MIDDLEBURY, Vt. - Both Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) track & field teams traveled to Middlebury College for multi-divisional meets and the Engineers posted four victories and a four runner-up finishes in boasting top four finishes. RPI's men's team was third of nine squads, while the women were fourth of 10.

Three men had wins for the Engineers, who compiled 129.50 points to trail only Amherst (153.50) and the University of Vermont (142). Luke Lyons won the six-person 400 meters with a time of 51.56 - a two second win over Ben Wadsworth of Amherst, the runner-up who finished in 53.86. RPI's Robert Dabney was fourth in the event with a time of 55.52.

Rensselaer also had the first place finisher and the fourth place finisher in the weight throw and the pole vault. Senior Josh Cohen beat 23 others in the weight with a maximum effort of 16.32 meters. It came on his first attempt. The runner-up reached 14.83 and Justin Park was fourth with a throw of 13.63, which came on his third attempt. Park also had a sixth place finish in the shot put.

In the pole vault, sophomore James Zeolla topped the bar at 4.40 meters to defeat 10 others. He managed to reach the height on his third attempt to defeat the runner-up, Carson Kopetz of UVM, by .30 meters. RPI's Eoin O'Gara was fourth with a vault of 3.80.

On the women's side, the Engineers boasted the top three finishers in the weight throw with Morgan Daley maxing out at 13.60 meters for the win. The graduate student reached it on her first attempt and came within .09 of it with her fourth try. Teammates Jessey Bruening and Laura Davis were second and third with throws of 12.90 and 12.79, respectively. Bruening accomplished her distance on her first throw, while Davis got hers on the fifth.

Daley also had a fourth place finish in the shot put (10.05) for the Engineers, who finished with 100 points to trail Amherst (187), Vermont (139) and Middlebury (121).

Fourteen of RPI's points came in the high jump with seniors Maya Verma and Jacy Scharlow tying for second place at 1.60 meters. They trailed only Julia Zacher of Amherst, who went 1.68 meters.

On the track, Kat Morin had a third place finish in the 60 meters and a fifth in the 200 and four runners finished in the top seven in the 5000 meters.

Cory Kennedy was third in the men's 5000 meters, which saw five Engineers in the top seven. RPI also had four of the top seven in the mile with Davis Piercy placing second, just a second behind the winner, Owen Dailey of Amherst, 4:20.87-4:21.46. 

Rensselaer's men got third place finishes from Bate Egbe in the 60 Hurdles and Robert Smith in the triple jump.

The Engineers travel to Utica for a meet next Saturday.