wrestling) & Sohalya Rawlins (women's swimming and diving)
Nov. 10: Thomas Wagner (wrestling) & Emily Plachta (women's basketball)
Nov. 18: Jacob Slater (men's cross country) & Kalli Wall (volleyball)
Nov. 24: John Drumm (men's swimming and diving) & Claire Kozma (women's swimming and diving)
Dec. 1: Andrew Fox (men's basketball) & Maura Schorr (women's basketball)
Dec. 8: Antonio Sidoti (men's track and field) & Gianna Phipps (women's track and field)
Jan. 5: Anand Dharmarajan (men's basketball) & Mya Hartjes (women's basketball)
Jan. 12: Thomas Wagner (wrestling) & Mya Hartjes (women's basketball)
Jan. 20: Hunter Keane (wrestling) & Grace Misiunas (women's track and field)
Jan. 26: William Froass (men's swimming and diving) & Michelle Lee (women's track and field)
Feb. 2: Ethan Edwards (men's basketball) & Lillian Paley (women's swimming and diving)
Feb. 9: Alexander Goldman (wrestling) & Maura Schorr (women's basketball)
Feb. 16: Art Martinez (wrestling) & Gianna Phipps (women's track and field)
Feb. 23: Ethan Edwards (men's basketball) & Claire Kozma (women's swimming and diving)
March 2: Mathew Gummere (wrestling) & Gianna Phipps (women's track and field)
March 16: Art Martinez (wrestling) & Kate Coonan (softball)
March 23: John Drumm (men's swimming and diving) & Claire Kozma (women's swimming and diving)
March 30: Garrett Myers (men's track and field) & Katalina Wang (women's tennis)
April 6: Santiago Salazar Garza (men's tennis) & Gianna Phipps (women's track and field)
April 13: Anthony DeCarlo (men's track and field) & Josephine Alspaw (softball)
April 20: Ayush Shetty (baseball) & Elizabeth Berry (softball)
April 27: Donovan Crowley (men's track and field) & Gianna Phipps (women's track and field)