Yee Sets School Pole Vault Record as Women’s Track & Field Compete at SPIRE North Coast Indoor Open and Denison Lid Lifter

(GRANVILLE, Ohio) – Junior Grace Yee (San Francisco, Calif./Lick-Wilmerding) of the Carnegie Mellon University women's track and field team broke the school indoor pole vault record, as the team competed at the at the Denison Lid Lifter in Granville, Ohio and half competed at the SPIRE North Coast Indoor Track & Field Open at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio on Saturday, January 23.  The North Coast Open was unscored, as the Tartans placed third at the Lid Lifter with 92 points.  

Yee's record came at the Lid Lifter where she cleared the bar at 3.20 meters breaking the old mark of 3.10 meters set by Lisa Marion Garcia in 2011.

At the SPIRE, junior Rebecca Fortner (Navarre, Ohio/Fairless) tied a career-best after clearing the bar at 1.60 meters in the high jump to place third.  Freshman Tessa Allen (Manhattan Beach, Calif./Bishop Montgomery) cleared 1.55 meters and Jerilyn James (Friendswood, Texas/Clear Brook) cleared 1.45 meters to finish fourth and fifth.

In the long jump, freshman Autumn Hair (Blue Bell, Pa./Wissahickon) recorded a jump of 4.98 meters to place fourth. Hair took third in the triple jump with a mark of 9.94 meters while Allen was fourth with a jump of 9.79 meters.

The mile run proved to be the Tartans best event on the track.  Junior Shaheen Essabhoy (Palo Alto, Calif./Palo Alto) ran a career-best time of 5:34.63 to finish second while senior Natalie Smith (Portland, Ore./Metropolitan Learning Center) also turned in a career-best time of 5:37.71 to place third.

More career-best time were set in the 3,000-meter run. Senior Kira Ragazzo (Frederick, Md./Urbana) ran a career-best time of 10:55.84 to place fourth.  Senior Liz Snyder (Somerset, Pa.) placed fifth with a time of 11:00.95 while fellow senior Taylor Maggiacomo (Temecula, Calif./Great Oak) ran a career-best time of 11:01.96 to finish sixth.

At Denison, freshman Claire Yuan (San Jose, Calif./Lynbrook) ran to a second-plac finish in the 60-meter dash with a time of 8.50.  The mile run saw the Tartans claim third and fourth. Freshman Wade Lacey (Albany, N.Y./The Albany Academies) crossed in 5:46.49 followed by Nina Hill (Amherst, Ohio/Amherst Steele) in 5:51.26.

Freshman Hannah Mahon (Norwich, Vt./Hanover) placed second in the high jump with a height of 1.47 meters while freshman Taylor Davis (Armonk, N.Y./Byram Hills) also competed in the pole vault and cleared 2.44 meters to place third..

In the throwing events, freshman Oly Nwankwo (Homestead, Pa./Stevenson) tossed the shot put 10.73 meters to place third.  Sophomore Kiersten Chuc (Cupertino, Calif./Monta Vista) took fourth in the weight thro with a mark of 11.63 meters.

Carnegie Mellon will be back in action on Saturday, January 30 when the head to Cleveland, Ohio to compete against Case Western Reserve University in the Battle for the Obelisk.