Both the men’s and women’s track and field teams opened their winter seasons with strong performances at the second annual Spartan Holiday Classic, held at the Veale Athletic Center on Dec. 6. The Spartans dominated the other five teams in the meet, earning a combined score of 433, compared to 2nd place Allegheny College’s 179.

On the men’s side, Case Western Reserve University finished with 211 points, with Muskingum University ending up 77 points behind. The men took advantage of the depth of this year’s team, winning four individual events and all three relays as well as sweeping two individual events.

The Spartans swept the mile run, finishing in the top four positions. Freshman Aidan DeSanto won the race with a time of 4:36.45.

CWRU also completed the sweep in the 400-meter dash, with an entirely new set of runners. Sophomore Nico Ericksen-Deris was the winner, dropping 0.27 seconds from his seed time to finish in 51.73.

The third Case victory came in the 800-meter run, as freshman Andrew Ibibo secured victory in a 2:01.66. Senior pole vaulter Mark Kulinski was the final event champion, clearing a maximum height of 4.55 meters.

The CWRU women’s team also won by a sizable margin, scoring 222 points over Allegheny’s 93. The women won an impressive six individual events, sweeping three of them.

Senior Rachel Tam was the women’s high point scorer, with victories in the long jump and high jump, as well as a third-place finish in the 55-meter hurdles. Tam jumped a personal-best 16-10.75 in the long jump and cleared the bar at 4-11.00 in the high jump.

The Spartan women recorded sweeps in both the long and high jumps, securing the top five spots in the long jump and top four in the high jump.

Senior McKenzie Braun led the way for the third Case sweep of the day, winning the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:02.72.

The next Spartan winner was freshman Kate Erickson, who won a solitary heat of the mile run in 6:02.28. The final champion on the women’s side was senior Sophia Herzog, who won the pole vault by leaping over the bar at 11-01.75.

CWRU rounded out the meet with wins in two relay events, both the 4×200 and 4×400 meter relays.

After taking a pause from competition over winter break, both teams resume their seasons on January 23, competing at the Baldwin-Wallace Mid-January Meet in Berea, Ohio.