From Case Western Reserve University Athletics
The Case Western Reserve University women'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.
The Spartan women were strong in the distance events at the meet, taking the top-two spots in both the 5,000-meter run and the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Senior Kelsey Aamoth won the 5,000-meter run with a time of 17:44.63, while senior Kristen Ruckstuhl claimed second with a mark of 17:51.54. Meanwhile, it was sophomore Danielle Kulpins setting a new school record in the steeplechase, winning the event with a mark of 11:17.91, besting the previous program-best of 11:18.97, set by Brooke Simpson in 2013. Senior Evy Hail placed second in the event with a mark of 11:36.76.
CWRU's women's 4x800-meter relay team of freshman Maria Derenzo, senior Juliana Ross, sophomore Elena Polivka and senior Taylor O'Neil added a first-place finish in the event with a time of 10:36.60.
For the women, sophomore Cassandra Laios finished second in both the discus throw with a mark of 34.65 meters and the shot put with a distance of 10.62 meters. Freshman Olivia Newman was the team's top performer in the 400-meter dash, finishing second with a time of 59.41 seconds, and the 200-meter dash, finishing third with a mark of 27.04 seconds. Newman also anchored the Spartans' fourth-place 4x400-meter relay, teaming with junior Abby Casalnova, Derenzo, and O'Neil for a time of 4:06.94, and joined senior Emily Harker, freshman Shannon Carroll and sophomore Skylar Braga to finish seventh in the 4x100-meter relay with a time of 52.94 seconds.
Harker was the team's top performer in both the high jump (seventh, 1.56 meters) and 100-meter hurdles (11th, 17.95 seconds), while Braga led all Spartans in the long jump (11th, 4.82 meters) and 100-meter dash (fourth, 13.26 seconds). Other top performers for the CWRU women during the meet included junior Olivia Zabrodsky in the 1,500-meter run (fourth, 5:01.06), sophomore Rachael Collins in the hammer throw (fifth, 39.50 meters), O'Neil in the 800-meter run (third, 2:24.22), sophomore Marie-Louise Kloster in the 400-meter hurdles (sixth, 1:14.88) and senior Meredith Shea in the javelin throw (11th, 23.37 meters).