The Blue Streaks’ track and field team made their first appearance of the new year by kicking things off at Otterbein University on Jan. 18. Both the men’s and women’s teams had outstanding performances, each placing third out of 11 teams competing at the Dave Lehman Invitational.

Starting off the day with the field events, senior Nick Colby broke the school record in the weight throw event, throwing 18.28 meters, good enough for a second-place finish.

In the men’s one mile race, junior Kyle Monahan took first place for the Blue Streaks, finishing with a time of 4:23.97. Also in the one mile race, freshman Ian Pierson took second place, and freshman Pat White finished fifth.

Freshman Deven Ward also had an outstanding performance as he placed second in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.10.

The John Carroll women had a great day in the long jump, with five athletes placing in the top 10. Senior Katelyn Frandansia placed second, jumping 5.13m and freshman Sara Johnson placed third, jumping 5.04m. Among those top 10 were a trio of freshmen in Maria DeLuca, Courtney Phoennik and Madeline Scherle.

On the running side, another school record was broken when junior Ashura Powell, freshman Sara Johnson, DeLuca and Phoennik finished with a time of 1.47.10 in the 4×200 race.

In the 500-meter-run, Kendall Miller took first place with a time of 1:20.33. Following Miller, Mary Claire Smeltzer took second with a time of 1:21.14.

In the weight throw event, freshman Olivia Hurtt finished with a mark of 14.26 meters, just .12 shy of the school record.

The Blue Streaks are looking to continue their success this weekend when they head to Geneva, Ohio, for the Midwest Open.

Its crunch time, as JCU will compete at the All-Ohio championships in two weeks.