From Case Western Reserve University Athletics
The Case Western Reserve University men's track and field team opened its 2016 outdoor season this weekend at the 2016 W&L Carnival, hosted by Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia on Friday and Saturday.
For the men, sophomore Sam Merriman won the 5,000-meter run on Friday with a time of 14:53.38, while senior Benjamin Davis claimed a victory in the 10,000-meter run with a time of 32:06.03. Running the 100-meter dash for the first time in his collegiate career, freshman Rasheed Ajala won the event with a time of 11.45 seconds, while sophomore Grant Mlack finished first in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 55.86 seconds. Mlack was also the Spartans' top performer in the 110-meter hurdles, finishing third with a time of 15.59 seconds.
The Spartan men also turned in a first-place finish in the 4x800-meter relay, with junior Joe Ledger, sophomore Andrew Ibibo, junior Mitch Baller and junior Galen Caldwell winning the event with a time of 8:12.61. Ledger added a third-place finish individually in the 800-meter dash with a time of 1:55.89. Adding a second-place finish was the 4x400-meter relay team of Mlack, Ibibo, freshman Joseph Cabral and junior Nathaniel Wahner with a time of 3:23.02.
Senior Nicholas Heim was the team's top-performer in a pair of throwing events, placing fourth in the hammer throw with a distance of 41.52 meters and sixth in the discus throw with a toss of 37.48 meters. Freshman Ananth Suresh was also a top-performer in multiple events for the Spartans, finishing seventh in the long jump with a mark of 6.26 meters and 14th in the triple jump with a mark of 11.39 meters.
Other top finishers for the CWRU men included sophomore Aidan DeSanto in the 1,500-meter relay (third, 4:02.39), senior Chippy Kennedy in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (third, 9:53.29), senior Devon Belew in the 400-meter dash (eighth, 51.95), junior Pat Shober in the javelin throw (third, 49.85 meters), Wahner in the 200-meter dash (third, 23.22), sophomore Alex Nesvisky in the shot put (third, 13.43 meters) and freshman Bennett Baier in the high jump (11th, 1.71 meters).