NEW YORK, NY – Highlighted by seven first-place finishes, 11 All-Atlantic Region qualifiers and five additions to the NCAA Division III Indoor Qualifying List, the University of Rochester women's track & field team put together a tremendous performance at the NYU Division III Invitational on Saturday at The Armory.
 
Nora Chen was a triple-winner for the 'Jackets, topping a pair of individual events as well as a relay, beginning with the 60-meter hurdles. Chen ran to a first-place time of 8.94 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles prelims, Rochester's first All-Atlantic Region Track & Field (AARTFC) qualifier of the day.
 
The junior then set a new personal-best time in the 400 meters, topping the field again with a first-place time of 55.79 seconds, the sixth-fastest mark in DIII so far this season, and her second regional qualifier.
 
Then, in the 4x400-meter relay, Chen combined with Raquella Casserino, Eva Ciuffetelli and Lauren Murphy to win the relay with a time of 3:53.19, another AARTFC qualifier and a top-20 4x400 relay in DIII this season.
 
Rochester's 'B' relay of Maya Hatch, Rita Sciortino, Peyton Classer and Emily Dill also took fourth in the 4x400 relay, combining for a time of 4:06.89.
 
Ciuffetelli also led URochester with a tremendous performance in the 800 meters, smashing her previous PR with a time of 2:12.43, good for first place, an AARTFC qualifier, and No. 8 on the indoor qualifying list.
 
Emily Dill and Peyton Classer joined Ciuffetelli in the top 10, as all three set new personal-best times in the event. Dill clocked in at 2:17.29, fourth and another regional qualifier, while Classer came in eighth with a time of 2:17.29.
 
Murphy was also a double-winner for the 'Jackets, earning URochester's lone field-event win in the triple jump. Murphy topped the field with an 11.83m leap, hitting the regional-qualifying mark, while Ashleigh Barrett finished just outside the top 10 in 11th place with a 10.12m jump.
 
Rochester's final two event wins came in the distance events, where Molly FitzGibbons won the mile, and Riley Joseph topped the 3,000 meters. FitzGibbons crossed the finish line in first place in the mile with a time of 4:57.36, an AARTFC qualifier and No. 23 on the DIII Indoor Qualifying List. While in the 3,000 meters, Joseph ran a PR of 10:12.27 in the 3,000 meters, also a regional qualifier.
 
Maria Khalifeh joined Fitzgibbons in the mile, placing sixth (5:22.73), while Alyssa Horng took fourth in the 3,000 meters alongside Joseph, also netting a new PR and AARTFC qualifier with her 10:20.85 time.
 
Elsewhere on the track, Jordan Smith led Rochester in both the 60 and 200 meters. Smith was the 'Jackets' top finisher in the 60-meter prelims, coming in 10th with a time of 8.22 seconds, and then led a trio of Yellowjackets in the top eight of the 200 meters.
 
Smith took fifth in the 200 meters with a time of 26.43 seconds, while Lizzie Merrill came in sixth (26.45s) and Casserino finished seventh (26.48s).
 
Madison Vargas had two top-six throws in the shot put and weight throw, with her best performance of the day coming in the weight throw. Vargas' 16.86m toss earned the junior a second-place finish, ranks 16th on the DIII Indoor Qualifying List and surpassed the regional-qualifying mark.
 
Vargas also finished sixth in the shot put with an 11.71m throw, with Aimee Oszer leading the Yellowjackets with a third-place finish and 12.84m toss, another regional qualifier, in the event.
 
Katie Atkins paced the Yellowjackets in the pole vault, finishing fourth with a height of 3.25m, while Barrett and McInerney went two-three in the long jump, with jumps of 5.25 and 5.21m, respectively.
 
In the high jump, Nora Dreslin earned Rochester's top mark, achieving a height of 1.45m.
 
The Yellowjackets return to Rochester for their next meet, making the short trip to Pittsford, NY for the Nazareth University Conference Tune-Up on Friday, Feb. 20 beginning at 4:00 p.m.