The John Carroll Track and Field teams are a squad of consistent success as they continue to showcase their skills and talent against top competition. 

On Fri., March 31 and Sat., April 1, the two teams traveled to Oberlin, OH to compete in the Bob Kahn Invitational. 

The women’s 4×100 meter relay kick started the day of success as the quartet of Mia Scott ‘25, Taylor Anthony ‘24, Rosie Murray ‘26 and Genevieve Arnold ‘25 took home the gold with a final time of 48.64. 

The men’s 4×100 meter relay followed in their footsteps as Dustin Horner ‘26, Garrett Clark ‘24, Basheer Alramahi ‘26 and Jimmy Kartsonas ‘25 ran a time of 42.62 to earn a first place finish.

Murray took her talents to the 400 meter dash as she finished in second place finishing less than a second behind a senior runner from Allegheny. Arnold followed behind with an eighth place finish in this event. 

Anthony, Scott and Kaleigh McNamara ‘26 took first, fourth and fifth place, respectively, in the women’s 100 meter dash as they rounded out the top five for the event. Clark, Kartsonas and Tyler Gast ‘26 kept the competition tight as they earned first, second and fifth place in the men’s side of the 100 meter dash. 

Mick Doyle ‘24 was the top finisher in the men’s 400 meter hurdles as he finished with a time of 56.13. 

Arnold focused on her jumping events as well as she took first place in the high jump with a 5.41m mark. 

The throwers held their own in the field as Kelsey Dunn ‘23 earned the gold in discus throw and Zach Szafarski ‘24 took a second place finish in the men’s side. Dunn took fourth in the hammer throw while Szafarski stole the event with a 53.57m mark. Noah Schroeder ‘24 followed close behind in the hammer throw with a 50.92m to take second. 

The men’s shot put event was dominated by the Blue and Gold as Matthew Russo ‘25, Schroeder and Szafarski took first through third respectively. 

“Overall I think the team came away with some great performances and high placements,” explained Szafarski. “We all have our small things to work on but we keep improving each week. For the rest of the season, I’m looking forward to seeing everyone gain more confidence in their abilities as athletes and excel to the top of their game when we get to our conference meet.”

While the majority of the team was in Oberlin, distance superstar Alex Phillip ‘23 was breaking national records. 

Phillip was sent to Stanford, CA to compete in the Stanford Invitational where he broke the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III record for the 5k as he ran it in the swift time of 13:47.41. 

This is the third NCAA record he has broken in this year alone as he shattered the 3000m and 5000m records for indoor track. 

“After indoor, everyone on the team has been working really hard to prepare for outdoor and the bigger meets that are coming,” explained Murray. “I think staying focused on my goals and giving 100% effort at practice, even in the little details, has helped me and my teammates improve and continue getting ready to compete against better competition later in the season.”

The Blue Streaks will be back in action on Thurs., April 6 and Fri., April 7 as they travel to Alliance, OH for the John Homon Invite hosted by the Mount Union Purple Raiders.

“This team is very special,” finished Szafarski. “Each day we improve and we are eager and hungry to become the best in our conference. I owe a lot of my success to my coaches and teammates. Everyone on the team, myself included, put in a lot of time and effort to get to where we want to be. They push me every day to become a better athlete and person.”

“Right now, I think it comes down to trusting the process,” finished Murray. “Sometimes it can be hard competing in the beginning of outdoor battling bad weather and wanting to hit goals early, but it’s really important for us to remember that our program isn’t designed for us to peak now. We have to trust our training and my coach knowing we will be ready when we need to be.”