KENOSHA, Wis. — In their second meet of the indoor season, the Carthage College track and field teams took on Elmhurst and North Park, with the men placing first and the women in second, on Saturday at the Tarble Athletic and Recreation Center.

"We had a great meet today," said women's head coach Stephanie Domin. "There were significant improvements from a week ago. The team is feeling more confident and getting used to competing again and we are taking the right steps to improve each week."

The women began the meet on the track with the 55-meter dash, where Cailey Ciezadlo placed second with a time of 7.69 seconds while Sarah Kerfin took fifth with a time of 8.06. In the 800, Lily Majestic placed third and Kerigann Ballard fourth, with Grace Robinson winning the 400 moments later on a personal-best time of 1:05.67.

In the 200, Ciezadlo took second in her heat and overall with a time of 27.47, while Kerfin took fourth with a collegiate-best time of 28.54. Laura Sanders placed fourth in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 11:58.93, before the 4,000-meter DMR team took second. The team of Robinson, Bella Serrano, Feliscyanna Frazier, and Majestic finished the day for the Carthage women's team on the track, finishing with a 4:35.63 in the 4x400-meter relay to place second.

In the jumps, Aubrey Tesch won the high jump with a mark of 1.55 meters, as Pearline Moss placed second. Ilana Milos would take third in the long jump, with Ashley Hannam taking second in the triple jump on a leap of 9.07 meters. In the pole vault, Julia Cozzi and Alanna Chavez took first and second, respectively.

Alexis Mattox took first in the women's shot put at 11.79 meters and second in the weight throw at 14.39 meters, while Hannah Lizano took second in the shot and won the weight throw with a PR mark of 15.45 meters.

The women finished with 130 team points, placing second among the three teams, just behind Elmhurst's 134, while North Park finished with 14.

The men began their day in the afternoon with the 55-meter dash, where Kolby Pruitt was first to cross the finish line in the finals in 6.72 seconds. Alassane Guisse got his day started with a first-place finish in the 55-meter hurdles, while Connor Bell placed second, each setting personal bests with times of 8.32 and 8.78 seconds, respectively.

Topher Davis claimed first in the 800-meter run in 2:04.62, as Michael Barber was just behind in second with a 2:04.91. In the 400, Cody Canegan narrowly missed a personal record, crossing the finish line in 50.90 to take first place. Ethan Neal was the top finisher for Carthage in the mile, placing third with a time of 4:53.50.

"I thought we had a very strong team performance today," said men's head coach Josh Henry. "We saw several athletes improve upon last week's performances, and also had a good amount of personal bests today."

In the 200, David Rogers (23.43), Ronny Onano (23.96), and Pruitt (24.03) went one-two-and-three overall. Freshman Micah Anderson claimed first in the 3,000 with a time of 9:06.24, while Trevor Swanson claimed second at 9:17.64.

The 4,000 DMR team of Barber, Jeremy Ermilio, Ben Ewald, and Davis took first place with a time of 11:46.02, before Canegan, Bell, Guisse, and Rogers won the 4x400 relay with a time of 3:43.72.

In the field events, Mason DeLille won the high jump after clearing 1.72 meters, before placing second in the triple jump on a mark of 12 meters. The Carthage men's throwers set a handful of PR's today, as Alex Pitrone won the shot put on a personal best 12.77 meters, with Matthew Ausse placing second at 12.40 meters and Diego Torrez in third at 12.29. Ausse crushed his previous best mark in the weight throw at 17.28 meters to take first place, while Joseph White placed second in the event with a PR-mark of 16.09.

"The fact that we have guys performing better than they ever have in spite of the challenges we've faced in the last year speaks a lot to the character of this group," said Henry. "Kudos goes to Matt Ausse for throwing the eighth-farthest toss in the weight throw in school history today, beating his previous best by a full meter. We will have a good test next week going against Carroll and Wheaton, and I'm excited to see how we respond to the challenge."
 
The men's 163 team points set them in first place, ahead of Elmhurst's 76 and North Park's 31.

The men's and women's track and field teams will host Carroll and Wheaton next Saturday, February 13 on campus.

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