Liberty League West Track & Field Championship Results

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's and women's track and field teams swept the Liberty League West championships Saturday afternoon at the University of Rochester's Fauver Stadium.

The Liberty League track and field championships were split into two regional championships – East and West – due to COVID-19 related travel restrictions this spring. Co-champions were crowned this year with the team winners of the West and East garnering the accolades. The west championship included Ithaca College, University of Rochester, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and St. Lawrence University.

For the men, Ithaca eclipsed the second-place team by over 100 points with their first Liberty League Outdoor Track & Field title. The Bombers had previously won the last three Liberty League Indoor Men's Track & Field Championships. Ithaca earned the team win with wins in both relays, three individual winners in three track events and five first-place showings in the field events.
The Bombers compiled 258 points and were followed by RIT (148), who narrowly edged out Rochester (141) for second by one point and St. Lawrence (69) rounded out the four teams.

On the women's side, the Bombers' margin of victory was 47 points, as the team recorded 256 points en route to their third consecutive Outdoor Track & Field Team Championship title. They were powered by seven individual winners, six of which were field events. Their depth was also a strong point with multiple second and third-place showings.  

Ithaca was followed by Rochester with 209 points, RIT with 79 points and St. Lawrence with 70 points for second, third and fourth respectively.

MEET AWARDS

MEN:

• Track Performer of the Meet: Andy Frank, Ithaca – won the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes with times of 10.76 and 22.03 seconds. He was also the anchor and final leg of both of Ithaca's relay teams—4x100-meters (42.51) and 4x400-meters (3:27.93)
• Field Performer of the Meet: Luke Tobia, Ithaca – was an individual winner in the shot put (13.91 meters) and hammer throw (51.04 meters). He also recorded a ninth-place showing in the discus (32.94 meters).

WOMEN:

• Co-Track Performer of the Meet: Michaela Burrell, Rochester – was an individual winner in the 100-meter dash (12.20 seconds) and 200-meter dash. Her 200-meter dash time of 25.12 seconds was a meet record by .25, breaking the one set in 2017 (25.37). Burrell also had a hand in Rochester's relay victories—the 4x100 (48.61) and 4x400 (3:56.64), which was also a meet record time, shattering the record set by Rochester in 2019 (3:58.99) by more than two seconds.
• Co-Track Performer of the Meet: Jordan Hurlbut, Rochester – was a dual winner in the 800 meter run and 1,500 meter run with times of 2:13.93 and 4:30.32. Both were meet record times as she beat the previous 800 record by two seconds (2:15.71, 2015) and the 1,500 record by eight (4:38.18, 2017).
• Co-Field Performer of the Meet: Samantha Healy, Ithaca – won the shot put (13.06 meters) and was seventh in the discus (33.97 meters)
• Co-Field Performer of the Meet: Logan Bruce, Ithaca – was an individual winner in the high jump (1.68 meters) and 100-meter hurdles, with a meet record time of 14.66 seconds, which breaks the one of 14.97 seconds set in 1998.  She was also third in the 400-meter hurdles (1:09.70) and  javelin (35.03 meters)

Other highlights from the Men's Championship—

• Ithaca, RIT and Rochester all came out strong in the track events with two individual winners apiece. Ithaca's Frank won both the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes, RIT had winners in the 400-meter dash (Justin Jantzi, 50.81) and 5,000 meter run (Reid Kovacs, 15:18.43) and Rochester had winners in the 800-meter run (Daniel Ford, 1:55.38) and 1500 meter run (Scott Sikorski, 3:52.07).
• Gabe Lundy from Rochester shattered a meet record from 2007 in the 400-meter hurdles. He won the event with a time of 53.13 seconds to the 2007 record time of 53.72 seconds.
• RIT's Max Gloskey won the 110-meter hurdles finishing the race in 15.23 seconds.
• Ithaca's Jacob Lange won the 3,000 meter steeplechase, recording a time of 9:34.72.
• St. Lawrence's Dexter Benkard won the 10,000 meter run with a time of 32:55.85.
• Dom Mikula of Ithaca broke his own meet record set at the 2019 championships in the pole vault. His previous high mark of 4.81 at the 2019 championship was eclipsed with today's 5.10 meter leap.
• Ithaca won both relays at this year's championships. In the 4x400-meter relay—Akap Takor, Sam Panzer, Jordyn Harrigan and Frank combined for a time of 42.51 and the quartet of Nate Oczkowski, Zach Woodruff, Zach Wachs and Frank recorded a time of 3:27.93.

Other highlights from the Women's Championship—

• Ithaca's Parley Hannan, who owns the top-Division III time in the 10,000 meters this season was victorious in the event at the championship. She clocked in a time of 36:24.47. She was also second in the 1,500 with a time of 4:31.23.  
• Rochester found much success in the track events; winning six—100-meter dash (Burrell), 200-meter dash (Burrell), 400-meter dash (Susan Bansbach, 56.69), 800-meter run (Hurlbut), 1500 meter run (Hurlbut) and 5,000-meter run (Kristen Lodato, 18:06.54).
• Ithaca's Meghan Matheny won the pole vault with a leap of 3.76 meters.
• Reigning 400-meter hurdle champion and current meet record holder Harley Wilson of RIT won again, crossing the finish line in 1:03.16.
• RIT's Danielle Wallace won the 3,000 meter steeplechase with a time of 11:37.44.
• Kathleen Merchant of St. Lawrence who was pacing the league in the javelin throw won the event with a toss of 36.19 meters. She was also second in the shot put, recording a throw at 12.55 meters.
• The Women's 4x400-meter relay was a highly regarded event with three relay squads ranked nationally among the top-26 prior to the championship. Rochester's quartet of Burrell, Eileen Bequette, Susan Bansbach and Kristin Hardy were the winners with a meet record time of 3:56.64. The Yellowjackets were followed by RIT (4:04.89), Ithaca (4:06.51) and St. Lawrence (4:33.38). Rochester also won the 4x100-meter relay, with a time of 48.16 seconds.