From Case Western Reserve University Athletics
Led by conference championships from senior runners Jack Begley and Logan Singer, the Case Western Reserve University men's track and field team placed fifth out of seven teams at the 2023 University Athletic Association Outdoor Track and Field Championships at the Stagg Field and Haydon Track on the campus of the University of Chicago in Chicago.
Begley won the 5,000-meter run in a UAA Championship record time of 14:32.68. The previous record of 14:36.18 was set by WashU's Kevin Sparks in 2013. The achievement marks the second UAA record for Begley at the 2023 outdoor championships, after he set a new conference championship-best mark in the 10,000-meter run on Saturday night. Begley, who is the first Spartan to win the event since Sam Merriman in 2017, became the sixth man to sweep the UAA outdoor 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter titles and the first since Chicago's Daniel Povitsky in 2014. Former Spartan Steve Cullen also achieved the feat in 1995. Begley earned his sixth career All-UAA track and field honors with the first place finish and third career All-UAA outdoor honors. Senior runner Joe Jaster placed second in the event in 14:33.63 to earn the sixth career All-UAA track and field honors of his career and his third career outdoor All-Conference honor.
Singer won the 1,500-meter run in 3:52.37, becoming the first ever CWRU male athlete to win the event. He is also just the third ever Spartan to earn All-UAA honors in the race after former Spartans Aidan DeSanto (2018) and Shaun Brown (1993) each placed third. Singer earned his fifth career All-UAA track and field honors and his third career outdoor honors with the first place finish. Two additional runners earned points for Case Western Reserve in the event, with Jaster placing fourth in 3:54.18 and sophomore runner Nate Gilbert finishing seventh in 3:56.40.
CWRU placed fifth overall with 119 points. Carnegie Mellon won the conference title with 171.5 points, followed by WashU (165.5 points), Emory (149), and Chicago (145).
Three Spartans earned their first All-UAA honors at the 2023 Outdoor Championships. In the 110-meter hurdles, first-year hurdler/sprinter Bryce Hodge finished second in the finals with a time of 15.42 seconds, and senior hurdler Peculiar Nzegbuna placed third with a finals time of 15.49 seconds. Senior thrower Ben Pinkowski recorded the third-best mark in the javelin throw with a heave of 48.15 meters.
At the championships, Case Western Reserve totaled 11 All-UAA honors among eight athletes across six events. In addition to the six earned on the second day and Begley's title in the 10,000-meter run, Jaster, Singer, senior runner Will Dehmler, and sophomore runner Hans Holst placed second in the 4x800-meter relay on Saturday.
Both the 4x100-meter relay and 4x400-meter relay placed fourth for CWRU. The shorter relay of senior sprinter/jumper Keith Cartwright, junior sprinter Brett Callow, first-year sprinter/thrower JD Weaver, and first-year hurdler/sprinter Josh Bates finished in 42.64 seconds, while the longer relay of Bates, Dehmler, junior sprinter/jumper Yusuf Shaaban, and sophomore sprinter Nicolas Lende completed the race in 3:22.05.
Individually, Bates, Shaaban, and Callow all earned points for the Spartans. Bates placed fifth in the 400-meter hurdles with a finals time of 56.90 seconds and Shaaban finished seventh in the same event with a finals time of 57.37 seconds. Senior sprinter/hurdler Pierce Boucher bested both runners with a fourth place finish in 56.83 seconds. Callow placed sixth in the 100-meter dash in 11.09 seconds and fifth in the 200-meter dash in 22.57 seconds. Graduate student sprinter Juan Perez had a faster time in the 100-meter dash finals, crossing the line at 10.95 seconds to place fourth.
Sophomore jumper Andrew Qi rounded out the top eight finishes for CWRU on the second day of competition, placing eighth in the triple jump with a mark of 12.83 meters.