The John Carroll men’s and women’s indoor track and field teams were successful over the weekend at the SPIRE Midwest Open on Friday, Jan. 24 and Saturday, the 25th. 

The men’s campaign kicked off with an outstanding performance by the distance medley relay team, comprised of Patrick McGuire, Garrett Clark, Gabe Ernest and Ian Pierson. Even though the season is just beginning, the foursome’s time of 10:17.07 was good enough that it might endure as one of the highest in the nation this season.

On Saturday, the field events kicked off the meet. Olivia Hurtt broke her own school record for the second consecutive meet, posting a 15.70 meters mark in the weight throw competition, good enough for third place. Freshman Angelina White also showed a notable performance in the weight throw event, posting an eighth-place finish with a mark of 14.30 meters. Nick Vunono had the top display for the men in throwing events by netting the 11th place with 13.70 meters in the weight throw contest. 

The triple jump was an overall successful event for both sides of the Blue Streaks teams. 

Courtney Phoennik took the top honors in the triple jump with a mark of 11.18, followed by runner up, Maria DeLuca with a mark of 11.09 meters. Both competitors notched their highest season mark.  

2019 All-OAC indoor and outdoor triple jumper Corey Minton continued where he left off by taking third place in the triple jump (13.88 meters). 

Lucia Cannata finished in second place in the 200-meter dash with a final time of  25.06 seconds. 

Sprinter Deven Ward found continued success in the 200-meter dash after breaking his own personal John Carroll record, tabbing a notable second-place finish within 21.84 seconds. 

Many of the Blue Streaks’ notable cross country runners fueled a strong presence in the 3,000-meter race. Alex Phillip took fourth (8:35.30), Jamie Dailey came in sixth (8:39.14), followed by Jared Arnold in seventh (8:40.42) and Pat White concluding with 10th place (8:47.23). 

The women tabbed another second-place finish in their final event of the day in the 4×400 relay with the quartet of Mary Clare Smeltzer, Cannata, Autumn Hale, and Phoennik. 

The men finished off the weekend placing fourth in the 4×400 relay with a team made up of Bobby Fogle, Mick Doyle, Mark Zahren and Ward. 

Both the men’s and women’s indoor track and field teams will be back in action on Feb. 1 for split-squad meets with members traveling to Youngstown, Ohio, for the YSU National Mid-Major Invitational, as well as Ada, Ohio, for the Joe Banks Invitational.