TROY, NY – A stellar 2023-24 campaign continued for the University of Rochester women's track and field team on Saturday as the Yellowjackets claimed their third straight Liberty League Outdoor Track and Field title in the meet hosted at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
 
Rochester as a team scored 209 team points, defeating runner-up Ithaca who had 175 points. RIT ended third with 135 points, while Vassar (108 points) and RPI (101 points) rounded out the top-5 teams. Overall, eight schools participate in the Liberty League in outdoor track and field.
 
The Yellowjackets secured six more victories on day two of the competition, winning the 4x100 meter relay, the 100 meter hurdles, 100 meters, 400 meter hurdles and shot put.
 
In addition, UR set two new meet records, tied two Rochester school records, had eight top-50 NCAA Division III performance list marks and scored 17 All-Atlantic Region qualifying performances.
 
Senior Ashley Heffernan finished as a triple winner on Saturday and ended the meet with four wins overall. Heffernan claimed titles in the 100 meters, 100 meter hurdles and 4x100 meter relay on day two.
 
Her time in the 100 meters ended at 12.08 seconds, establishing a new meet, Liberty League and personal record in the process. Earlier in the day, she ran 14.53 seconds in the 100 meter hurdles, earning the win an matching her career-best time. Both times cracked the top-35 on the Division III performance list.
 

Heffernan, along with Tina Kyricaou, Alyssa Hoogs and Madeline O'Connell combined to pick up Rochester's first in of the day in the 4x100 meter relay, with the group qualifying for regionals in a time of 47.98 seconds. That time also is top-35 in Division III this season.
 
Hoogs and O'Connell both matched existing UR school records in runner-up finishes on Saturday.
 
Hoogs jumped 11.55 meters in the triple jump, setting a new personal-best and #37 distance in Division III. Her mark moves her into a three-way tie atop the Rochester record board with Melissa Skevington (2008) and Lonnie Garrett (2018) who also had 11.55 meter distances.
 
O'Connell's record-tying run came in the 200 meters, where she ran 24.59 seconds in a second place result. Her time is #15 in Division III this season and matched the previous record set by Susan Bansbach back in the 2023 season.
 
In addition to the runner-up in the 200 meters, O'Connell led a trio of Rochester runners on the 400 meter podium. O'Connell crossed the finish in 55.29 seconds, establishing the new #5 time in Division III this season.
 
Running third in the 400 meters was junior Megan Bell who set a personal-best time of 55.84 seconds, also a top-15 Division III time. Senior Kate Isaac was fourth in 57.99 seconds, as she helped UR pile up 19 points in that event alone.
 
Bell also earned one of UR's wins on Saturday, crossing the line first in the 800 meters with an AARTFC time of 2:16.07. Teammate Rita Sciortino ended third at 2:19.50, also booking a trip to regionals.
 
Rookie Nora Chen set a meet record in winning the 400 meter hurdles on Saturday, posting a time of 1:01.86. That mark is number five on the Division III performance list and is just two-hundredths of a second off the UR school record. Christine Zong joined Chen on the podium, finishing eighth (1:10.70).
 
In the field, Deziree Garrick led three 'Jackets on the podium in the shot put, earning the win with a new personal-best toss of 12.53 meters. Cora Rose wrapped up the competition in third (12.31 meters) and first-year Madison Vargas threw a season-best 12.21 meters, finishing fifth. All three met the regional qualifying standard.
 
Senior Sennett Turner backed up her win on Friday in the 10k, with another solid run in Saturday's 5,000 meters, finishing fourth in a AARTFC time of 17:38.55.
 
During the final event on the track, Rochester's 4x400 meter relay team of Raquella Casserino, Sciortino, Chen, and Julia Largett placed fourth in a regional qualifying time of 4:03.19.
 
Largett added a third place result in the heptathlon competition as well, scoring 3,340 points across seven events over the two days. The sophomore finished third among multi-event competitors in the long jump with a 4.80 meter leap and was first in the 800 meters, posting a time of 2:26.94.
 
Rochester's top finisher in the 1500 meters was junior Ellie Ponko who secured ninth place but was a regional qualifier after crossing the finish in 4:49.36.
 
Other event scorers for the Yellowjackets include Aimee Oszer and Vargas in the discus and Nora Dreslin in the high jump. Oszer was fifth with a season-best toss of 37.38 meters, while Vargas ended seventh (36.90m). Dreslin matched her personal-best effort in the high jump, clearing 1.44 meters.
 
Up next on the schedule for Rochester is the Williams College Farley Inter-Regional Extravaganza, set for next Saturday afternoon in Williamstown, Massachusetts.