WILLIAMSTOWN, MA – Backed by a trio of top-3 results on day two, the University of Rochester women's track and field team snagged second place in the team standings at the All-Atlantic Regional Track & Field Championships on Thursday afternoon at Williams College.
 
The highlight of the day was Rochester's 4x800 meter relay team of Rita Sciortino, Emily Dill, Megan Bell and Maria Khalifeh smashing the school record in that event, closing out the meet with a victory. The group posted a time of 9:09.01, winning by over two full seconds in the race. UR's quartet broke the old school record set back in 2017 by over ten seconds.
 
Sophomore Eva Ciuffetelli had a strong run on Thursday in the 400 meter hurdles, earning a runner-up finish in 1:01.55, the new #11 time in Division III this season. The time is a season-best for the sophomore who is in her first season of collegiate track.
 
Bell added a third place result to her efforts in the meet, competing in the 400 meters. The senior ran a new personal-best time of 54.66 seconds, moving her into the #9 spot on the Division III performance list. Teammate Raquella Casserino added a personal-best time as well, running to 11th place in 57.58 seconds.
 
During the shot put, senior Deziree Garrick secured a podium finish with a sixth place result, posting a distance of 12.48 meters.
 
In the heptathlon, junior Julia Largett finished the seven-event competition with a new personal-best score of 3,590 points, ranking 13th overall. Largett finished off the heptathlon with a strong run in the 800 meters, finishing sixth in 2:32.17. The other two events on Thursday's final day were the long jump (12th, 4.79m) and javelin (14th, 20.86m).
 
Sophomore Emily Dill wrapped up in 13th place in the 800 meters as well, crossing the finish in 2:18.80.
 
Rochester also had three runners compete in the 200 meters. Sophomore Nora Chen led the way in 15th place with a personal-best time of 25.51 seconds. Casserino ended 19th in 26.01 seconds and Maya Hatch ended 20th in 26.69 seconds.
 
Up next, the Yellowjackets will await selections to the NCAA Division III Championships which are based on the top individuals and relays on the Division III performance list. The nationals declared entries list will be released on Sunday, with the NCAA meet taking place next Thursday, Friday and Saturday at SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.