NEW YORK, NY – Ethan Beer broke the indoor shot put record, and the University of Rochester men's track & field team tallied a trio of first-place finishes on Saturday at the NYU Division III Invitational at The Armory.
 
Beer topped the field in the shot put with a 15.29m toss, breaking the previous school record set by Jordan Johnson just last year. In addition to being a school record and personal best, Beer's toss was also good for an All-Atlantic Region Indoor Track & Field (AARTFC) qualifier, one of four regional marks the Yellowjackets hit on the day.
 
Rochester's two other event wins came in the 3,000 meters and the 4x400-meter relay to wrap up the day on the track. Liam Sakakeeny won the 3,000 meters with a first-place time of 8:37.73, a new personal-best time and a regional qualifier. While in the 4x400-meter relay, the 'Jackets' 'A' relay of Greg Palma, Evan Bryant, Elijah VanHoover and Brendan McCollum won the relay with a time of 3:21.92, another AARTFC mark.
 
URochester's 'B' relay of Jacob Bernd, Jack Bunaes, Austin Skeete and Owen Bernstein also tallied a top-eight result, finishing sixth with a time of 3:32.38.
 
VanHoover got Rochester's day started on the track in the 60-meter hurdle prelims, qualifying alongside Quillan Shimp for the final. VanHoover came in fifth in the prelim with a time of 8.74 seconds, and then clocked in with the same time in the final to finish fourth. Shimp placed ninth in the prelim, clocking in at 8.92 seconds, and then finished seventh in the final at 9.08 seconds.
 
Reward Mulauzi was URochester's lone qualifier in the 60-meter prelims, taking ninth with a time of 7.06 seconds, while Barack Abdallah followed close behind in 11th place with a time of 7.08 seconds.
 
Greg Palma led the 'Jackets in the 200 meters, setting a new PR of 22.41 seconds, while Shimp (6th, 51.04) and Brighton Lumia (10th, 51.35) were Rochester's top finishers in the 400 meters.
 
In the 800 meters, McCollum and Bernstein took fourth and fifth with times of 1:56.63 and 1:57.10, respectively, while Bernd and Skeete came in second and fourth in the mile. Bernd clocked in at 4:22.41, while Skeete crossed the finish line in 4:25.83.
 
Brant Nicholls turned in an impressive performance in the pole vault, clearing 4.45m, an AARTFC qualifying height, to finish second, while Emmett Hansen took fourth with a height of 4.30m, a new PR.
 
Elsewhere in the field events, Ethan Kaufman and Armaan Butler both had top-10 results in the weight throw, with Kaufman's 14.71m toss good for fourth, while Butler finished ninth with a 13.59m throw.
 
In the high jump, Aadit Jain successfully made it over the 1.90m bar to finish fourth, with Ray Watkins coming in ninth with a height of 1.80m. Ashton Tokarski led the Yellowjackets in the long jump (7th, 6.30m), while in the triple jump, both Kyle Kelsey (8th, 12.56m) and Lumia (10th, 11.89m) netted top-10 results.
 
The Yellowjackets will be back in action next Friday, Feb. 20 when they make the short trip to Pittsford, NY for the Nazareth University Conference Tune-Up, beginning at 4:00 p.m.