BIRMINGHAM, AL – The University of Rochester women's 4x400 meter relay team of Madeline O'Connell, Kate Isaac, Megan Bell and Susan Bansbach claimed the Division III national title on Saturday at the 2023 NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Birmingham Crossplex.
 
Rochester's squad finished in a time of 3:44.84 to establish a new Division III Championship meet record and smashed the UR school record by over three seconds which was set last weekend. Additionally, the time is now recognized as the Division III women's 4x400 meter relay record.
 
The national title is the ninth overall in Rochester women's track and field team history, and is the first since Kylee Bartlett won the heptathlon title outdoors at the 2018 championships.
 
UR's effort came in heat one of two at the NCAA meet, as the Yellowjackets battled runner-up Loras neck-and-neck throughout the race.
 
O'Connell led off for the Yellowjackets and finished the opening two laps in 56.91 seconds, ranking second in the field. She handed off to Isaac and the junior sprinted to a 56.84 second split, grabbing first place for Rochester.
 
UR's third leg was Bell, with Rochester's sophomore increasing the lead to about half a second with a split time of 55.92 seconds.
 

The anchor leg was ran by Bansbach, the most experienced runner of the group who had just earned All-America honors in the individual 400 meters earlier in the day. The senior co-captain sprinted to a 55.17 second split to earn the heat win by over a tenth of a second.
 
In the second heat, Washington University in St. Louis could only muster a time of 3:46.78 to place third, giving Rochester the team title, the first by a relay squad in school history.
 
The Yellowjackets qualified for the finals with a slightly different lineup in Friday's preliminaries, as Kristin Hardy, a runner from the previous school record performance, joined Isaac, Bell and Bansbach and helped UR rank fourth heading into the finals with a prelim time of 3:49.23.
 
In earlier action on Saturday, Bansbach captured another All-America award by finishing fourth in the 400 meters. She clocked in with a UR school-record 55.68 second time, winning her heat, which was the first of two in the event.
 
Heat two proved to be slightly faster, as three runners slipped past Bansbach to grab the top three spots on the podium.
 
Bansbach earns her eighth and ninth career All-America honors with the two earned on Saturday. Six of those have come indoors, all in either the 400 meters or 4x400 meter relay.
 
O'Connell earns her fourth All-America award and second indoors, with both Bell and Isaac being named an All-American for the first time in their careers.
 
As a team, the Yellowjackets scored 15 total points, ten from the winning relay and five from Bansbach's fourth place, ranking tied for 14th in the overall meet scoring. A total of 59 teams scored in the competition.