GENEVA, OH – The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's and women's track & field teams closed out a historic 2024-25 season with strong showings at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships, held this past weekend at the SPIRE Institute. The Engineers had nine athletes compete across nine events, highlighted by three top-four national finishes, a pair of relay school records, and a third-place podium performance from both
James Zeolla and
Ronen Stewart.
Zeolla took third place in the pole vault, clearing 5.10 meters to improve on his tie for sixth at last year's championships. Zeolla's mark eclipsed the RPI men's pole vault record and earned him All-America honors for the second year in a row.
In the 200-meter dash, Stewart blazed to a third-place finish in the finals with a time of 21.21 seconds, earning his first career All-America accolade.
Josh Ihegihu also qualified for the event, placing 12th overall in the prelims (21.42 seconds).
RPI's sprint relays both broke into the top four nationally, posting school-record performances on the biggest stage. The 4x100-meter relay team of
Cameron Caso,
Donovan Myrick, Stewart, and Ihegihu placed fourth overall with a time of 40.24 seconds, the fastest in program history. Later in the meet, the 4x400-meter relay quartet of
Peter Cavanaugh, Myrick,
Alexander Flynn, and Ihegihu matched the 4x100's finish, taking fourth place in 3:11.00, marking another men's record. Both relay teams received All-American accolades for their respective efforts.
Additional qualifiers included
Jack Czarnecki, who finished 16th in the 1500 meters (3:55.59), and Dominic Pena, who placed 17th in the 800 meters (1:54.10), capping off an NCAA appearance that showcased RPI's balance across sprints, middle distance, and field events.
For the second straight year,
Julianne Bleskoski represented the RPI women's team in the 5,000 meters, finishing 11th overall with a time of 16:49.84. The sophomore shaved over 30 seconds off her previous NCAA time (17:22.00 in 2024) and continued to assert herself as one of the top distance runners in the region.
