PRINCE ATHLETIC COMPLEX – The University of Rochester men's track and field team turned in a stellar effort in its opening home meet of the outdoor track and field season, competing at the UR Spring Twilight on Monday afternoon on the River Campus.
 
Rochester's men as a group accumulated a total of 17 top-3 finishes, five of which were wins, had seven All-Atlantic Regional qualifying performances and set three top-50 marks on the Division III performance list.
 
Senior Jordan Johnson highlighted the days results by setting a new school record in the hammer throw, with a mark of 58.33 meters. His distance is the new #10 distance in Division III this season and passed the previous UR school record of 56.49 meters, set by Andrew Wunder back in 2005.
 
Johnson had a remarkable day, winning the javelin and discus events as well, hitting regional qualifying marks in all three disciplines. Johnson's discus finish was 48.95 meters, the #21 Division III distance this season, while he added a 53.97 meter throw in the javelin.
 
The throwers in addition to Johnson had a banner day over at the GLC throws area. Ethan Beer ended second in the shot put at 13.90 meters and was fourth in the discus with a toss of 43.27 meters.
 
Zajans Crapo ended third in the javelin (49.87 meters) and hammer throw, while Armaan Butler was fourth in the hammer. Both qualified for regionals in the hammer, with Crapo finishing at 50.08 meters and Butler tossing 49.79 meters.
 
UR's other event wins on Monday came from Liak Sakakeeny in the 1500 meters and Aadit Jain in the high jump. Jain cleared 1.95 meters to hit the regional standard, while Sakakeeny finished in 4:00.35 to win his event. Also in those events, Sam Cohen was third in the 1500 meters (4:04.81), with Tate Finger finishing fourth in the high jump (1.85 meters).
 
Also in the field, Cody Reeth hit 4.61 meters in a runner-up result, moving up to #37 on the Division III performance list this season.
 
Teammate Manny Eribo also placed second in the long jump, hitting a top leap of 6.71 meters. Jain finished third at 6.67 meters and Austin Lansey was fourth, finishing with a 6.60 meter distance.
 
Senior Skye Crocker hit another AARTFC qualifier in the 800 meters, running to a second place finish in 1:54.72.
 
Owen Hatungimana ended third in the 400 meter hurdles (58.42 seconds) while first-year Joe Berry ended in the same place during the steeplechase, posting a time of 9:56.43. Nolan Goldthwaite was right behind Berry in that event, clocking in at 9:56.56.
 
Sprinter Will Stiska was the top 'Jacket runner in both the 100 meters and 200 meters. The first-year crossed the finish in 11.08 seconds to rank second in the 100 meters and later finished sixth in the 200 meters at 22.77 seconds.
 
Rochester's 4x400 meter relay team of Hatungimana, Diego De Los Santos, Trevor Whitney and Arturo Contreras Jr. finished in third with a time of 3:24.95.
 
Monday's meet concludes on Tuesday afternoon with the final five events of the multi-event decathlon. Rochester has four entries in that event, led by first-year Emmett Hansen on day one. Ashton Tokarski is third and Jack Maness is fourth after five of the ten events on the schedule.
 
Later this week, on Saturday, Rochester hosts another home meet, with the UR Alumni Invitational taking place on the River Campus.