A total of seven members from the University of Rochester women's track and field team will represent the Yellowjackets at the upcoming NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships next week.
Graduate student Molly FitzGibbons, juniors Nora Chen, Raquella Casserino, Eva Ciuffetelli and Aimee Oszer, sophomore Lizzie Merrill and first-year Lauren Murphy are the qualifiers, who earned their spot via performances during the regular season of the outdoor campaign.
The national meet will take place from May 21-23, in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, with the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse serving as the host institution. In outdoor track and field, the top-22 individuals and top-16 relays on the Division III performance list are selected to the meet.
Chen will have the busiest week for the Yellowjackets, competing in three events: the 100-meter hurdles, 400-meter hurdles and 4x400 meter relay. The junior is seeded second in the 400 hurdles with her school-record time of 59.61 seconds that was set at the University of Buffalo Alumni Invitational on April 17. In the 100 hurdles, she is seeded 16th with a time of 14.33 seconds, accomplished at the Liberty League Championships.
Making up the 4x400 meter relay that is seeded 16th in the field is Chen, Casserino, Ciuffetelli and Merrill, with Murphy serving as the alternate runner. The group just missed out during the indoor season making the national meet, however their best outdoor time of 3:47.40 ending just fast enough to sneak into nationals. That time was set this week at the All-Atlantic Regional Championships.
Oszer will also compete in multiple events at NCAAs, qualifying in both the shot put and discus. Her qualifying marks were 13.77 meters in the shot put and 45.27 meters in the discus, both of which are new Rochester school records. Her shot put mark ranks 14th entering the meet and happened at the AARTFC Championships. Her top discus throw of 45.27 meters was secured at the RIT Bill Q Invitational back on April 24. She is seeded 19th in that event.
Fitzgibbons is ranked sixth entering the meet in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. The graduate student posted a top-time this season of 10:33.71, a new program record, in a winning performance back at the Liberty League Championships.
Murphy's rookie season continues into the postseason, with the first-year qualifying in the triple jump. She is seeded ninth after her season-best jump of 12.12 meters was achieved back in early April at the William & Mary Colonial Relays.
FitzGibbons and Chen are both making their sixth overall appearance at the NCAA Championships. Chen has qualified three times indoors and three times outdoors, while FitzGibbons is making her fourth outdoor appearance and also has two indoor qualifications. The prior five NCAA berths for FitzGibbons came as a member of the Williams College program.
Ciuffetelli is making her fourth overall nationals appearance, and second outdoors, while Casserino has previously ran in NCAA's twice, while also serving as a relay alternate at additional meets. Murphy's NCAA appearance is her second, as the first-year also qualified for the indoor national meet earlier in 2026.
Merrill and Oszer are all making their first ever NCAA appearance, spanning both indoor and outdoor track and field.
The 2026 NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships get underway on Thursday, May 21, with the discus kicking things off at 4:30 p.m central time. The prelims of the 400-meter hurdles are next, followed by the prelims of the 3,000-meter steeplechase and 4x400 meter relay.
On Friday, May 22, the shot put starts the day at 1 p.m. central, with the 100-meter hurdles prelims and a potential 3,000 meter steeplechase final closing out the day's action on the track.
During the final day, on Saturday, May 23, the 100-meter hurdle finals start at 1:50 p.m. central, followed by the triple jump competition beginning at 2 p.m. The 400-meter hurdles finals are next at 3:15 p.m. before the 4x400 meter relay final wraps up the meet at 4:50 p.m.