TROY, NY – An outstanding opening day at the 2024 Liberty League Outdoor Championships has the University of Rochester women's track and field team sit in first place at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Friday afternoon.
 
The Yellowjackets, sitting at #8 in the latest Division III ratings index, piled up four event wins in the six event finals on day one and secured a whopping 21 All-Atlantic Region Track & Field Championship qualifying performances. Additionally, ten other individuals booked qualifying spots out of the Friday heats in the six preliminary racing events.
 
UR's event wins came from Sennett Turner in the 10,000 meters, Ashley Heffernan in the long jump, Madeline O'Connell in the pole vault and Aimee Oszer in the javelin. Turner, Heffernan and O'Connell are all seniors, while Oszer is in her first-year season with Rochester.
 
Heffernan's win in the long jump saw her record a mark of 5.89 meters, establishing a new UR and Liberty League Championship record. Heffernan also was a regional qualifier and moves up on the NCAA Division III performance list, now sitting at number six this season. The senior broke her own Rochester record of 5.83 meters that she set just last week at the Rochester Spring Twilight.
 
Teammate Alyssa Hoogs ended third in the long jump with an AARTFC performance of 5.53 meters. Sophomore Ashleigh Barrett also scored for UR, finishing eighth with a 5.20 meter leap.
 
O'Connell, the reigning Division III indoor pole vault champion, cleared 3.81 meters to easily post a victory for Rochester in that event. Her mark was a regional qualifier and was 30 centimeters higher than the second place finish.
 
Oszer smashed her season-best in the javelin to earn the victory in that competition. The first-year tossed 38.09 meters, beating her previous top mark this season by over four meters.
 
Turner ran away with the 10,000 meter title, winning by over a full minute on the rest of the field. She finished in 37:13.45. Joining her on the podium was sophomore Alyssa Horng who secured a personal-best time of 39:57.68. Junior Andie Burton just missed scoring for the Yellowjackets in ninth, running 40.24.16. All three of UR's top finishers hit the All-Atlantic Region qualifying standard.
 

Rochester's throwers also secured three podium results in the hammer throw. Junior Deziree Garrick ended runner-up in the event with a toss of 46.22 meters. Liv Ilasz was third with a distance of 45.50 meters, with both of those individuals hitting new personal records and AARTFC marks. Cora Rose also finished in the top-8, ranking seventh with a 39.24 meter toss.
 
During the other final of day one, senior Kat Benninger was fourth and Sab Lin ended sixth. Benninger crossed the finish in 11:30.69, while Lin clocked in at 11:44.89. Both were regional qualifiers, along with Sabrina Terando who ended ninth in a PR time of 11:53.91.
 
Among UR's runners in the preliminaries, both Heffernan and O'Connell, along with junior Megan Bell all made the top-8 in two different events.
 
Bell had two top qualifying times on Friday that were regional qualifiers, coming in the 400 meters (56.17 seconds) and 800 meters (2:17.85).
 
Heffernan will be seeded second in the 100 meters and 100 meter hurdles. The senior clocked in with AARTFC times of 12.39 seconds in the 100 meters and finished the hurdle event prelim in 14.92 seconds.
 
O'Connell will join Bell in the 400 meter final, ranking third in the Friday prelims with a 57.41 second run. She also is the #2 seed heading into the final of the 200 meters, running a 25.01 second time in that event's preliminary heat. Both hit the regional qualifying standard.
 
Senior Kate Isaac also will run in the finals of the 400 meters, popping off a 58.12 second time in that event, good enough to be fourth quickest on Friday and another regional qualifier.
 
First-year Nora Chen and classmate Christine Zong both made the top-8 in the 400 meter hurdle preliminaries. Chen was the fastest on Friday in 1:03.80, with Zong being seeded eighth following a season-best 1:09.68. Chen's time was another regional qualifier.
 
Rita Sciortino established a new personal-best in the 800 meter prelims, ranking fifth in the field with her AARTFC time of 2:19.24.
 
In the heptathlon, sophomore Julia Largett sits in second place with 2,102 points after completing four of the seven events in the competition. Largett started her day with a personal-best 16.82 second time in the 100 meter hurdles, ranking second. She cleared 1.32 meters in the high jump and was third with an 8.17 meter mark in the shot put. Largett's day one finished with another runner-up in the 200 meters, as the sophomore clocked in at 27.81 seconds.
 
Rochester leads the team scoring after six of the 21 events were completed on Friday. The Yellowjackets have 73 team points, leading second place Ithaca (60 points) by 13 points. RIT is a distant third in the standings with 43 points after day one.
 
Day two of the meet begins at 11:30 on Saturday morning with women's heptathlon action, with the rest of the event finals schedule starting at noon.