ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Noah Falasco and Joe Domanico posted victories and three teammates had second place finishes to lead the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's track & field team to first place after Day 1 of the two-day Liberty League Championship being held at RIT. The Engineers have 78 points, which is 10 more than second place Ithaca College and 12 in front of third place University of Rochester.

RPI women's team sits in third of the six schools with 36 points. Ithaca leads with 144.5 and Rochester is second with 73.

Falasco, a senior, ran the mile in 4:19.00 to out-run the field of 17, including the runner-up who finished in 4:22.71. Rensselaer classmate Vince Putrino was third with a time of 4:22.79.

In the women's mile, RPI had the fifth and sixth place finishers in the race, which had 14 competitors. Seniors Maggie Bond ran a 5:07.86 and Andrea Squeri crossed the finish line in 5:09.19.

Another senior, Joe Domanico, was victorious in the men's 5000 meters with an effort of 14:56.78, which was almost eight seconds in front of the second place finisher (15:04.59). RPI junior Jake Davis was fifth and three teammates also placed in the top 10.

The Engineers had two of the top four finishers in the women's 5000 with junior Michelle Murray placing third (18:35.77) and senior Kassie Kromish coming in fourth (18:50.20).

Also third for the women's team was the Distance Medley Relay squad of Jillian Lees, Alyssa Richtarek, Maddie Fabry and Morgan Lee. They had a finishing time of 13:05.13.

Rensselaer's runner-ups included junior Neil Casimir in the 400 meter dash (49.46), Zaire Wilson in the long jump (6.79) and Mark Shapiro in the shot put (15.80). Shapiro, a senior who missed first by .31 meters, was one of three Engineers in the top five with John Gonzalez placing fourth (14.47) and Ben Zawislak one spot behind (14.13).

Wilson finished second by .07 and Casimir was defeated by only .04 in the 400.

The meet concludes on Saturday.