Carnegie Mellon tennis and track compete at UAA final
Over the weekend, the Carnegie Mellon men’s and women’s track and field teams competed in the University Athletic Association (UAA) Outdoor Championships.
On Saturday, the men started the competition strong with a new school record in the 4x800-meter relay with junior Marc-Daniel Julien, first-year Evan Larrick, sophomore Owen Norley, and senior Thomas Vandenberg combing for a winning time of 7:39.98. First-year David Trzcinski added to the Tartan success by earning third place in the shot put with a 13.90 meter heave. Vandenberg and Julien continued the Tartan domination in the 800 meter distance with first and second place finishes, crossing the line at 1:53.64 and 1:54.94 respectively. In the 5000 meter run, senior George Degen finished fourth with a time of 15:15.23. In the field events, first year Jacob Schofel placed second in the discus throw with a top throw of 42.47m. To finish off the day, the 4x400 relay team, with sophomore Nathan Willis, Julien, Norley and Vandenberg, finished fourth with a time of 3:21.37 — less than .6 seconds out of second.
On the women’s side, the Tartans came out strong on Saturday, breaking three school records.
First-year Sarah Cook broke the school record in the 400 meter dash during her preliminary run with a time of 57.65 and went on to place third and break the record again with a time of 57.22 on Sunday. In the 4x800 meter relay, senior Sara Kelly, sophomore Ariel Tian, Cook, and junior Erin Kiekhaefer placed fifth but broke the school record by over 10 seconds with a final time of 9:22.34.
In the pole vault, sophomore Grace Yee took first place and broke her own school record with her 3.40m leap. Senior Sasha Spalding took second in the long jump with her 5.20 meter bound to continue the Tartans success in the field events.
In the 4x100 meter relay on Sunday, sophomore Jerilyn James, Cook, Tian and Spalding placed third with a time of 49.23. In the 1500 meter run, Kiekhaefer took second with a final time of 4:39.84 and then fourth as part of 4x400 relay with James, Tian and Cook, crossing the line in 3:59.25.
Overall, both squads placed sixth out of seven schools with the men racking up 90 team points and the women earning 65.
Both tennis teams for Carnegie Mellon competed in the UAA Championships this weekend as well.
The women’s team is ranked seventh in the nation and faced stark competition. They easily dispatched Rochester 8–1 in the first round, but had a much tougher time pulling out a victory against 11th-ranked Washington University in St. Louis, coming from behind to squeak out the 5–4 victory.
In the finals, the Tartans faced off against second-ranked Emory University, which had defeated the Tartans in the finals the last two years. Senior Bryn Raschke and first-year Cori Sidell were able to pull out a point in double play, but Carnegie Mellon was still down 2–1 going into the singles play. There they lost 4 points in straight sets and a fifth in a tie break to crush any title hopes. Sophomore Vanessa Pavia gained the only singles point for the Tartans with her 6–2, 6–3 straight set victory as Carnegie Mellon fell 7–2.
The 10th-ranked men had high expectations after beating 29th-ranked Brandeis University in the first round 7–2, but against fifth-ranked Washington University in St. Louis, the Tartans fell 7–2, with the only points coming from junior Abshiek Alla and sophomore Kiril Kirkov, who both needed tiebreaker sets.
In the third place game, Carnegie Mellon completely unraveled and fell 8–1 against 13th-ranked University of Chicago, with senior Christian Heaney-Secord earning the sole point.
Both teams will next look to play in the NCAA DIII Tennis Championships, with bids announced next Monday, May 4.