Complete Women's Results | Complete Men's Results

UTICA, N.Y. - The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women's and men's track & field teams were back in action for the first time since December 8 and both squads turned in impressive performances as the Engineers swept the Utica College Pioneer Open. The women compiled 127 points to outdistance second place Geneseo (115) by 12 points and third place Hamilton (71) by 56 points. On the men's side, RPI finished with 120.70 points, which was 20 ahead of second place Utica (100.70) and 70 ahead of third place Cortland (50).

Freshman Grace Brolly got things going for Rensselaer when she was the first to cross the finish line in the first event of the day, the 5000 meter run, with a time of 18:50.41. Teammate Laura Klang was second in 18:51.29, well ahead of the third place finisher (19:21.10). Fellow Engineers runner Kassie Kromish was fourth with a time of 19:23.46. Sophomore John Reed won the men's 5000 in 15:26.69, which was just ahead of the runner-up's 15:28.50.

The men followed with a dominating performance in the mile as seven of the top eight finishers were from Rensselaer, led by senior Grant O'Connor, who won in a facility record time of 4:18.55. Sean O'Connor finished second, also breaking the previous facility mark of 4:18.68 with his time of 4:18.64. Junior Jake Kloman was third and classmate Joe Domanico was fourth. RPI also boasted finishers sixth, seventh and eighth in the field of 51 competitors.

The women's mile featured three Engineers among the top four finishers with senior Maddie Sturm leading the way with a time of 5:16.87, which was just over a second behind the winner's time of 5:15.14. Maggie Bond was right behind Sturm and Autumn Grim finished fourth. There were 39 competitors in the race.

Junior Andrea Squeri won the women's 3000 meters by more than 25 seconds (10:25.85 - 10:51.32), while two of the top three finishers - and seven of the top 10 - in the men's 3000 were from RPI. Sophomore Evan Atherton was second overall with teammate Jordan Crist in third.

RPI also enjoyed success in the shorter running events, including a second place finish by Madison Perez in the women's 800 and a runner-up for Neil Casimir in the 400. Quinn Gangadharan was third in the men's 800.

In the field events, senior Jillian Salkind won the long jump before being among four Engineers who placed in the top four in the high jump. Freshman Jacy Scharlow was first (1.67), followed by classmate Maya Verma (1.61), Salkind (1.56) and Lauren Parker (1.56). Freshman Ileana Sirois was third in the long jump. 

In the men's field events, Rensselaer's highest finisher was junior Mark Shapiro, who won the weight throw with a distance of 16.78 meters.