PITTSFORD, NY – It was strong start to the weekend for the University of Rochester women's track and field squad, as the Yellowjackets finished second among 16 total teams at the Nazareth Conference Challenge Cup at the Golisano Training Center.
 
Overall, URochester compiled four event wins, four runner-up finishes, 11 All-Atlantic Regional qualifying marks and six NCAA Division III top-50 performances so far this season.
 
As a team, the Yellowjackets scored 102 overall team points, ranking second in the field, SUNY Geneseo took home top honors with 209 points, with host Nazareth ending a distant third with 87 points. No other team scored more than 50 team points, with 14 of the 16 teams scoring at least one point during the competition.
 
Highlighting the day was junior Aimee Oszer setting a new University record in the shot put, placing second with a toss of 13.49 meters, an AARTFC qualifier and now #12 distance in Division III this season. Oszer's mark breaks the previous record of 13.26 meters set by Cora Rose last season.
 
Graduate student Molly FitzGibbons was a double-winner for Rochester, placing first in both the mile and 3000 meters, hitting AARTFC times in both events. In the mile, she crossed the finish line in 5:08.33, while during the 3000 meters, her time was 10:24.39.
 
Junior Nora Chen picked up a win in the 400 meters, setting the new #4 time in Division III this season. She ran the two-lap race in 57.04 seconds, winning by over 1.5 seconds.
 
One distance level up, in the 800 meters, the Yellowjackets had three regional qualifiers in Eva Ciuffetelli, Emily Dill and Rita Sciortino. Ciuffetelli was second in 2:16.77, Dill ranked seventh in 2:19.90, and Sciortino ended ninth in 2:21.17. Dill and Sciortino set new indoor PR's in the race, while Ciuffetelli's time ranks #11 in Division III this season.
 
Rochester's top-3 runners in the 5000 meters all set big personal-best times and were regional qualifiers. Riley Joseph secured fourth place in 18:02.76 and cracked the top-50 on the Division III performance list. Ella Blau was sixth in 18:12.74 and Alyssa Horng was ninth, crossing the finish in 18:26.90.
 
In the field, first-year Lauren Murphy led three top-10 finishers with a win during the long jump. Murphy's mark was 5.29 meters, with teammate Sadie Omilian ending third (5.07 meters) and Raelen Green ending in ninth place, leaping 4.73 meters.
 
Nora Dreslin ended fifth in the high jump, clearing 1.43 meters, while teammate Katie Atkins was sixth during the pole vault competition, hitting a personal-best vault mark of 3.17 meters.
 
Madison Vargas secured a pair of scoring performances during the meet, throwing to fifth in the weight throw (15.05 meters) and wound up sixth in the shot put (12.06 meters).
 
Elsewhere on the track, the team of Maya Hatch, Ciuffetelli, Dill and Sciortino closed out the meet with a runner-up finish in the 4x400 meter relay, posting a time of 4:05.27. That mark is an NCAA top-50 time and was a regional qualifying performance. Additonally, UR's 'B' relay was sixth place during the race.
 
During the sprints, Lizzie Merrill ran a PR time of 8.20 seconds to end fourth in the 60 meters, while Raquella Casserino was fifth in the 200 meters, capturing an indoor PR time of 27.04 seconds.
 
Up next, a select group of multi-event competitors will take part in the indoor pentathlon at the Ithaca Bomber Invitational on Sunday afternoon. The next full team meet will also be at Ithaca, with the Yellowjackets taking on the Bombers in a rare dual meet next Saturday.