PITTSFORD, NY – In its final meet before conference season, the University of Rochester men's track and field team posted some solid results, competing at the Nazareth Conference Tune-Up meet at the Golisano Training Center on Friday evening.
 
Overall on the day, the Yellowjacket men posted seven All-Atlantic Region qualifying marks, had four event wins and ten other top-3 results.
 
Six of the AARTFC marks came in field events, as the 'Jacket throwers and jumpers showed out.
 
Junior Ethan Beer had a highlight performance in the shot put, breaking his own school record that he set just last weekend. On Friday, Beer finished fifth in the event with a 15.53 meter toss, eclipsing his previous best by over 20 centimeters.
 
Senior Aadit Jain had one of URochester's wins on the day, clearing 1.95 meters in the high jump, good for a regional qualifier.
 
The Yellowjackets added two more regional qualifiers in both the pole vault and weight throw. During the pole vault, Cody Reeth hit an indoor personal-best height of 4.62 meters and finished third overall (2nd college competitor). First-year teammate Brant Nicholls was fifth overall with an AARTFC mark of 4.47 meters.
 
Ethan Kaufman was the top weight throw competitor from URochester, ending sixth at 16.42 meters, while Armaan Butler was two positions back in eighth, posting a distance of 16.10 meters.
 
Closing out top-8 results in the field events were Kyle Kelsey's second place result in the long jump (6.36 meters) and both Ray Watkins and Theo Mueller clearing 1.78 meters in the high jump. Watkins ended third overall, while Mueller was seventh, based on missed attempts during the competition.
 
Shifting to the track, the Yellowjackets had wins from sophomore's Liam Sakakeeny and Greg Palma, along with junior Elijah VanHoover.
 
Sakakeeny was the only regional qualifying performance from the track athletes, winning the mile in 4:17.61. Teammate Austin Skeete was second in 4:25.07, while first-year Anthony Cardoso was eighth overall (and fifth collegiate runner) in 4:38.04.
 
Palma secured first place in the 200 meter invitational event, running a time of 22.46 seconds, while junior teammate Evan Bryant was fifth in 23.21 seconds.
 
Bryant added a runner-up finish in the 400 meter invite event earlier in the day, clocking in at 50.84 seconds, ending ahead of Trevor Whitney who was fifth in the same race in 51.54 seconds.
 

VanHoover's victory was in the open 400 meters, as the junior ran a personal-best time of 51.47 seconds. Additionally, VanHoover set another PR in the 60 meter hurdles, qualifying third in the prelims with a time of 8.51 seconds.
 
Also in the open 400 meter race, Henry Hasselbacher and Ivan Wolf-Mialky, two first-year's ended in the top-6.
 
UR added four top-6 results in the 200 meter open race, led by Brighton Lumia's runner-up finish. He crossed in 23.27 seconds. Owen Hatungimana was fourth (23.34 seconds, PR), Tyler Bernstein was fifth (23.55 seconds) and Maxwell Freeman was sixth (23.71 seconds).
 
Sophomore Joe Berry was a runner-up finisher as well in the 3000 meters, ending his race with a time of 8:51.36, setting a new PR. Junior Gus Smith also secured a personal-record time of 8:57.10, placing fourth overall (third collegiate runner). William Eskenas also had a solid run in the 5000 meters, ending third in 15:57.89.
 
During the sprint 60 meter dash, first-year Barack Abdallah ended third overall and was the second college finisher in the finals with a time of 7.06 seconds. That time matched his prelim time from earlier in the meet when he qualified fourth.
 
Jack Bunaes and Trevor Kuhlman completed the top-8 individual finishers on the day, placing fourth and eighth, respectively, in the 800 meters. Bunaes crossed in 1:59.50, while Kuhlman's time was 2:00.75.
 
Closing out the action was the 4x200 meter relay, with the 'Jackets 'B' group ending in second place overall in 1:35.01. That team was Freeman, Bernstein, Wolf-Mialky and Hasselbacher.
 
Up next, the Yellowjackets will compete at the Liberty League Indoor Championships at RIT next Friday and Saturday.