CANTON, NY – The University of Rochester men's track and field team sits in third place among eight teams after day one of competition at the Liberty League Outdoor Championships being hosted this weekend at St. Lawrence University.
 
Through six completed events, of 21 total, the Yellowjackets have scored 32 points, ranking third in the field. Rensselaer has a big lead already after one day, with 93 points, while RIT sits in second with 54 team points. Ithaca is a close fourth, with 29 after Friday's action.
 
URochester finished with three podium results in the hammer throw on day one, led by first-year Alex Hermann in second place. Hermann tossed a season-best mark of 53.15 meters to earn his runner-up result, also qualifying for regionals in the process.
 
Teammate Armaan Butler was third with a regional mark of 51.80 meters, while first-year Ethan Kaufman ended fifth with a toss of 50.24 meters, also a regional qualifier. Another rookie, Sean Elliott, just missed the podium, finishing ninth with a 46.55 meter distance.
 
The Yellowjackets also had two top-5 finishers in the long jump. Sophomore Austin Lansey was third with a leap of 6.45 meters, while junior Kyle Kelsey posted a distance of 6.39 meters, ranking fifth in the field.
 
UR's other scoring performer on day one was senior Cody Reeth in the pole vault. Reeth jumped 4.40 meters to finish fifth in that event.
 
In addition, the Yellowjackets also sent nine athletes to the finals through the prelim qualification on Friday afternoon.
 
First-year Barack Abdallah qualified in both the 100 meters and 200 meters, while junior Elijah VanHoover advanced to the finals in both 110 meter hurdles and 400 meter hurdles.
 
Abdallah's time in the 100 meters was 10.81, ranking first in the prelims while hitting and AARTFC time. In the 200 meters, he ran a season-best time of 22.15 seconds to snag the ninth, and final, qualifying spot.
 
VanHoover hit regional qualifying times in both hurdles events. He led the field in the 400 meter distance with a hurdle time of 55.78 seconds. Earlier in the day, he ran 15.23 seconds to qualify fourth in the 110 meter event.
 
Joining VanHoover in the 400 meter final will be Owen Hatungimana, Greg Palma and Ivan Wolf-Mialky. Hatungimana qualified second in 56.26 seconds, Palma was seventh, clocking in at 58.01 seconds, with Wolf-Mialky was ninth in 58.55 seconds. Owen Alexander also qualified in the 110 meter hurdles in 15.72 seconds, ranking eighth in the prelims.
 
URochester saw some success in the 800 meter preliminary heats as well, with both Austin Skeete and Owen Bernstein qualifying while setting season-best times and eclipsing the AARTFC standard. Skeete will be seeded second in the finals after running 1:53.73, while Bernstein was sixth in 1:54.78.
 
Sophomore William Stiska also advanced to the finals in the 100 meters, joining Abdallah. Stiska was sixth fastest in 11.01 seconds on Friday.
 
During the other events on day one, the top 'Jacket runners in the 400 meters, 3000 meter steeplechase and 10000 meters ended in tenth place.
 
Joe Berry was the top 10k runner, finishing with a time of 31.38.87, while teammate William Eskenas was 12th in the same race, clocking in at 32.42.95. Both were PR's and regional qualifying performances.
 
First-year Will Straub led UR in the steeplechase, setting a season-best time of 10:05.69 in his tenth place run.
 
Junior Evan Bryant ranked tenth in the 400 meters, clocking in at 50.10 seconds during the prelims.
 
After five events in the 10-event decathlon, the Yellowjackets hold down the top-2 spots in the standings, with sophomore Emmett Hansen and junior Ashton Tokarski leading the pack.
 
Hansen set four personal-bests on day one, ranking in the top-3 in all five events. He won the high jump with a PR of 1.84 meters and also was first in the 400 meters, clocking in at 50.51 seconds. He scored 3,490 points on Friday to lead the multi-event group.
 
Tokarski ranks second, narrowly behind his teammate, scoring 3,476 points after five events. The junior PR'd in the 100 meters and 400 meters, posting times of 10.99 seconds and 51.45 seconds, respectively. His 100 meter time was good enough for a win, while he also placed first among the decathletes in the long jump (6.66 meters).
 
Senior Jack Maness ranks fifth and first-year Brant Nicholls is seventh after day one, scoring 2,952 and 2,850 points, respectively. Maness hit a personal-best of 1.75 meters in the high jump, finishing fourth, while Nicholls' top finish was sixth, coming in the 400 meters (54.04 seconds).
 
Day two's action gets underway starting at 10:30 am on Saturday.