Tartans Open Outdoor Season with Numerous Personal Bests

(LEXINGTON, Va.) - The Carnegie Mellon University women's track and field team started the outdoor season at the Washington and Lee University Track and Field Carnival on Friday, March 20 and Saturday, March 21.

The top finish of the day came from sophomore Rebecca Fortner (Navarre, Ohio/Fairless) in the high jump, as she won the event clearing 1.51 meters.

Senior Sasha Spalding (Springhill, Fla./Springstead) set the school record in the 200-meter dash when she crossed the finish line second in 25.73 seconds. Freshman Sarah Cook (Pittsburgh, Pa./Hampton) also ran the 200-meter dash and finished seventh in 26.38 seconds.

Cook took to the track in the 400-meter dash and placed sixth in 59.24 seconds while sophomore Sommer Farber (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) and Fortner each competed in the 100-meter hurdles. Farber finished eighth in 16.80 seconds while Fortner set a career-best with a time of 16.88 seconds.

In the distance events, junior Zofia Tillman (Westminster, Colo./Standley Lake) ran to a second-place finish in the 10,000-meter run when she crossed the line in a career-best 38:42.36. Junior Sophie Lohmann (Bergisch Gladbach, Germany) placed third in a time of 39:12.51 while sophomore Emily Joyce (Carlisle, Pa./Big Spring) recorded a career-best 40:07.35, placing sixth.

In the 5,000-meter run, junior Kira Ragazzo (Frederick, Md./Urbana) placed eighth in a career-best time of 18:54.13 while junior Natalie Smith (Portland, Ore./Metropolitan Learning Center) was ninth in 19:05.17. Senior Sara Kelly (Madison, Wis./West) ran the 1,500-meter run and placed sixth in 4:58.52.

Sophomore Grace Yee (San Francisco, Calif./Lick-Wilmerding) took fourth in the pole vault, clearing 2.86 meters while Spalding lept 5.11 meters in the long jump to finish fifth.

Junior Lauren Maturo (Syosset, N.Y./Syosset) competed in three throwing events finishing fourth in the shot put with a mark of 10.07 meters, ninth in the discus with a throw of 23.60 meters and 10th in the hammer throw with a heave of 31.59 meters.

The Tartans return home to host the Carnegie Mellon Mini-Invite on Saturday, March 28 with events beginning at 10 a.m.