PRINCE ATHLETIC COMPLEX – The University of Rochester's 4x400 meter relay broke the stadium record, school record and currently has the #1 time in Division III this season, highlighting a terrific performance by the Yellowjacket women's track and field team at the UR Alumni Invitational on Saturday at Fauver Stadium and the GLC Throws Complex.
 
The record breaking relay consisted of juniors Madeline O'Connell, Kristin Hardy and Susan Bansbach along with senior Eileen Bequette, with the quartet posting a time of 3:45.24. That time smashed the Fauver Stadium record of 3:49.10 set back in 1998 by a team from New York City during the Empire State Games.
 
Rochester also edged out a new school record by more than a second, eclipsing the old mark of 3:46.33, set last season by Bequette, Bansbach, Hardy and Michaela Burrell. On a national level, the Yellowjacket now sit #1 on the Division III performance list, three-quarters of a second ahead of Loras, who held the top spot entering Saturday's action across the country.
 
In all, Rochester's women finished the meet with a total of four event wins, three NCAA top-40 performances and ten All-Atlantic Regional qualifying performances.
 
The Yellowjackets placed third of 15 teams at the event, piling up 128 points across the 20 events. SUNY Brockport won a close 3-team battle on the scoreboard, finishing with 139 points. SUNY Geneseo finished second with 134.5 points. Ithaca ended up way back in fourth place with 65 points.
 

UR's other event wins came from Kat Benninger in the 3000 meter steeplechase, Ashley Heffernan in the 100 meter hurdles and Lisa Pink in the 800 meters. All three were regional qualifying performances with Heffernan and Pink ranking inside the top-40 on the NCAA D3 performance list.
 
Benninger started out the meet strong, winning the first event on the track for the Yellowjackets, clocking in with a time of 11:59.38, a new personal best.
 
Heffernan's win came a bit later in the day, as she clocked in at 14.90 seconds in the hurdles, ranking #39 this season. The sophomore ended up recording three regional qualifiers as she also wound up second in the 200 meters in 25.74 seconds and fourth in the pole vault with a height of 3.36 meters.
 
Pink earned Rochester's third individual win shortly after, running the 800 meters in 2:14.60, the current #25 time in the country.
 
O'Connell and Bansbach were also earned individual runner-up finishes on the day. O'Connell's came in the pole vault as she cleared 3.66 meters (AAR qualifier) while Bansbach led four top-6 finishers in the 100 meters, crossing the stripe in 12.66 seconds.
 
The other four scorers in the 100 meters were Kate Isaac in fourth (12.88 seconds), Alexis Aboagye in fifth (12.92 seconds) and Hardy in sixth (12.95 seconds).
 
Isaac had one of three other regional performances for the Yellowjackets, placing third in the 200 meters in 25.99 seconds. Meanwhile in the field, Gillian Reeder was third in the discus with a regional mark of 37.04 meters and Alyssa Hoogs earned the same finish in the long jump, recording a distance of 5.26 meters. Reeder also had a third place result in the javelin, throwing a 32.40 meter distance.
 
Rochester had six other scoring individuals or relays on the day. The 4x100 meter relay team of Lauren Berry, Hoogs, Zoe Fortin and Quinn Taylor were fourth in 51.76 seconds to lead the group. Sabrina Terando also was fourth in the steeplechase (12:40.73) while teammate Sab Lin placed sixth in 13:01.45.
 
Madeleine Vogel was fifth in the 400 meter hurdles (1:08.88) and Kelley Foley ended in fifth in the 1500 meters (4:56.84). Aboagye ended seventh in the 200 meters (25.56 seconds) for her second scoring performance of the day.
 
Rochester shifts its focus now to the Liberty League Championships taking place next Friday and Saturday at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York.