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Tartans Set Three School Records and Place Fifth at UAA Championships

Tartans Set Three School Records and Place Fifth at UAA Championships
Posted: Apr 24, 2016

From Carnegie Mellon University Athletics

The Carnegie Mellon University women's track and field team placed fifth at the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships which took place at Washington University in St. Louis on Saturday and Sunday, April 23-24. The Tartans were led by three school records and two first-place finishes.

Freshman Oly Nwankwo (Homestead, Pa./Stevenson) won the shot put with a career-best heave of 11.90 meters and placed fourth in the hammer throw with a mark of 42.77 meters. Sophomore Kiersten Chuc (Cupertino, Calif./Monta Vista) picked up a fifth-place finish in the hammer throw with a mark of 41.22 meters and a sixth-place showing in the discus throw with a career-best mark of 33.40 meters.

Freshman Tessa Allen (Manhattan Beach, Calif./Bishop Montgomery) broke an 18-year-old school record in the high jump when she cleared 1.60 meters and placed fourth. Junior Rebecca Fortner (Navarre, Ohio/Fairless) also scored points for the Tartans in the high jump as she placed sixth, clearing 1.55 meters.

A second championship performance was made by junior Grace Yee (San Francisco, Calif./Lick-Wilmerding) in the pole vault. Yee won the event surpassing the bar set at 3.51 meters which also broke her own school record of 3.40 meters set last year.

Freshmen Debarati Bhanja (New Albany, Ohio/New Albany) and Autumn Hair (Blue Bell, Pa./Wissahickon) placed third and fourth, respectively, in the long jump with marks of 5.27 meters and 5.11 meters.

Sophomore Sarah Cook (Pittsburgh, Pa./Hampton) set a new school record in the 400-meter dash, breaking her own mark set last year, with a time of 56.67 seconds to take fourth place.

Senior Liz Snyder (Somerset, Pa./Somerset) ran to a fifth-place finish in the 5,000-meter run in 18:20.67. Freshman Rose Ciriello (Madison, N.J./Madison) and senior Taylor Maggiacomo (Temecula, Calif./Great Oak) each earned a point for the Tartans with career-best times in their respective events. Ciriello ran the 800-meter run, placing eighth in 2:19.02, while setting a career-best time of 2:15.45 to reach the finals. Maggiacomo placed eighth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase after finishing the race in a career-best 11:50.22.