Tartans Grabbed Eight First Place Finishes at Battle of the Obelisk

(CLEVELAND, Ohio) - The Carnegie Mellon University women's indoor track and field team lost a close battle to Case Western Reserve in the sixth annual Battle of the Obelisk. The Tartans were outscored by the Spartans 70-57 despite taking first-place in eight events, but the women helped win the trophy with a combined score of 139-115 with the men's team.

Senior Jacqueline Guevel (Dallas, Texas/The Hockaday School) grabbed three first-place finishes.  Guevel sprinted across the line in the 55-meter dash in 7.55 seconds.  She also stopped the clock at 8.62 to take first in the 55-meter hurdes.  Later in the evening, Guevel ran the 200-meter dash in 27.90 seconds to grab her third title of the day.

Sophomore sprinter Alexandra Lewis (Milford, N.J./The Taft School) took first in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:02.37, a new career-best.  

Crossing the line in the one mile run with a time of 5:29.22, junior Sara Kelly (Madison, Wis./West) added another first-place for the Tartans.

The 4x400-meter team of seniors Carineh Ghafafian (La Crescenta, Calif./Crescenta Valley) and Kelsey Hallinen (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin), along with freshmen Emily Swanson (Atkinson, N.H./Timberlane Regional) and Ariel Tian (Acton, Mass./Acton Boxborough Regional) finished the relay in 4:18.30.

In the field portion of the meet, with a strong showing in her return  to competition junior Sasha Spalding (Springhill, Fla. / Springstead) leaped 4.92 meters to take the title in the long jump.

With a swift spin and release senior Samantha Oleson let the weight fly 13.08 meters to claim the title in the weight throw.  

The Tartans next competition will be on Saturday, February 8 at Denison University.