HENRIETTA, NY – With 12 wins across 18 events, the University of Rochester women's track and field team got its outdoor season off to a terrific start at the RIT Tri-Meet on Saturday at Tiger Stadium.
 
Senior Eileen Bequette paced Rochester with three event wins, coming in the high jump, 100 meter hurdles and javelin. Michaela Burrell also won three times, coming in the 200 meters, 400 meters and on the 4x100 meter relay.
 
Kate Isaac was on both of UR's winning relays along with Kristen Hardy, while other winners on the day included Jordan Hurlbut (3000m), Kari Leap (shot put), Madeline O'Connell (pole vault), Alyssa Hoogs (long jump) and Grace Messina (discus). Susan Bansbach, Madeleine Vogel and Kendra Watson were all a part of winning relays as well.
 
The Yellowjackets throwers were dominant. In the discus, Messina won with a throw of 37.44 meters and was followed by six teammates in the next six spots. Gillian Reeder was runner-up (34.50m), Leap ended third (32.97). Vanessa Wish, Grace Mueller, Katherine Vonglis and Suzan Hoffman finished fourth through seventh, respectively.
 
It was more of the same in the shot put. Leap's winning mark was 9.97 meters. She was followed by Messina in second (9.87m) and Mueller in third (9.55m). In the hammer, Messina was second, Leap third, and Reeder and Wish finished fourth and fifth.
 

Bequette cleared 1.50 meters to win the high jump and tossed the javelin 39.09 meters. In the javelin, her teammate Reeder ended second with a mark of 36.16 meters.
 
Hoogs' winning mark in the long jump was 5.02 meters, also finishing second in the triple jump (10.64m). The pole vault winning mark by O'Connell was 3.50 meters.
 
On the track, Burrell won the 200 meters in 26.32, leading a 1-through-6 finish for Rochester. Hardy was second (26.74) and O'Connell third (27.04). Isaac, Ashley Heffernan and Bequette ended fourth through sixth. Burrell's other win in the 400 meters saw her cross the finish in 59.55 seconds.
 
Hurlbut crossed the finish in the 3k in 10:10.24 and was followed in the top-3 by Icel Sukovaty (10:34.24) and Kristen Lodato (10:36.15). It was another top-5 sweep for UR, as Samantha Mauser and Meredith Ackley were fourth and fifth, respectively.
 
Other strong finishes came courtesy of Carissa Minarovich in the 1500 meters (2nd, 5:24.16), Jael Ernest Fleurant in the 100 meters (2nd, 13.78 seconds), and Bansbach in the 800 meters (2nd, 2:27.33).
 
UR's winning 4x100 meter relay featured Bansbach, Burrell, Isaac and Hardy and that group crossed the tape in 53.36 seconds. The 4x400 meter relay of Isaac, Vogel, Watson and Hardy posted a time of 4:14.87 to finish off the meet in winning style.
 
Rochester hits the track next weekend with a home tri-meet with RIT and Ithaca.