HENRIETTA, NY – The University of Rochester women's track & field team sits in second place with 87.33 points following the opening day of competition at the 2025-26 Liberty League Indoor Track & Field Championships on Friday, hosted by RIT inside the Gordon Field House.
 
The Yellowjackets notched nine top-three results and 15 All-Atlantic Region Indoor Track & Field Championship qualifiers on the first day of the championships, and head into the final day of competition on Saturday less than 14 points shy of the leaders.
 
Ithaca tops the eight-team field with 101 points, while RPI sits in second with 51.33 points, with Vassar (36 points) and St. Lawrence (17 points) rounding out the top five.
 
Nora Chen notched Rochester's lone Liberty League title, helping Rochester sweep the podium in the 400 meters. Chen took first place with a time of 56.45 seconds, while Eva Ciuffetelli finished second with a time of 59.12 seconds and Raquella Casserino finished off the top-three sweep with a third-place time of 59.35 seconds. All three marks were regional qualifiers, while Peyton Classer joined the trio in the top eight with an eighth-place result and new PR of 1:01.26.
 
Chen also was Rochester's top finisher and lone qualifier in the 60-meter hurdle prelims, winning her heat with a time of 8.85 seconds, good for second place overall and another AARTFC qualifier.
 
In the 60-meter prelims, Lizzie Merrill earned a spot in Saturday's final with an eighth-place finish and time of 8.09 seconds, while Jordan Smith came in 10th (8.12s).
 
Lauren Murphy scored one of two top-three results in the field events for Rochester on day one, smashing the program record in the long jump. Murphy bested the previous mark of 5.64m, set by Ashley Heffernan in 2024, with a 5.77m leap, an AARTFC qualifier and the 10th-best long jump in NCAA Division III so far this season.
 
Murphy was joined on the podium by a pair of Yellowjackets, as Anna Johnson finished fourth with a 5.43m jump, and Ashleigh Barrett took fifth with a 5.40m leap, with both jumps good for AARTFC qualifying status. Grace McInerney also finished one spot out of the top eight in ninth, jumping 5.25m.
 
Aimee Oszer took second in the shot put, adding another AARTFC qualifier to URochester's tally with a 13.33m toss, while Madison Vargas came in fourth with a 12.46m throw, a regional qualifier and a new personal-best mark.
 
Rounding out the field events, Katie Atkins was Rochester's top finisher with a 3.45m height, a new personal-best and a regional qualifier, while Maddie Unruh tied for eighth with a height of 3.00m.
 
McInerney led Rochester in the pentathlon with a fourth-place finish in the 12-woman field, tallying 2,774 points, a new personal-best and 393 points shy of first. McInerney set new personal-best marks in the 60-meter hurdles (11th, 10.52s) and 800 meters (4th, 2:35.63), and notched top-three results in the long jump (2nd, 5.26m) and the shot put (3rd, 8.81m).
 
Cassie Ward was Rochester's next-highest finisher in the pentathlon, scoring 2,546 points, good for 10th. The first-year won the long jump with a 5.30m jump, and added top-eight finishes in the 800 meters (7th, 2:40.99), high jump (7th, 1.40m) and shot put (8th, 8.90m).
 
Julia Largett rounded out the Yellowjackets' three pentathletes, earning an 11th-place finish with 2,469 points. The senior notched her best result in the 800 meters, finishing eighth with a time of 2:39.53, and added top-10 results in the 60-meter hurdles (9th, 10.18s) and shot put (9th, 8.08m).
 
Molly FitzGibbons both started and ended Rochester's day on the track, kicking things off with the mile and running the 'Jackets' opening leg of the distance medley relay to wrap up the night. FitzGibbons took second in the mile with a time of 4:59.20, an AARTFC qualifier and the 28th-best time in Division III so far this season.
 
Then in the DMR, FitzGibbons, along with Merrill, Isabella Doty and Emily Dill, came in second with a time of 12:29.00, good for another AARTFC qualifier, and the 29th-fastest DMR in DIII this year.
 
In the 5,000 meters, three Yellowjackets met the regional-qualifying time, with a pair finishing in the top eight. Ella Blau was Rochester's top finisher in third place, crossing the finish line with a new personal-best time of 17:54.11, while Alyssa Horng came in eighth with another PR of 18:07.17. Riley Joseph then finished one spot behind her in ninth, clocking in at 18:22.08.
 
URochester will look to catch Ithaca on the final day of the 2025-26 Liberty League Indoor Track & Field Championships on Saturday, Feb. 28, beginning at 11:00 a.m. in Henrietta, NY.