PITTSFORD, NY – The University of Rochester men's track and field team earned a third-place result, finishing with 95.5 points, at the Nazareth Conference Challenge Cup on Saturday at the Golisano Training Center.
 
Liam Sakakeeny earned URochester's lone individual win of the meet, topping the field in the 3,000 meters with a new personal-best time of 8:48.46. Joe Berry joined Sakakeeny in the top eight, placing seventh with a time of 8:58.80, also a personal best.
 
The Yellowjackets also took home the title in the 4x200-meter relay, as Barack Abdallah, Greg Palma, Elijah VanHoover and Evan Bryant combined for a first-place time of 1:30.54, an All-Atlantic Region Championship (AARTFC) qualifier.
 
VanHoover got Rochester's day started on the track with the 60-meter hurdle prelims, qualifying for the final by winning his heat and finishing second overall with a time of 8.77 seconds. Owen Alexander also won his heat and finished third overall (8.82 seconds), qualifying for the final, where VanHoover clocked in at third, shaving .10 seconds off his preliminary time down to 8.67 seconds, while Alexander came in fifth at 8.84 seconds.
 
In the 60 meters, Barack Abdallah (2nd, 7.03) and William Stiska (8th, 7.17) both qualified for the final out of the preliminary heat, with Abdallah matching his second-place finish and 7.03-second time in the final, while Stiska improved to seventh, crossing the finish line in 7.20 seconds.
 
Also in the 60 meters, first-year Ray Watkins won the 60-meter open, clocking in with a 7.26-second time.
 
Next up in the mile, Jacob Bernd paced the Yellowjackets with a fourth-place finish and time of 4:18.60, an AARTFC qualifier, new PR and the 45th-fastest mile in NCAA Division III so far this season. While Austin Skeete joined the sophomore in the top 10 with a ninth-place result (4:26.09).
 
Bryant was Rochester's top finisher in the 400 meters, placing 14th (51.11), while Bernd added another top-eight result in the 800 meters, finishing sixth (1:57.81) with Owen Bernstein one spot ahead of him in fifth place with a time of 1:57.62.
 
Three 'Jackets finished in the top 10 of the 200 meters, led by Greg Palma, who crossed the finish line in third place in 22.77 seconds, while Abdallah came in ninth (23.23) and VanHoover finished 10th (23.27) with a new personal-best time.
 
William Eskenas also set a new personal-best time in the 5,000 meters, earning a 10th-place finish with his 15:53.26, new personal-best time, while UR's 4x400-meter relay of Brighton Lumia, Palma, Bryant and Brendan McCollum wrapped up the day's events with a fourth-place finish and regional qualifying mark, combining for a time of 3:26.73.
 
Ethan Beer led Rochester in the throwing events, scoring a third-place result in the shot put with a 14.16m toss, while Armaan Butler (4th, 15.57m) and Ethan Kaufman (5th, 15.19m) both added top-five finishes in the weight throw.
 
Austin Lansey tallied another top-three finish, one of 11 on the day for the Yellowjackets, in the triple jump with a 13.16m leap, and added a top-10 result in the long jump (10th, 6.15m), where Reward Mulauzi paced URochester with an eighth-place result and 6.25m long jump.
 
In the high jump, Watkins and Aadit Jain both scored for the Yellowjackets, each successfully making it over 1.88m, with Watkins placing fourth, and Jain coming in sixth.
 
SUNY Geneseo took the top spot on the men's side at the Conference Challenge Cup with 116.5 points, while RIT came in second, just ahead of the 'Jackets, with 101 points, and Nazareth rounded out the top-four teams with 51 points.
 
Rochester's multi-competitors were also in action this weekend, kicking off the heptathlon at the Ithaca College Bomber Invitational in Ithaca, NY with the first four events of the seven-event competition.
 
Through the first four heptathlon events, the 60 meters, long jump, shot put and high jump, Emmett Hansen lead Rochester, sitting in second place with 2,660 points, just 100 points behind Brockport's Gabe Giannini in first in the 16-competitor field, having set new personal-best marks in all four events so far.
 
Ashton Tokarski is Rochester's next-highest competitor in fourth with 2,595 points, having earned the Yellowjackets' highest finish of the day, second place (6.62m) in the long jump.
 
Brant Nicholls sits in 10th place after the first four events of the competition with 2,320 points, while Quillan Shimp is right behind Nicholls in 11th place with 2,244 points. Jack Maness rounds out URochester's five heptathletes competing at the Bomber Invitational, sitting in 15th with 2,111 points.
 
Day two of the heptathlon at Ithaca's Glazer Arena in Ithaca, NY will get started with the 60-meter hurdles on Sunday, Feb. 1 at 10:00 a.m.