Tartans Compete at Opening Day of UAA Indoor Track and Field Championships

(CLEVELAND, Ohio) - The Carnegie Mellon University women's indoor track and field team competed at the first day of the University Athletic Association (UAA) Indoor Championships on Saturday, February 24 held on the campus of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. After the first day of competition, the Tartans are in third-place with 20 points.

Senior Aparna Alavilli (Hanover , N.H./Hanover) ran the 5,000-meter run in a career-best time of 17:38.51 to finish third. Also on the track, the distance medley relay team of junior Rose Ciriello (Madison, N.J./Madison), junior Debarati Bhanja (New Albany, Ohio / New Albany), senior Sarah Cook (Pittsburgh, Pa./Hampton) and sophomore Kate Reilly (Scranton, Pa./Scranton Prep) ran to a fifth-place finish with a time of 12:35.24.

In jumps, sophomore Michelle Karabin (Ruffs Dale, Pa. / Greensburg Central Catholic) placed third in the pole vault by clearing the bar at 3.62 meters and junior Autumn Hair (Blue Bell, Pa. / Wissahickon) placed fifth in the long jump with a career-best leap of 5.24 meters.

Senior Kiersten Chuc (Cupertino, Ca. / Monta Vista) placed fourth in the weight throw with a toss of 14.04 meters.

In addition, senior Sarah Cook broke her own school record in the 400-meter dash during the preliminaries with a time of 58.55 heading into the finals on Sunday.

The UAA Indoor Track and Field competition will resume Sunday, February 25 at 10:00 a.m.