This past weekend was the annual “Battle for the Obelisk” track event against Carnegie Mellon University. “The Duel,” as it is commonly known, is hosted by Case Western Reserve University, and has been a fierce competition between the teams over the years. This year, the Spartans fell to the Tartans 163-108.

The meet began with the field events. The Spartans shone bright with the jumps and throws, with fourth-year Dominic Oddo taking first in both the long jump and the high jump. Spartan jumpers Bailey Flint and Samantha Kelts finished second and third in the long jump, respectively, with Flint also taking first in the high jump and Kelts taking first in the triple. Spartan women Eleanor Gaddy, Emma Hammelef and Taylor Jackson swept the shot put, with Jackson also taking first in the weight throw.

The Spartans also had some stellar performances in the running events. Fourth-year Jonathan Haling and third-year Julie Hines each took first in their respective 400-meter races, and Oddo took another first in the 60-meter hurdles. The final event of the night, the men’s 4×400, was won by the Spartan relay team, consisting of Haling, Michael Hradesky, Keith Roberts and Oddo.

The unique scoring of a dual meet ultimately led to the downfall of the Spartans. For individual events, first place scores 5, while second scores 3 and third scores 1. For relays, it is all or nothing, with first place scoring 5 and second getting nothing. In many events the Tartans took first, with CWRU taking second and/or third. This leads to a 5-4 or 6-3 difference for each event, which, apart from the events where the Spartans took first, added up to the 55 point difference at the end of the competition. 

The Spartans will shake off the loss and compete this weekend at the Joe Banks Invitational hosted by Ohio Northern University. There, they will face more tough competition, most notably Otterbein University. The Spartans will square up again against the Tartans at the UAA Championships in four weeks, hosted by NYU.