PRINCE ATHLETIC COMPLEX – The University of Rochester women's track and field team got to compete on its home track for the first time since the 2019 season and came away with a runner up finish at the UR-RIT-Ithaca Triangular on Saturday afternoon at Edwin Fauver Stadium.
 
The Yellowjackets as a team finished with 63 points, placing second to event winner Ithaca College who accumulated 84 points. RIT was third of the three teams with 33 points.
 
Overall, Rochester posted six event wins and had seven other runner-up results across the 18-event schedule. In addition, a slew of Yellowjacket now find themselves in high positions on the NCAA Division III performance lists following the competition.
 
Four members of the team were double-winners. Kate Isaac and Madeline O'Connell each won one individual event and were on a winning relay, while Michaela Burrell and Kristin Hardy were on UR's two winning relays bookending the meet.
 
Additionally, Grace Messina captured first place in the discus and rounding out the 4x400 meter relay were Madeleine Vogel and Susan Bansbach. Eileen Bequette also won the javelin for the Yellowjackets.
 
To open the track competition, Rochester's 4x100 meter relay team of Isaac, Burrell, Hardy and O'Connell crossed the finish in 49.56 seconds, ranking top-20 in Division III at this point of the season. The last event of the meet was the 4x400 meter relay, which saw UR's team of Burrell, Vogel, Bansbach and Hardy earn a time of 4:01.71, which cracks the NCAA's top-10 times.
 

Rochester had three top-4 finishers in the 400 meters, led by Burrell in second with a time of 58.20 seconds, a time that ranks top-5 in NCAA Division III in the early going this season. Hardy finished third at 59.19 seconds (NCAA top-20) and Vogel fourth (1:01.86).
 
Graduate student Jordan Hurlbut crossed the finish in second during the 1500 meters, posting a time of 4:37.77, also ranking inside the top-5 currently in Division III.
 
Individually, Isaac edged out Bansbach in the 100 meters by less than a tenth of a second, winning in 13.13 seconds. Bansbach was runner up at 13.22 seconds.
 
O'Connell captured the pole vault with a clearance of 3.55 meters, good to rank top-10 in the country and Messina's toss in the discus was 40.88 meters (#15 NCAA). Teammate Gillian Reeder ended runner-up in the discus with a mark of 38.40 meters. In the javelin, Bequette's toss was 36.28 meters, earning the win, while Reeder again scored, this time in fourth, with a mark of 29.19 meters.
 
In addition to their wins, Bequette and O'Connell also earned runner-up placements in the 400 meter hurdles and 200 meters, respectively. Bequette's time was 1:08.59, while O'Connell sprinted out of the second heat for her runner-up finish in 26.87 seconds. Bequette also wound up third in the long jump (5.15 meters).
 
Joining O'Connell in scoring for UR in the 200 meters were Bansbach and Isaac who finished third and fourth, respectively.
 
Samantha Mauser was third (2:32.37) and Jenna Bottone fourth (2:32.46) in the 800 meters, while their teammates Ella Wise Bellin (19:35.47) and Sabrina Terando (19:36.54) were third and fourth in the 5000 meters.
 
In other field events, Messina also finished fourth in the hammer throw (47.63 meters) and shot put (10.19 meters). Kari Leap also scored in the shot put, placing third with a distance of 10.47 meters. Alyssa Hoogs placed second in the triple jump (10.81 meters) and Zoe Fortin finished fourth (10.42 meters).
 
UR's next competition is set for next Friday and Saturday at the SUNY Geneseo Invitational.