PITTSFORD, NY – Graduate student Mitch Lienert and senior Jordan Johnson each scored event wins to lead the University of Rochester men's track & field team at the Nazareth Conference Tune-Up on Friday evening at the Golisano Training Center.
 
Johnson took home the top spot in the weight throw, falling a little under 0.2m short of his school-record mark set earlier this year. The senior's 18.46m throw scored first in the event and notched an All-Atlantic Region Indoor Track & Field (AARTFC) qualifier, while Zajans Crapo placed ninth (14.91m) and Kevin Fobare finished 10th (14.28m) to make it three Yellowjackets in the top 10.
 
Lienert earned the Yellowjackets' other first-place finish on the evening in the 200 meters, narrowly beating out P.J. London. Lienert finished first with a time of 22.32 seconds, while London took second, crossing the finish line in 22.34 seconds, with both times hitting the AARTFC mark.
 
London also ran in both the 60-meter prelims and finals, taking second and winning his heat in the prelims with a time of 7.083, before finishing fifth in the finals, clocking in at 7.09 seconds. William Stiska joined London in both the prelims and finals, qualifying for the finals with a fifth-place result and time of 7.12 seconds, before finishing sixth in the finals at 7.14 seconds.
 
UR's Mark Magyar and Elijah VanHoover got UR started on the track with the 60 meters, qualifying for the final. Magyar won his heat and came in sixth in the prelims, clocking in at 9.01 seconds, while VanHoover set a new personal-best time of 9.19 seconds, good for seventh. In the finals, Magyar matched his sixth-place result, shaving 0.12 seconds off his preliminary time to cross the finish line in 8.89 seconds.
 
Rochester notched a pair of top-10 finishers in both the mile and the 800 meters, as Skye Crocker (3rd, 4:26.00) and Jonathan Sullo (7th, 4:27.78) both set new PRs in the mile, while Jacob Bernd notched an AARTFC qualifier with his fourth-place time of 1:57.43 in the 800 meters, and Liam Sakakeeny finished ninth (1:59.49).
 
Arturo Contreras Jr. was UR's top finisher in the 400 meters, placing 15th with a time of 53.00 seconds, a new personal best, while Sam Cohen added another PR to UR's tally with a fourth-place finish and 8:56.95 time in the 3,000 meters.
 
In the jumping events, UR placed three Yellowjackets in the top seven of the long jump, led by Oliver Annon's fourth-place, 6.28m leap. Kyle Kelsey took fifth, leaping 6.27m, while Emmett Hansen finished seventh with a 6.14m jump.
 
In the triple jump, Reward Mulauzi finished a team-best fourth with a 12.38m leap, while Gabe Thyne and Tate Finger finished 11th and 12th, respectively, in the high jump, surpassing the 1.72m and 1.67m bars.
 
Ethan Beer rounded out the Yellowjackets' performance in the field events with a seventh-place result in the shot put with a 14.03m toss.
 
UR's 4x400-meter relay squad of Zach Terrano, Brendan McCollum, Sakakeeny and Cohen wrapped up the evening's events with a sixth-place finish and 3:38.06 time.

Rochester next kicks off its indoor, championship season with the 2024-25 Liberty League Indoor Track & Field Championships, hosted by Ithaca College, on Friday, Feb. 28 in Ithaca, NY beginning at 11:45 a.m.