Track and teams find success at Penn State, Mount Union Tune Ups

Men’s Track and Field

The Carnegie Mellon men’s track and field team competed at two separate meets this week: the Penn State University Tune-Up meet on Friday, Feb. 17 and the Mount Union Tune-Up on Saturday, Feb. 18.

A number of Tartans placed at the Penn State Tune-Up. In the mile, sophomore Aleksei Seletskiy finished with a time of 4:09.37, which won him the event but was .24 seconds off the school record. Junior Jacob Hsu also ran the mile and finished fifth with a time of 4:17.78. In the weight throw, sophomore Cody Breidenbach claimed fourth with a mark of 18.73. Senior Alex Halkias took second place in the long jump after recording 6.59 meters. Sophomore Luke Blackwell placed fifth in the triple jump after achieving a mark of 13.43 meters.

Tartans also found success at the Mount Union Tune-Up. In the 3,000-meter run, sophomore Seth Williams, first-year Kenji Tella, and sophomore Yonah Goldberg placed third, sixth, and seventh, respectively. Their times were 8:58.95, 9:03.71, and 9:06.99. In the mile, first-year Thomas Damiani earned third place after running a time of 4:28.12. Meanwhile, sophomore Sean Dutton took third in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:59.78 while first-year Saaketh Nandakumar took ninth with a time of 2:03.94. Sophomore Jacob Kelly placed sixth in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.04. Kelly also placed third in the 200-meter dash, crossing in 23.05. In the 400-meter run, sophomore Alexander Palmer’s 53.47 earned him seventh place. Sophomore Micah Nowlin finished fifth in the 60-meter hurdles after he crossed the line in 8.78. On the field, first-year Christian Duckworth took sixth in the pole vault after clearing the bar at 4.47 meters.

The Tartans will next be traveling to Brandeis University to compete in the UAA Championships on Saturday, Feb. 25 and Sunday, Feb. 26.

Women’s Track and Field

The Carnegie Mellon women’s track and field team headed to the Penn State University Tune-Up on Friday, Feb. 17 and the Mount Union Tune-Up on Saturday, Feb. 18.

Senior Liz Barre placed in a number of events at Penn State, along with many other Tartans. In the long jump, she marked 5.44 to win the event. She also took fifth in the high jump after clearing the bar at 1.65 meters and third in the 60-meter hurdles after she recorded a time of 8.89. Sophomore Katie Monahan took fourth in the shot put after her throw of 12.15 meters. In the mile run, senior Mona Yuan, graduate student Kristen Seballos, and senior Kavya Tummalapalli finished ninth, tenth, and eleventh, respectively, with times of 5:14.95, 5:17.78, and 5:19.02. Sophomore Alyssa Hoffman finished ninth in the 3,000-meter run after recording a time of 10:29.08.

A number of Tartans also placed at the Mount Union Tune-Up. First-year Jacqueline Liu claimed victory in the 800-meter run with a meet-record time of 2:22.91. In the 3,000-meter race, sophomore Norah Czajka took fourth with her time of 11:15.64. In the 400-meter race, junior Emily Lannen crossed the line in 1:03.54, taking ninth. In the 60-meter hurdles, first-year Iniyaa Mohanraj placed eighth with a time of 10.00. Mohanraj also placed fifth in the triple jump with a mark of 10.23. Also in the triple jump, senior Serena Li marked 9.55 meters, taking ninth place.

The Tartans will next be competing on Saturday, Feb. 25 and Sunday, Feb. 26 when they travel to Brandeis University to compete in the UAA Championships.

Men’s Basketball

The men’s basketball team traveled to the Windy City this past Friday, Feb. 17 to take on the University of Chicago in a conference matchup.

The Maroons took an early lead over the Tartans, 10-8. Chicago would then go on a 9-3 run to pull ahead of the Tartans just seven minutes into the game, 19-11. The next eight points, however, belonged to the Tartans thanks to five points from first-year Buckley DeJardin and a triple from sophomore Aidan Murphy. This tied the score at 19 with just under 11 minutes to go in the first half. Carnegie Mellon seized this opportunity and took the next 13 points, making it 32-19 with 6:15 left in the first half. Chicago answered this run with 13 to the Tartans’ two with two minutes left, but Carnegie Mellon still held the lead going into the break, 38-37.

