Tartans Win Dr. Taraschke Team Challenge

(BEREA, Ohio) - The Carnegie Mellon University women's track and field team competed at the Dr. Taraschke Team Challenge hosted by Baldwin Wallace University on Saturday and scored 102 points to win the six-team event. John Carroll University scored 95.5 points to place second.

The Tartans won five events, including the distance medley relay to start the running events. The team of senior Taylor Jacobs (Bozeman, Mont./ The Taft School), sophomore Emily Lennen (Reston, Va. / South Lakes), junior Mona Yuan (Sayreville, N.J. / Middlesex County Academy for Allied Health and Biomedical Sciences) and senior Kristen Seballos (Cleveland, Ohio / Padua Franciscan) crossed in 13:03.48.

Junior Liz Barre (Ithaca, N.Y. / Taft) won the 55-meter hurdles with a career-best time of 8.73. Junior Samantha Giordani (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Ambridge) took first in the 200-meter dash after crossing in 26.22.

The 4x400-meter relay team of sophomore Caitlin Kolb (Vernon Hills, Ill. / Vernon Hills), graduate student Valerie Reiling (Concord, Mass. / Concord Carlisle Regional), Barre and sophomore Isabella Rhee (Midland, Mich. / H.H. Dow) closed the challenge with a victory crossing in 4:16.67.

In the field events, the Tartans lone win came in the triple jump. Freshman Jocelyn Kiefel (Downingtown, Pa. / Downingtown West) recorded a distance of 10.45 meters in her second collegiate event.

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 Dash
2. Samantha Giordani - 7.43

400-Meter Run
2. Isabella Rhee - 1:01.37

800-Meter Run
2. Taylor Jacobs - 2:23.17

Shot Put
4. Katie Monahan - 11.27m - personal-best

High Jump
2. Liz Barre - 1.59m

Long Jump
3. Liz Barre - 5.02m - personal-best