Track and field teams win meet, Cassandra Laois breaks records again

David Chang, Staff Reporter

The Case Western Reserve University men’s and women’s track and field teams both placed first out of 14 teams at the Amy Adams Memorial Invitational hosted by Muskingham University, located in New Concord, Ohio, last weekend. The Spartan women had 12 total top three placements, edging out Malone University by one point, while the men had seven top three finishes.

Graduate student Cassandra Laios stood out in her events, shot put, discus and hammer throw, claiming first in all three. Laios broke her previous school record for the hammer throw, with a toss of 52.48 meters. This was 0.86 meters longer than her previous record which she set the weekend prior. In addition to breaking her own record, Laios also broke the school shot put record of 13.12 meters set in 2012, with her mark of 13.29 meters. Her mark of 40.48 meters won the discus event. Following this performance, Laios was named University Athletic Association Women’s Field Athlete of the Week, her thirteenth Athlete of the Week honor of her career.

Another first place finish came from third-year jumper Samantha Kelts in the triple jump, with her mark of 10.65m in the second round blowing away all the competitors. The Spartan women had three second place finishes, including third-year student Vannessa Pasadyn in 800-meter run with a time of 2:26.53, third-year student Abbey Waltz in pole vault with a mark of 3.35 meters, and second-year teammate Olivia Battistoni in 5,000-meter run with a time of 18:55.84.

The women also ended the invitational with a number of third place finishes. Fourth-year thrower Marina Yu claimed third in the hammer throw with a mark of 43.92 meters. In the javelin, fourth-year Spartan Shannon Carroll threw 31.39 meters to claim her third place finish. On the track, fourth-year teammates Sophie Trikeriotis and Olivia Newman each placed in their events. Trikeriotis finished the 5,000-meter run with a time of 19:06.02, and Newman crossed the finish line at 1:07.49 in the 400-meter dash. The Spartan women’s 4×100-meter relay team also finished third.

For the Spartan men, first place finishes included third-year student Jonathan Haling, with a time of 49.37 in the 400-meter yard dash and third-year teammate Dominic Oddo in the long jump with a mark of 6.75 meters. First-year Spartan Logan Singer’s time of 4:05.14 earned him first in the 1,500-meter race, trailed by second-year teammate Daniel Grasing who crossed the finish line at 4:06.96. Second-year jumper Jordan Butler claimed second in the high jump with a mark of 1.80 meters and in the long jump of 6.62 meters. The Spartan men’s 4×400-meter relay team also finished second with a time of 3:33.43.

Hailing recorded his season best time, commenting that “it was good performance indicator leading up to the [more important] All-Ohio and UAA [University Athletic Association] meets.”

Both the men’s and women’s team will return to action next weekend. The throwers will compete at the Carnegie Mellon Mini-Meet in Pittsburgh, and the rest of the team will head to Westerville, Ohio to compete at the Otterbein April Fool’s Invitational hosted by Otterbein University.