HENRIETTA, NY – The University of Rochester women's track and field team sits in second place after day one of the Liberty League Indoor Track & Field Championships on Friday evening at RIT's Gordon Fieldhouse.
 
Rochester used 13 scoring performances, eight of which were in the top-3 to accumulate 82 points on day one, sitting second of eight teams at the competition. Ithaca ranks first after Friday's events with 106.5 points, with RPI sitting a distance third at 41 total points.
 
Highlighting the day was the performance by the Yellowjackets in the 400 meters. Rochester finished first through fourth with all four finishers hitting the All-Atlantic Regional qualifying mark, and three of which are now ranked in the top-30 on the NCAA performance list.
 
Susan Bansbach was the winner in a new facility record of 57.55 seconds. Kate Isaac finished runner-up in a new personal-best of 58.61 seconds with teammate Megan Bell ending third in 58.70 seconds, also a PR. Kristin Hardy completed the top-4 sweep with her time of 59.62 seconds. Overall, UR's 400 meter team scored a whopping 29 points towards the Rochester total on day one.
 
The sprint group also had a strong day in the prelims of the 60 meter dash, with five runners qualifying for the Saturday finals. Isaac had the top prelim time of 7.91 seconds and Bansbach was third in 7.96 seconds, both setting or matching their personal-bests and hitting the regional qualifying time.
 

Annabelle Shanks is headed to the finals seeded fifth (8.13 seconds), ending just one-hundredth of a second in front of Madeline O'Connell (8.14 seconds) who will be seeded sixth. Christina Kyriacou made it five 'Jackets headed to the finals by securing the eighth and final spot with her prelim run of 8.16 seconds.
 
Junior Ashley Heffernan had a terrific day in the pentathlon, securing a victory after accumulating 3,128 points in the five-event competition. She now ranks among the Division III top-25 in the pentathlon after taking up the multi-event competition for the first time this season. Within the pentathlon, she had wins in the 60 meter hurdles and 800 meters, combining to score over 1,500 points in those two events.
 
Heffernan also ran in the 60 meter hurdle prelims and qualified for the finals in fourth place, running 9.45 seconds, an AAR time.
 
Teammate Iva Savic placed fifth with 2,610 points across the pentathlon, establishing a new personal-best, while Julia Largett secured a point for the team score by ending eighth (2,356 points), aided by a runner-up finish in the 800 meters.
 
Sennett Turner finished as runner-up in the 5000 meters, crossing the finishing in 18:06.72, booking a spot at next weeks regional meet.
 
In addition, Cora Rose ended second in the shot put, setting a new personal-best mark with an 11.42 meter heave. Deziree Garrick made it two 'Jackets with PR's in the event as she posted a distance of 11.19 meters, good for fourth place.
 
Two more personal-best marks came in the long jump as Alyssa Hoogs and Ashleigh Barrett ended third and fourth, respectively. Hoogs cracked the top-50 in Division III with a 5.42 meter leap, and Barrett jumped 5.35 meters. Both qualified for regionals.
 
UR's distance medley relay team ended third in 13:06.23, earning another regional qualifying performance. Sab Lin, Jael Ernest Fleurant, Carissa Minarovich and Ellie Ponko made up the Yellowjackets squad in the race.
 
Action on Saturday's day two of competition begins at 11 am.