UTICA, N.Y.- The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women's indoor track and field team turned in a strong and well-balanced performance this afternoon at the Utica Blue & Orange Invite.
RPI's middle-distance group led the way, highlighted by a victory in the 800-meter run from
Charlotte Koutalidis, who crossed the line first in 2:22.03. She was closely followed by teammate
Laura Hoag, who finished second in 2:22.18, giving the Engineers a top-two finish in the event.
Julianne Bleskoski continued her consistent indoor campaign with a runner-up performance in the invitational section of the 3000 meters, clocking a time of 10:07.86.
Kaitlyn Fleming added a fourth-place finish in the open section of the 3000 meters with a time of 11:23:45.
In the sprint events,
Lauren Szalkowski delivered a pair of top-six finishes, placing sixth in the invitational 200-meter dash with a time of 26.45 and fifth in the invitational 400-meter dash in 1:00.78.
Maeve Murphy and
Ava Marcucci also competed in the 400 meters, finishing eighth and ninth with respective times of 1:02.28 and 1:02.40.
Over the hurdles,
Emma McGuinn recorded a fourth-place finish in the 60-meter hurdles, stopping the clock at 9.04 seconds, while
Alice Brambati followed with a seventh-place effort in 9.15 seconds.
The Engineers' relay unit produced a solid showing in the 4x400-meter relay, as the RPI "A" squad of
Anoua Carrie,
Emma McGuinn,
Charlotte Koutalidis, and
Laura Hoag placed fifth overall with a time of 4:13.68.
RPI also found success in the field events, beginning in the high jump where
Tooni Olaleye cleared 1.52 meters to finish third in the open competition. In the pole vault,
Ainsley Rausch captured first place in the open section, winning the event with a height of 3.06 meters.
Alice Brambati added another strong performance in the horizontal jumps, finishing fourth in the long jump with a mark of 5.42 meters. In the throws,
Katie Lynch continued her strong indoor season with a third-place finish in the weight throw, recording a distance of 15.32 meters.
RPI returns to Utica next Saturday for the Utica Fast Trax Invite.
