GENEVA, OH – Juniors Susan Bansbach and Madeline O'Connell both eclipsed the previous school record in the 400 meters, highlighting Rochester's performance on day two of the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships at the SPIRE Institute.
 
Both Bansbach and O'Connell qualified for the finals, set for Saturday with their record-breaking runs in the preliminaries on Friday afternoon.
 
Bansbach was first on the track in heat two of the event. She finished second in her heat, becoming the first UR runner to ever break 55 seconds in the event, clocking in with a 54.92 second time to be seeded fourth heading into the final.
 
During the next heat, O'Connell also broke Bansbach's old school record from a few weeks ago (55.23 seconds) by one-hundredth of a second, ending at 55.22 seconds. She also finished second in her heat and qualified sixth for the finals.
 
The top runner in each heat automatically qualified to the finals, with the next six fastest times moving on. Both Bansbach and O'Connell were two of the top-three non-heat winning times to advance.
 
Saturday's final is set for 1:10 pm, with both individuals also running on UR's 4x400 meter relay which is set to close out the meet later in the afternoon at 3:50 pm.
 
Also in action on Friday was senior Eileen Bequette in the heptathlon. Bequette ended in 21st place in the field with a total of 3,372 points. She started the day with a 5.00 meter mark in the long jump, but fouled on all three attempts in the javelin, taking her out of contention for a podium finish. She added a DNF in the 800 meter final event, saving energy for her leg of the 4x400 meter relay on Saturday afternoon.