ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women's indoor track & field team delivered a series of podium finishes and scoring performances this weekend at the Liberty League Indoor Track & Field Championships, hosted by RIT, highlighted by three individual conference titles and multiple top-eight efforts to help the Engineers finish third out of eight teams.
RPI found immediate success on the track, beginning with
Alyssa Fici's seventh-place finish in the 60-meter dash in 8.05 seconds.
Lauren Szalkowski added points in both sprint events, placing sixth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.27 and fifth in the 400-meter dash in 1:00.24. In the middle-distance events,
Charlotte Koutalidis led the Engineers in the 800 meters, finishing fourth in 2:20.07, while
Laura Hoag placed sixth in 2:21.19 and
Anoua Carrie added an eighth-place effort in 2:22.89. The mile saw
Claudia Wolf and
Ava Handel post sixth- and seventh-place finishes, crossing in 5:12.54 and 5:13.37, respectively.
Distance standout
Julianne Bleskoski turned in a dominant championship weekend, claiming the title in the 5000 meters with a winning time of 17:11.44 after earning a runner-up finish in the 3000 meters in 9:55.96.
Ava Handel added a seventh-place finish in the 3000 meters in 10:24.12, while
Gianna Coryea secured seventh in the 5000 meters with a time of 18:06.57 to add depth to RPI's distance scoring.
Emma McGuinn delivered one of the team's top sprint performances of the meet, finishing second in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.87 seconds. The Engineers also scored in both relays, placing fourth in the 4x400-meter relay as
Alyssa Fici,
Laura Hoag,
Ava Marcucci, and
Lauren Szalkowski combined for a time of 4:09.22. RPI added a fifth-place finish in the distance medley relay, with Josie Howard,
Maeve Murphy,
Chloe Nebel, and
Niamh Heraghty posting a time of 13:44.82.
Alice Brambati soared to a conference championship in the long jump with a winning mark of 5.79 meters, while
Leanna Wells captured the Liberty League title in the shot put with a mark of 13.40 meters.
Kylie Allen placed sixth in the shot put at 11.58 meters, and
Katie Lynch followed in seventh at 11.38 meters before adding a sixth-place finish in the 20-pound weight throw with a mark of 14.59 meters.
Tooni Olaleye contributed a fifth-place finish in the high jump at 1.53 meters, and
Ainsley Rausch tied for eighth in the pole vault with a clearance of 3.00 meters. Gabby Irvin rounded out the scoring in the women's indoor pentathlon, finishing eighth overall with 2,598 points.
