Track and field athletes from across the Greater Cleveland area braved the snow and icy roads as they arrived in the Veale Convocation, Recreation and Athletic Center last Friday for the Ed Finnigan Greater Cleveland Colleges Invite. Hosting athletes from John Carroll University, Baldwin Wallace University, Ursuline College, Cuyahoga Community College, Oberlin College and Allegheny College, Case Western Reserve University saw many outstanding performances from both its own athletes and those from other schools. The Spartans were gearing up for the upcoming UAA Indoor Championships that will take place this weekend. Overall, the teams took first in a total of five events, with four from the women’s team and the remaining one from the men’s team. Beyond first-place finishes, the Spartans also saw numerous podium finishes.

On the track, the women’s team claimed the top two spots of the 60-meter dash, with second-year Sarah Ball crossing the finish line first with a time of 8.01 and first-year Riley Friedman close behind her with a time of 8.17. Ball and third-year Grace Misiunas also recorded third and second place finishes in the 60-meter hurdles with times of 9.34 and 9.29, respectively. Friedman was also runner-up in the 200-meter race after crossing the finish line in 26.83 seconds. In the 500-meter race, third-year Melanie Taylor finished first with a time of 1:18.51 and also notched a new school record, besting the previous record of 1:19.95 recorded by Olivia Newman in 2018.

For the distance races, third-year Arianna Holbrook and first-year Julia Walko claimed second (2:21.00) and third (2:27.96) in the 800-meter race, respectively, third-year Ayla Grabenbauer took third (11:01.08) in the 3000-meter race and first-year Ciara Ledford was runner-up (20:18.37) in the 5000-meter.

The Spartans also dominated on the field as the No. 11-ranked women’s weight throw team claimed the four of the top five spots of the event. Fourth-year Lauren Roskuszka recorded an impressive 15.61-meter throw to take the gold, followed by third-year Michelle Lee. Graduate student Ailean Duffie and fourth-year Rachel Ginn finished fourth and fifth, respectively, with marks of 14.95 and 14.81 meters. Fourth-year Jordan Su also claimed a victory for the team after bounding 10.87 meters for the triple jump. Another podium finish for the women’s team was first-year Eyoha Teshome, who cleared 1.47 meters in the high jump for the third-place finish. 

On the men’s team, the sole victory came from first-year Artin Fazeli, who cleared 4.35 meters to tie with Baldwin Wallace’s Connor Radojcsics. Third-year Anthony DeCarlo and fourth-year Quaylen Lamarre also cleared 4.35 with more attempts to tie for third. The squad also saw many top three finishes including many second-place finishes. The men’s 4×400 team of fourth-year Jack Xia, first-year Madhan Manikandaswamy and third-years Josh Bates and Aaron Brula came in second with a time of 3:34.53. Bates had also individually recorded a second-place finish in the 400-meter dash after crossing the finish line in 50.67. For the distance races, third-year Solomon Greene (15.47.52), first-year Adam Esa (8:55.72) and first-year Brendan Bradish (4:24.96) were runners-up in the 5000-meter, 3000-meter and mile races, respectively. 

This weekend, the teams will be in Chicago for the UAA Indoor Championships as the indoor track and field season begins to wind down. After the Indoor Championships, the athletes will have a week to improve and record more qualifying performances at the Tufts Final Qualifier and Polar Bear Last Chance before the NCAA Championships on March 14-15.