CANTON, NY – The University of Rochester men's track & field team claimed three event wins on day two of the 2026 Liberty League Outdoor Track & Field Championships, hosted by St. Lawrence University, to earn a second-place finish on Saturday at the Merrick-Pinkard Track & Field Complex.
 
Rochester's three Liberty League Champions came in the decathlon, high jump and shot put. The Yellowjackets placed four in the top six of the decathlon, led by Ashton Tokarski, who won the 10-event competition with 6,069 points. Tokarski earned his best finish on day two in the javelin (2nd), setting a new personal-best with his 39.54m toss, and also added a third-place result in the discus (29.25m).
 
Emmett Hansen took second in the decathlon with a 6,044-point score, wining the javelin with a 46.93m toss, while taking second in the 1,500 meters (4:53.33), 110-meter hurdles (16.47s) and pole vault (4.40m).
 
Brant Nicholls came in fourth with 5,594 points, winning the pole vault with a height of 4.50m, while also notching a second-place finish in the discus (29.54m). While Jack Maness rounded out Rochester's four decathletes with 5,551 points, good for sixth, finishing third in the pole vault (4.30) and setting a new personal-best time in the 110-meter hurdles (9th, 17.49).
 
Aadit Jain won the high jump with a 1.96m height, hitting one of Rochester's eight All-Atlantic Region (AARTFC) qualifiers on the day, while Theo Mueller took fifth in the event, achieving a height of 1.86m.
 
In the shot put, Ethan Beer took home the title with a 15.00m toss, notching a regional qualifier with one of his two scoring performances on the day. Beer also competed in the discus and placed eighth with a 40.10m throw, while Alex Hermann paced the Yellowjackets in the event with a fourth-place finish and 43.00m toss.
 
Elsewhere in the field events, Austin Lansey led Rochester in the triple jump, notching an AARTFC qualifying mark with his second-place finish and 13.68m leap, while Kyle Kelsey came in sixth, jumping 12.59m.
 
Jain, Barack Abdallah, Evan Bryant and William Stiska got Rochester's day started on the track with the 4x100-meter relay, taking second with a 42.57-second time, an AARTFC qualifier.
 
Abdallah would later lead Rochester in both the 100 and 200 meters, taking third in the 100 meters and sixth in the 200 meters. Abdallah clocked in at 10.87 seconds in the 100 meters, good for third and an AARTFC qualifier, while Stiska finished two spots behind Abdallah in fifth with a time of 10.96 seconds. In the 200 meters, Abdallah crossed the finish line in 22.25 seconds.
 
Both Austin Skeete and Zach Terrano scored for Rochester in the 1,500 meters, with Skeete's 4:00.92 time good for fourth, while Terrano set a new PR with his 4:01.88 time, good for seventh.
 
Up next, VanHoover placed in the top eight in the first of two hurdle events, coming in fourth In the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.06 seconds, a new PR. Then in the 400-meter hurdles, VanHoover led four Yellowjackets in the top eighth, crossing the finish line in second place with a time of 54.18 seconds, a new PR and All-Atlantic Region qualifier.
 
Owen Hatungimana also netted an AARTFC qualifier with his fifth-place finish and 55.99-second time, while Greg Palma came in seventh (57.18s) and Ivan Wolf-Mialky placed eighth (58.25s).
 
Owen Bernstein led URochester in the 800 meters with a fifth-place finish and 1:55.32 time, an AARTFC qualifier, while Skeete took seventh place with a time of 1:56.12.
 
Sam Cohen was the Yellowjackets top finisher in the 5,000 meters, crossing the finish line in 15th place with a time of 15:11.62. While URochester's 4x400-meter relay squad of Hatungimana, Henry Hasselbacher, Jaubert Black and VanHoover wrapped up the day's competition with a fourth-place finish and time of 3:23.72.
 
As a team, the Yellowjackets tallied 158 points to finish second in the team standings, with RPI taking home the Liberty League title with 317 points. RIT came in third with 156.5 points, while Ithaca (98 points) and St. Lawrence (47.5 points) rounded out the top five.
 
The Yellowjackets will next compete at the Ithaca College Final Qualifier, next Saturday, May 9 in Ithaca, NY, beginning at 11:00 a.m.