This past weekend, the Case Western Reserve University men and women’s track and field teams kicked off their outdoor season with an invitational in Virginia. The weather was warm and the stage was set for our teams to enjoy some friendly competition. The Washington and Lee Track & Field Carnival was a meet with no team rankings, but our men and women had some impressive showings in the individual events this weekend.

Senior Captain Mark Kulinski, continuing to have a great final season, placed first in the men’s pole vault finals. With a height of 4.71 meters, Kulinski blew the competition out of the water by over .15 meters. Also junior Benjamin Davis dropped the hammer in the 10,000-meter run, placing second behind a new meet record.

The women’s distance squad was also pretty busy taking titles. Senior Kristen Ruckstuhl left her competition in the dust in the 10,000-meter run, with a time of 36:44.72 minutes, nearly two minutes ahead of the next athlete. Another notable finish was made by junior Kelsey Aamoth, taking first place in the women’s 5,000-meter run by over 17 seconds with a time of 17:50.11 minutes.

With the fantastic performances this past weekend in Virginia, we can be confident going into this next weekend and for meets to come. While it won’t be as warm as it was in Virginia, we’ll see how our Spartans size up at the Dick Small Invitational in Defiance, Ohio this weekend.