From Case Western Reserve University Athletics
Case Western Reserve University senior runner Jack Begley captured the University Athletic Association Championship in the 10,000-meter run and the 4x800-meter relay set a program record to pace the men's track and field team on the first day of the 2023 UAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Stagg Field and Haydon Track on the campus of the University of Chicago in Chicago.
Begley won the distance event with a UAA Championship record time of 30:08.91, besting the previous meet best of 30:26.87 run by David Burnstein of WashU in 2012. It is the first UAA title, fifth career All-UAA honor, and second career All-UAA outdoor honor for Begley. The senior runner placed third in the 5,000-meter run at the 2023 UAA Indoor Championships earlier this season. For CWRU, this is the first UAA title in the event since former Spartan Trey Razanauskas crossed the line first in 2019. Sophomore runner Aidan Nathan also earned points for Case Western Reserve in the race, placing sixth with a time of 30:57.73.
The 4x800-meter relay of senior runner Will Dehmler, sophomore runner Hans Holst, senior runner Joe Jaster, and senior runner Logan Singer finished the race in 7:42.69, besting the previous record of 7:47.49 set by Singer and former Spartans Thomas Patton, Spencer Weigand, and Michael Hradesky in 2019. CWRU placed second in the event to earn All-UAA honors for the first time in four years. It marks the fifth career All-UAA honor for Jaster and his second career outdoor honor. Earlier this season, he won the indoor 3,000-meter run and finished second in the distance medley relay. Singer earned his fourth career All-UAA honor and second outdoor honor. He was also a member of the second-place distance medley relay at the 2023 UAA Indoor Championships. Holst and Dehmler earned their first career All-UAA recognitions.
The Spartans earned points in two additional events on the first day of the championship. In the pole vault, sophomore vaulter Quaylen Lamarre cleared 4.30 meters to place fifth. He recorded the same mark as the third place finisher but cleared the bar in more attempts. First-year vaulter Anthony DeCarlo placed eighth in the event by clearing 4.15 meters. In the 3,000-meter steeplechase, graduate student runner Anthony Hart was the fifth runner to cross the line, doing so in 9:29.63.
CWRU runners qualified for the finals in four events by finishing in the top eight in preliminary heats. Three Spartans will race in the finals of the 400-meter hurdles after first-year hurdler/sprinter Josh Bates recorded the third-fastest prelim time (56.59 seconds), junior sprinter/jumper Yusuf Shaaban had the sixth-fastest time in the heats (58.23 seconds), and senior sprinter/hurdler Pierce Boucher ran the seventh-fastest time (58.28 seconds).
In the prelims of the 110-meter hurdles, senior hurdler Peculiar Nzegbuna finished in 15.51 seconds, and first-year hurdler/sprinter Bryce Hodge recorded a time of 15.53 seconds to reach the finals. Nzegbuna had the second-fastest time, and Hodge will be seeded third in the event. Junior sprinter Brett Callow will be competing in two final races on Sunday, recording the fourth-fastest time in the 200-meter dash (22.26 seconds) and the eighth-fastest time in the 100-meter dash (11.09 seconds). Joining Callow in the 100-meter dash finals will be graduate student sprinter Juan Perez, who was fifth fastest in the heats with a time of 10.99 seconds.
With 30 points on the first day of the championships, CWRU is currently in fifth place. Carnegie Mellon leads the conference with 67.5 points with WashU in second with 65.5 points. Seven of the 21 events have been scored.