Tartans Win Seven Events at Dr. Taraschke Team Challenge

(BEREA, Ohio) - The Carnegie Mellon University men's track and field team competed at the Dr. Taraschke Team Challenge hosted by Baldwin Wallace University on Saturday and scored 173 points to claim the top spot in the six-team event. Case Western Reserve University took second at the challenge with 112 points.

The Tartans won seven events, including four of the field events. Senior Justin Kiefel (Downingtown, Pa. / Downingtown STEM Academy) and freshman Cody Breidenbach (Nazareth, Pa. / Nazareth Area) broke their own school records on Saturday as Kiefel accounted for two of the Tartans top spots.

Kiefel topped his school record leap of 14.45 meters, which he set early this season, in the triple jump with a distance of 14.80 meters on Saturday. The senior also won the long jump with a jump of 6.94 meters. Breidenbach placed first in the weight throw with a toss of 18.04 meters. His mark topped his previous school record throw of 17.52 meters also set early this season.

Graduate student Bram Miller (Colgate, Wis. / Kettle Moraine Lutheran) won the fourth field event for the Tartans with a throw of 15.71 meters in the shot put.

The distance medley relay team of sophomore Alex Ivanov (Newton, Mass. / Newton), freshmen Alexander Palmer (Maple Shade, N.J. / Maple Shade) and Sean Dutton (Chatham, N.J. / Chatham) along with junior Elijah Sech (San Clemente, Calif. / San Clemente) started the running events with a win after crossing in 10:42.38.

Sophomore Pranav Rajbhandari (Marietta, Ga. / Walton) won the 400-meter run with a time of 51.28. The 4x400-meter relay team of senior Michael Cai (Dumont, N.J. / Bergen County Academies), graduate student Grant Johnson (Wilmette, Ill. / New Trier), Rajbhandari and sophomore Andrew McGovern (Lexington, Mass. / Lexington) closed the challenge with a victory crossing in 3:29.61.

The Tartans will compete next at Case Western University in the annual Battle for the Obelisk on Saturday, February 5th.

Top 5 performances for the meet include:

55-Meter Hurdles
3. Thomas Rich - 8.05 - personal-best

55-Meter Dash
3. David Shao - 6.59 - personal-best
5. Brian Hu - 6.65 - personal-best

200-Meter Run
3. Alex Halkias - 23.54

400-Meter Run
2. Michael Cai - 51.97
4. Andrew McGovern - 52.42 - personal-best

Mile Run
2. Colin McLaughlin - 4:23.60 - personal-best
3. Eamon Brady - 4:24.82 - personal-best
4. Elijah Sech - 4:24.96

3,000-Meter Run
2. Michael OBroin - 8:30.27 - personal-best

Shot Put
3. Bailey O'Malley - 14.27m
4. Cody Breidenbach - 14.11

High Jump
2. Thomas Rich - 1.80m
5. Sebastian Sanso - 1.70m - personal-best

Triple Jump
2. Luke Blackwell - 13.59m - personal-best
3. Jeffrey Zhang - 12.25m

Pole Vault
4. Casey Potrebic - 3.95m - personal-best