The Case Western Reserve University men’s and women’s track and field teams took part this past Saturday, Feb. 1, in the Dr. Taraschke Team Challenge—a meet hosted by Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio, around 20 miles from CWRU’s campus. Both teams showed respectable results across the board, with the men’s team taking second place out of five teams with 79 points, and the women’s team placing third out of five teams with 73 points.

A significant highlight of the meet for CWRU was undoubtedly the men’s distance medley relay race. This contest saw the group of first-years Donovan Crowley and Brendan Bradish, second-year Praveen Sureshkumar and fourth-year Nate Gilbert set a new meet record: 10:36.88, beating the 10:52.33 set by Otterbein University in 2019.

Reflecting on the new meet record, Sureshkumar noted the diversity of the relay participants and how it reflected the strengths of the track and field team.

“I think the fact that the relay encompassed two freshmen, a sophomore and a senior really goes to show the depth and diverse talent we have on the team,” Sureshkumar said. “I knew we could run a fast time if we all got into a good mindset and that’s exactly what happened. Everyone on the relay had a goal … and perfectly executed it.”

Numerous other Spartans on the men’s team were also able to claim medals for their team. First-year Marvin Sze achieved second-place finishes in both the 55-meter dash (with a finishing time of 6.64) and the 200-meter dash (finishing in 23.06—a mere 0.06 seconds off the event’s winner, Kaedan Faggs of Baldwin Wallace). Graduate student Yusuf Shaaban finished second in the 400-meter dash (52.15), while third-years Bryce Hodge (8.04) and Joshua Park (8.08) achieved second and third-place finishes in the 55-meter hurdles, respectively. Fourth-year Quaylen Lamarre placed second in the pole vault, clearing 4.25 meters in his attempt, and third-year Connor Evans finished third in the triple jump (12.11 meters).

One final podium finish for the men’s team came in the 4×400-meter relay; This final track event of the day saw the group of third-years Troy Olson and Aaron Brula, first-year Paxton Zelik and fourth-year Jack Xia achieve a second-place finish with a time of 3:40.04.

As for the women’s team, numerous Spartans were able to bring home the gold for CWRU. The women’s distance medley relay team of third-year Arianna Holbrook and first-years Cecilia Postma, Julia Walko and Becca Liaw placed first with a time of 13:27.54. Second-year Holly Schreiber took first place in the pole vault with a final clearance of 3.45 meters, and graduate student Michaela Burkhauser emerged victorious in two events: the weight throw (15.89 meters) and the shot put (13.16 meters).

Second-place finishes were achieved by third-year Michelle Lee in the weight throw (15.65 meters), first-year Siena Kannenberg in the 400-meter dash (1:03.32) and third-year Melanie Taylor with the 800-meter run (2:23.08). Rounding out individual podium finishes for CWRU were third-place finishes by the following athletes in their respective events: fourth-year Jordan Su in the long jump (4.90 meters), and second-year Sarah Ball in the 55-meter hurdles (8.79 seconds). Finally, one final podium finish for the women’s team came in the form of the women’s 4×400-meter relay—an event that saw Kannenberg, Taylor, Holbrook and third-year Grace Misiunas achieve third place with a time of 4:13.08.

The Spartans will look to improve upon their performances on Saturday, Feb. 8, when they will travel to Granville, Ohio, to take part in the Bob Shannon Invitational hosted by Denison University.