Last Saturday, the Spartan track team competed against Carnegie Mellon University in the traditional “Battle for the Obelisk” and, despite the women team’s victory, the combined points of the men and women were not enough to carry the Obelisk home; the Case Western Reserve University men’s team lost with a score of 45 to Mellon’s 82, and the woman won with a score of 70 to Mellon’s 57. However, many members performed exceptionally well throughout the meet.

Four of the men placed first in their events, with others earning top-three finishes. The four men were David Dixon (who ran a 15:18.60 in the 5000 meter run), Andrew Barnhart (who reached a mark of 12.66 meters in the triple jump), Henry Weintraub (who threw 16.6 meters in the weight throw) and Branson Repasy (who cleared 4.4 meters in the pole vault). Many men also broke their original seed times or marks on their way to success against the Carnegie Mellon team.

As for the women, a total of six individual events were won, along with one of the relays. In the 800 meter run, Kelsey Aamoth triumphed with a time of 2:26.88, and in the 5000 Kristen Ruckstuhl did the same with an 18:35.76. Christen Saccuci vaulted 3.34 meters, landing her in first in the pole vault, while Rachel Tan leaped to victory in the high jump with a distance of 1.57 meters. Meanwhile, Keri Walter reached a distance of 10.44 meters in the triple jump, and Emeline Liu put the shot 10.46 meters. The distance relay consisted of members Brook Simpson, Abby Casalnova, Juliana Ross and Aamoth, who combined ran a time of 13:02.57.

This Battle for the Obelisk was a tradition originally set by former CWRU head coach Steve Rubin and is usually a very competitive yet fun meet. Its loss is a disappointment, but the team still has plenty of opportunities coming up this season to taste the sweet taste of victory, as this was only their third meet. Until those times come, though, train hard Spartans and Godspeed.