ITHACA, NY – An outstanding opening day of competition for the University of Rochester women's track and field team sees the Yellowjackets sitting in second place at the Liberty League Indoor Championships at Ithaca College's Glazer Arena.
 
Rochester, the two-time defending league champion indoors, scored 76 points during Friday's day one of competition and trails host Ithaca by just 14 points with the bulk of running events, and several field events still to be contested on Saturday's final day.
 
On day one, UR earned one event win, had four runner-up finishes and secured a whopping 14 All-Atlantic Region Championship qualifying performances. Additionally, the 'Jackets set one new UR school record and also established a Liberty League meet record.
 
Senior Megan Bell recorded the new Liberty League Championship record in the 400 meters, posting a win for Rochester. The senior finished in a regional qualifying time of 56.10 seconds. Teammate Nora Chen hit a new personal-best time of 56.97 seconds, placing second in the race. Chen's time moves her up to #14 on the NCAA Division III performance list this season.
 
During the shot put, senior Cora Rose established a new school record, placing second with a heave of 13.26 meters. Her personal-best continues a strong season and puts her at #27 in Division III. Rose's mark broke the previous Rochester record of 13.17 meters set by Alexandra Goldman back in the 2015 season.
 
Both the 400 meters and shot put were big scoring events for Rochester on Friday, with four Yellowjackets finishing on the podium.
 
In the 400 meters, besides Bell and Chen, UR's Eva Ciuffetelli was sixth in 1:00.05, while Raquella Casserino ended eighth in 1:00.38, with both qualifying for regionals. Casserino's time was an indoor personal-best for the sophomore.
 
The shot put saw four regional qualifiers as well, with Madison Vargas, Aimee Oszer and Deziree Garrick placing fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively. Vargas tossed 12.10 meters, Oszer set a new PR of 12.00 meters and Garrick finished with a mark of 11.83 meters.
 
Rochester's distance medley relay squad also earned runner-up accolades, finishing in 12:15.99, the #14 time in Division III this season. That group consisted of Emily Dill, Maya Hatch, Bell and Maria Khalifeh, with UR also hitting another regional qualifying performance.
 
Senior Alicia Lawson led UR's contingent in the 5000 meters, ending in fifth place with a time of 18:37.08, hitting the AARTFC standard. Teammate Ella Blau was seventh in a regional time of 18:40.27, scoring for the 'Jackets.
 
Junior Ashleigh Barrett popped off a 5.41 meter leap in the long jump, placing second in that event, setting a new indoor personal-best. Her jump bested the regional standard and scored eight points towards Rochester's team total.
 
UR had two scorers in the pole vault, with first-year's Abby Kopeck and Katie Atkins finishing fifth and seventh, respectively. Both cleared 3.07 meters as their highest vault, with Kopeck recording fewer misses in reaching that mark.
 
Senior Ellie Ponko finished seventh during the mile, hitting an AARTFC time of 5:11.69, establishing a personal-best.
 
In the track preliminaries on Friday, Chen won her heat and qualified for the Saturday finals in the 60 meter hurdles, clocking in at 9.35 seconds, a regional qualifier. Rochester's top finisher in the 60 meters was Tina Kyriacou who cracked the top-10, ending with a time of 8.22 seconds.
 
UR's Grace McInerney and Julie Durham both scored during the pentathlon. McInerney scored a fifth place result with 2,684 points over the five events, while Dunham accumulated 2,427 points. Julia Largett finishes ninth at 2,289 points.
 
During the pentathlon, McInerney earned two wins, placing first among multi-event athletes in the shot put (8.47 meters) and long jump (5.19 meters). Largett finished second in the shot put (8.13 meters), while Dunham was third (8.11 meters).
 
Day two's action begins at 11 am, with the Yellowjackets looking to rally and complete the 3-peat.