Coming out of the break, the lead continually changed hands. Chicago was able to pull ahead of the Tartans with 16:35 left in play, 52-44. The Tartans struggled to keep up in the next three minutes, with the Maroons scoring 13 more to the Tartans’ four. But after some Tartan scoring, the Maroon lead was narrowed to 10 with seven minutes left in play. However, Chicago sunk a few more points, and at the end of the game, the scoreboard read 85-71 in favor of the home team.

After this performance, the men’s basketball team fell to 15-8 on the season and 7-5 in the conference. Their last regular season game will be Saturday, Feb. 25 in Wiegand Gymnasium for a 3:00 p.m. tipoff.

Women’s Basketball

The Carnegie Mellon Women’s Basketball team traveled to the University of Chicago this Friday, Feb. 17 to take on the 18th-ranked Maroons.

In the first quarter, the Tartans were able to pull ahead of the Maroons thanks to a strong floor game. They shot 62.5 percent in the quarter and scored eight off Maroon turnovers, giving them a 24-17 at the end of the first. Thanks to the efforts of sophomore Catherine Or — who claimed seven of the first nine Tartan points in the second quarter — the Tartans held a 12-point lead with 6:46 left in the second quarter, which was later extended to 17. However, the Maroons cut this to nine with only 14 seconds left in the first half. But thanks to an Or bucket, the Tartans entered the half 11 points in the lead, 44-33.

Coming back, the Tartans still held their lead, but were outscored 15-11 in the third quarter. The Tartans didn’t score many points until a 7-0 run in the last two minutes of the quarter. So as the Tartans were entering the fourth quarter, the board read 55-48. In the fourth quarter, Carnegie Mellon was up 13 at one point, but Chicago clawed their way back and tied the score with eight seconds to go. Though Or completed a layup after this, the Maroons answered with one of their own, sending the game into overtime. At one point, the Tartans held the lead in overtime, but the home team ultimately prevailed, 84-78.

This loss moved the women’s basketball team to 11-12 on the season and 2-10 in conference play. Their last regular season game will be Saturday, Feb. 25 against Case Western Reserve at home for a 1:00 p.m. start.

Men’s Tennis

This past Saturday, Feb. 18, the Carnegie Mellon men’s tennis team hosted Division II West Virginia Wesleyan College at the Greensburg Racquet Club.

In doubles play, only one Tartan pair were able to take home points. The pairing of senior Jonathan Nottingham and first-year Sebastien Lhuiller won their match 8-5, making the Tartans 1-2 in doubles. In singles, the Tartans went 2-4. Senior Raahil Doshi took home the first Tartan point in the third slot, winning his sets 6-3, 6-1. First-year Akshay Joshi took the other Tartan win in the five slot, going 6-4, 7-5 in his sets. Overall, the Tartans fell to Wesleyan 6-3, which puts them 1-2 on the session.

The team will next be taking on St. Francis University at home on Friday, Feb. 24.

Women’s Tennis

The 11th-ranked Carnegie Mellon women’s tennis team took on 26th-ranked Denison University this past Saturday, Feb. 18.

The Tartans swept the doubles, earning three points. The pair of sophomore Zoe Angell and sophomore Sarah Yang went 8-2, the pair of first-years Anna Chow and Divya Venkatarama went 8-5, and the pair of senior Danna Taylor and sophomore Crystal Zhou went 8-6. Those competing in the singles also swept, with sophomore Sarah Yang winning her sets 6-3, 6-2. Taylor also competed in singles, winning her sets 6-4, 6-3. Zhou won her sets handily, 6-2, 6-1. Venkatarama lost her first set 3-6, but came back to win the match. Angell also won her singles match, 604, 6-1. first-year Manuela Van Cotthem cleaned up for the Tartans, 7-5, 6-2. This 9-0 victory for the Tartans has put them at 5-1 for the year.

The team will next be competing against the College of Wooster and Otterbein University on Saturday, Feb. 25 at the Aspen Racquet Club in Wooster, Ohio.