From Case Western Reserve University Athletics

Case Western Reserve University senior Joe Jaster became just the second runner in men's program history to win the University Athletic Association Championship, finishing first out of the field of 74 runners in the 8K race and leading the 20^th-ranked Spartans to a third-place finish at the 2022 UAA Championship, hosted by Emory University at the Nash Farm Battlefield in Hampton, Georgia on Saturday afternoon.

Jaster became the first Spartan to win a UAA men's cross country individual championship since Aaron Johnston-Peck accomplished the feat in 2004. He crossed the finish line in a time of 24:44.5, 4.6 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, John Hood of Chicago.

With the finish, Jaster also secured All-UAA honors for the first time in his cross country career.

Behind Jaster's performance, the Spartans recorded their highest team finish since tying for second in 2007. It was the fifth top-three finish at the UAA Championship in program history (1992, 1993, 1994, 2007). CWRU finished the meet with 80 points, placing behind nationally 10^th-ranked Emory (48 points) and ninth-ranked Carnegie Mellon (64). Finishing behind CWRU were 29^th-ranked Chicago (88), 12^th-ranked WashU (92), NYU (173), Rochester (182), and Brandeis (245).

Also earning All-UAA honors was senior Jack Begley, who claimed a spot on the second team with an eighth-place finish in a time of 24:59.5. It was the second all-UAA honor of his career.

Senior Robert St. Clair and sophomore Aidan Nathan were the next two Spartans to finish, placing 21^st and 22^nd, respectively. St. Clair crossed the line in a time of 25:28.2, while Nathan was less than a second behind him with a mark of 25:29.0. Senior Logan Singer rounded out the Spartans scoring finishers, placing 28^th with a time of 25:40.4.

Completing the team's top-seven finishers were junior Stephen Henry, who was 30^th with a time of 25:45.0, and senior Liam O'Reilly, who was 38^th with a time of 25:54.3. Also competing for the Spartans on Saturday were senior Spencer Weigand (49^th, 26:28.6) and junior Arjun Thillairajah (51^st, 26:32.5).