Tartans Win Fifth Straight Battle for the Obelisk

(CLEVELAND, Ohio) — The Carnegie Mellon University men's track and field team won the 13th Annual Battle for the Obelisk versus Case Western Reserve University for the fifth straight Obelisk title for the Tartans. The men won the meet 85-51 versus Case Western and in a combined men's and women's score of 172-100. The Cardinal and Gray now lead the series 9-4.

The Tartans won 10 events including sweeping the top three spots in two. Senior Justin Kiefel (Downingtown, Pa. / Downingtown STEM Academy) won the long and triple events with marks of 7.08 meters and 14.70 meters, respectively. His win in the long jump sparked the first sweep, as junior Alex Halkias (Berlin, Conn. / Berlin) and sophomore Thomas Rich placed second and third with jumps of 6.51 and 6.38 meters.

Graduate student Bram Miller (Colgate, Wis. / Kettle Moraine Lutheran) led the other Tartan sweep. Miller placed first in the shot put, breaking his previous school record on 17.00 meters set earlier this season, with a toss of 17.15 meters. Junior Bailey O'Malley (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Baldwin) had a throw of 14.90 meters to place second while freshman Cody Breidenbach (Nazareth, Pa. / Nazareth Area) took third with a mark of 14.66 meters. Breidenbach won the weight throw after tossing the element 17.11 meters.

The pole vault was won by freshman Casey Potrebic (Calistoga, Calif. / Justin-Siena), as he cleared the bar at 4.10 meters.

On the track, the Tartans won five events. Graduate student Grant Johnson (Wilmette, Ill. / New Trier) crossed the line with a time of 51.78 in the 400-meter run to win the event, sophomore Andrew McGovern (Lexington, Mass. / Lexington) won the 800-meter run in 1:57.33, senior Michael OBroin (Park Ridge, Ill. / Saint Ignatius College Prep) won the 3,000-meter run with a time of 8:49.00 and Halkias took the top spot in the 200-meter dash in 23.08.

The Tartans 4x400-meter relay team closed the meet with a top finish. The team of senior Michael Cai (Dumont, N.J. / Bergen County Academies), graduate student Grant Johnson (Wilmette, Ill. / New Trier), sophomore Pranav Rajbhandari (Marietta, Ga. / Walton) and sophomore Andrew McGovern (Lexington, Mass. / Lexington) crossed in 3:32.32

The Tartans will compete at the Roanoke Invitational Challenge on Saturday, February 12.