Women Win Battle for the Obelisk, Score Most Points in Team History

Photo courtesy of Naji Saker (https://www.najisaker.com/)

(CLEVELAND, Ohio) — The Carnegie Mellon University women's track and field team won the Battle for the Obelisk versus Case Western Reserve University for the second year in a row. The women won the meet 86-50 versus Case Western and in a combined men's and women's score of 163-108. The women swept three different events, scoring the most points in team history at the meet. 

"I want to give a special shoutout to the women's program for having the best team performance in the 12-year history of the meet," said head coach Gary Aldrich. "The women should be extremely proud, and the hope is that this allows us to do even bigger things on the women's side at the conference level." 

The Tartan women swept the 60-meter hurdles with senior Leah Kendrick (Doylestown, Pa. / Central Bucks East) placing first in a time of 9.42 while senior Joanna Baranowski (Syosset, N.Y. / Syosset) placed second in 9.44, and freshman Liz Barre (Ithaca, N.Y. / Taft) placed third in 9.53. Barre also placed fourth in the high jump clearing 1.55 meters. 

The Tartans also swept the pole vault. Senior Michelle Karabin (Ruffs Dale, Pa. / Greensburg Central Catholic) placed first clearing 3.72 meters, an indoor personal best. Baranowski placed second in the pole vault clearing 3.12 meters and sophomore Ashley Zhang (Great Falls, Va. / Langley) placed third clearing 3.12 meters. 

Sophomore Taylor Jacobs (Bozeman, Mont. /Taft) won the 800-meter run with a time of 2:25. Junior Ally Tully (Chappaqua, N.Y. / Horace Greeley) placed second in the weight throw with a toss of 12.46 meters. Tully also placed fourth in the shot put with a mark of 10.81 meters. 

Freshman Francine Leung (Port Jefferson, N.Y. / The Stony Brook School) won the long jump with a leap of 5.05 meters in her second collegiate performance. In the triple jump, sophomore Sami Johnson (Thousand Oaks, Calif. / Thousand Oaks) took second with a jump of 10.11 meters. 

Freshman Samantha Giordani (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Ambridge) won the 60-meter dash in 8.04 seconds, a new season-best in just her second collegiate meet. Fellow freshman Liz Barre placed fourth in the 60-meter dash with a time of 8.39. Giordani also won the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.92, setting a meet record and bettering her own school record set just one week prior at Youngstown State University, while Baranowski placed second in 27.82. 

The Tartans swept the mile run, with senior Kate Reilly (Scranton, Pa. / Scranton Prep) placing first with a time of 5:16, senior Wade Lacey (Albany, N.Y. / The Albany Academies) placing second with a time of 5:34, and junior Isabelle Chickanosky (St. Louis, Mo. / St. Joseph's Academy) placing third in a time of 5:36. 

Freshman Jasmine Fahrenkrug (Vestal, N.Y. / Vestal) took second in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:03 and junior Valerie Reiling (Concord, Mass. / Concord Carlisle Regional) placed third in 1:04. 

Senior Abigail Levine (Bethesda, Md. / Bethesda Chevy Chase) won the 3,000-meter race in a time of 10:52 and sophomore Kristen Seballos (Cleveland, Ohio / Padua Franciscan) placed second in 10:54. Levine also won the 5,000-meter run in a time of 18:35 while freshman Joyce Zhang (Ellicott City, Md. / Centennial High School) placed second in a time of 18:38. 

The women also won both relays. The Tartans distance medley relay team of senior Valerie Collins (Wellesley, Mass. / Wellesley), freshman Mona Yuan (Sayreville, N.J. / Middlesex County Academy for Allied Health and Biomedical Sciences), Reilly, and Lacey finished in a time of 13:24.  The 4x400-meter team of Baranowski, Fahrenkrug, Reiling, and Giordani won in a time of 4:12. 

The Tartans will compete next at Denison University on Saturday, February 1 in Granville, Ohio.