Two School Records and a UAA Champion Lead Tartans at UAA Indoor Championships

(NEW YORK, N.Y.) - The Carnegie Mellon University women's track and field team finished fifth at the University Athletic Association (UAA) Indoor Track and Field Championships on Sunday, February 28. The two-day championships were hosted by NYU at the Armory in New York City.  The Tartans posted two school records while freshman Debarati Bhanja (New Albany, Ohio/New Albany) claimed the lone UAA title for the Tartans.

Bhanja leapt a season-best distance of 5.41 meters to win the long jump.  The freshman was also part of the 4x400-meter relay team that placed fifth with a school record time of 4:00.62.  She was joined by junior Ariel Tian (Acton, Mass./Acton Boxborough Regional), freshman Rose Ciriello (Madison, N.J./Madison) and sophomore Sarah Cook (Pittsburgh, Pa./Hampton).

Cook set the other school record after crossing the finish line with a time of 58.60 in the preliminaries of the 400-meter dash.  Cook went on to place fifth in the finals after crossing in 58.83.

In the high jump, junior Rebecca Fortner (Navarre, Ohio/Fairless) and freshman Tessa Allen (Manhattan Beach, Calif./Bishop Montgomery) tied for second after both cleared the bar at 1.58 meters.  Freshman Oly Nwankwo (Homestead, Pa./Stevenson) recorded two season-best throws, as she placed third in the shot put with a mark of 11.41 meters and sixth in the weight throw with a toss of 12.36 meters.  

In the long jump, freshman Autumn Hair (Blue Bell, Pa./Wissahickon) also recorded points for the Tartans after a jump of 4.97 meters to place sixth.