GENEVA, OH – It was a busy first day of action at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships for the University of Rochester women's team, with the Yellowjackets taking part in four different events.
 
Rochester had one finals qualifier in the 4x400 meter relay and a strong first day of competition of in the heptathlon from senior Eileen Bequette. In addition, UR's 4x100 meter relay took to the track and junior Madeline O'Connell competed in the pole vault.
 
As has been the case most of the season, Rochester's 4x400 meter relay impressed with the third fastest time in the preliminary heats, easily qualifying for Saturday afternoon's final. On Thursday, the team of O'Connell, Bequette, Kristin Hardy and Susan Bansbach clocked in with a time of 3:44.97 to finish third in their heat and earn the fastest non-automatic advancing time.
 
The time was just a few tenths of a second off the same groups school record set a couple weeks ago at the UR Alumni Invitational. Saturday's final is set to close the meet around 3:50 pm.
 

In the heptathlon, Bequette sits in 11th place after four of the seven events have been completed, scoring 2,813 points. The senior had personal bests in two of the events and set an outdoor PR in a third on day one.
 
She opened with a career-best 15.19 second run in the 100 meter hurdles, scoring 817 points out of the gate. That time was 15th best in the 22-athlete field.
 
In the high jump, Bequette cleared 1.55 meters, adding 678 points to her total. The third event was the shot put where she placed 12th in the field and tossed 10.02 meters, a new outdoor personal best for 531 additional points.
 
The final heptathlon event of the day was the 200 meters where again the senior produced a lifetime best, clocking in with a time of 26.12 seconds, adding an additional 787 points.
 
In the pole vault, O'Connell placed 17th in her second outdoor nationals appearance in the event, clearing 3.60 meters. She cleared the opening 3.45 meter height on her first attempt. At 3.60 meters, she needed two tries to clear before failing in all three attempts at the next heigh of 3.70 meters. At last season's NCAA Championships, O'Connell finished 11th.
 
The final event contested by Rochester athletes on Thursday was the 4x100 meter relay. The team of Kate Isaac, Bansbach, Ashley Heffernan and O'Connell ended in 16th place with a time of 47.52 seconds.
 
The race was tightly contested throughout, with just 1.22 seconds separating the first and 16th finishing teams. Rochester missed qualifying for the final by just over half a second. It was Rochester's second ever time running in the NCAA championships in the 4x100 meter relay, and first since 1983.
 
Spire Institute in Geneva, Ohio is the host facility with the University of Mount Union and the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission acting as event hosts of the championships.