HENRIETTA, NY – The first split squad action of the outdoor track and field season featured most of the University of Rochester women's team competing locally at the RIT Invitational on Saturday afternoon.
 
Several Yellowjackets provided strong results for the team, led by five All-Atlantic Regional qualifiers and nine top-4 finishers. Four of the regional performances, two by Cora Rose, and one each from Kat Benninger and Gillian Reeder, also cracked the Division III top-50 performance list so far in 2023.
 
Rose was an event winner in the discus with a personal-best mark of 40.38 meters, an AARTFC qualifier. She added a shot put toss that was a runner-up result, earning another personal-best mark of 12.44 meters which hit the regional standard. The sophomore also ended eighth in the triple jump with a leap of 10.17 meters.
 
Benninger's time was 11:42.04 in the 3000 meter steeplechase, also ranking as runner-up in the race. She led three Yellowjackets in the top-5, as Sab Lin clocked in at 12:07.31 (4th) and Alissa Beam finished fifth (12:37.92).
 
In the discus, Reeder placed runner up to Rose with a regional qualifying performance of 39.40 meters. Rose's first place result is 35th in Division III, while Reeder is 48th.
 
Reeder added a seventh place mark in the hammer throw, posting a distance of 43.56 meters. Teammate Vanessa Wish ended eighth (41.79 meters).
 
UR's top four runners in the 5000 meters all recorded personal-bests in the 5000 meters. Sennett Turner led the group with an 18:08.65, an outdoor PR and AAR qualifying time. Additionally, Alicia Lawson ran sixth in 18:53.75, Morgan Bremer was seventh in 18:54.76 and Kyra Sandercock placed eighth in 19:03.68.
 
In closing out action on the track, Rochester's 4x400 meter relay team of Jael Ernest Fleurant, Carissa Minarovich, Maya Hatch and Rita Sciortino placed fourth in 4:30.09.
 
During the field events, UR's Ashleigh Barrett was the leading long and triple jumper. She finished fourth in the long jump with a distance of 5.10 meters and was sixth in the triple jump at 10.29 meters.
 
Trinity Johnson earned a fourth place height in the high jump, clearing 1.47 meters, with Gillian Reeder placing fifth in the javelin after a toss of 32.95 meters.
 
Zoe Noble and Tina Kyriacou each finished sixth in a sprint event for UR. Noble's event was the 100 meter hurdles, where she clocked in with a time of 18.78 seconds. Kyriacou finished her 100 meter race in 13.31 seconds, while also ranking as the top finisher from UR in the 200 meters (11th, 27.49 seconds).
 
Minarovich added an eighth place run individually in the 800 meters, crossing the finish in 2:27.83.
 
In addition to action at RIT, a few Yellowjacket athletes competed at the Division I Duke University Invitational over the weekend, with Rochester adding seven more regional qualifying performances and three additional top-50 NCAA performances to its weekend haul.
 
Rochester again will compete at multiple events next weekend, with individual events taking place at both the Bucknell Bison Classic and SUNY Brockport Invitational.