ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Ithaca College women and defending Liberty League champion Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men are currently atop the team leaderboard at the 2026 Liberty League Outdoor Track & Field Championships following the first day of the two-day meet.
Through six of 21 women’s events, the Bombers hold a 22-point lead with 70 points, ahead of RPI in second with 52. Defending champion University of Rochester sits third with 46 points. Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT, 34) and Vassar College (32) round out the scoring teams thus far in fourth and fifth, respectively.
Through six of 21 men’s events, the Engineers lead with 93 points, holding a 39-point advantage. RIT is second with 54 points, followed by Rochester in third with 32. The Yellowjackets are followed by Ithaca (29), St. Lawrence (12), Union (10), and Vassar (4).
Women’s Championship Highlights
- Ithaca earned 33 of its 70 day-one points in the event, with six Bombers placing among the top ten. Junior Talia Hutchinson led the way, capturing her second straight Liberty League pole vault title with a leap of 3.87 meters. Senior Bree Boyle (3.57m) claimed silver, and senior Erin Eastwood earned bronze (3.42m). Raessler Guthrie (4th, 3.27m), Teagen Kiger (5th, 3.27m), and Abby Reppert (9th, 2.97m) also placed among the top ten finishers.
- Ithaca senior Rachel Larson set a meet record in the 100-meter hurdle trials, crossing the finish line in 13.90 seconds. She breaks the 2023 meet record of 13.93 seconds.
- RIT senior Rachel Kulp posted the top qualifying time of 12.02 seconds in the 100-meter dash trials after finishing sixth in last year’s finals (12.73). She matched the Liberty League record of 12.02 seconds set last year by Ithaca’s Aynisha McQuillar, who placed fourth in today’s trials with a time of 12.20 seconds.
- Three Rochester athletes posted the top three qualifying times in the 400-meter dash trials. Senior Nora Chen led the field with a time of 55.32 seconds, followed by junior Raquella Casserino in 57.15 seconds and sophomore Lizzie Merrill in 57.84 seconds.
- Rochester first-year Molly FitzGibbons posted the top time in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, capturing her first Liberty League outdoor title with a time of 10:33.71. She won decisively, finishing over thirty seconds ahead of the runner-up (11:07.52).
- Vassar College senior Anika Mueller-Hickler claimed the 10,000-meter crown with a time of 36:08.12. She finished the race with a 20-second margin of victory.
- Rochester first-year Lauren Murphy claimed her first Liberty League outdoor gold with a win in the long jump, with a mark of 5.53 meters on her second attempt. In total, four Yellowjackets (Murphy, Ashleigh Barrett, Anna Johnson, and Grace McInerney) finished among the top five in the long jump.
- Through four of the seven events in the heptathlon, three Ithaca athletes are among the top four: sophomore Cameron Ting (1st, 2,549 points), senior Cecelia LaBonte (3rd, 2,475), and first-year Isabel Rossbach (4th, 2,385). Ting posted wins in the 100-meter hurdles (15.63) and the high jump (1.55m). LaBonte recorded a first-place finish in the 200-meter dash (26.20), and Rossbach won the shot put with a mark of 10.08 meters.
Men’s Championship highlights
- RPI tallied 50 of its 93 day-one points in the track events, including 31 in the 10,000-meter run. The Engineers swept the top four spots, led by sophomore Thomas Manson in 30:08.20. Seniors Justin Cascio (30:42.57), Tobin Durham (30:48.47), and Gwilym Horner (30:58.52) followed. Six RPI runners placed among the top ten.
- RPI also earned a first-place finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, with first-year Nicholas McAuley taking top honors in 9:22.18. He narrowly won the race, finishing 1.11 seconds ahead of St. Lawrence senior Patrick Russell, who clocked a time of 9:23.29.
- RIT junior Erik Stephany won the hammer throw with a mark of 57.26 meters after finishing as the runner-up last year with a throw of 53.45 meters.
- RPI also found success in the field events with a trio of victories. Junior Moss Dengler won the pole vault, senior Tristan Mangin topped the field in the javelin, and sophomore Oliver Herrick claimed the long jump title. Dengler cleared 4.85 meters en route to the 2026 pole vault gold after finishing as runner-up last year with a 4.65-meter mark. Mangin, who placed fourth in the javelin a year ago (55.67m), won this year with a meet-record throw of 65.86 meters, surpassing the previous record of 62.09 meters set last May. Herrick captured the long jump title with a mark of 6.61 meters, edging runner-up Ithaca first-year Quinten Lewis by just .01 meters (6.60m), with both athletes recording their best jumps on their first attempt.
- A pair of Rochester athletes paced the 400-meter hurdle trials, with junior Elijah Vanhoover posting the top time at 55.78 seconds and sophomore Owen Hatungimana close behind in second at 55.26 seconds.
- RPI senior Donovan Myrick is the top seed in the 400-meter run after leading trials with a meet-record time of 47.85 seconds, breaking his own record of 48.05 set at last year’s conference championship. He also qualified for tomorrow’s 200-meter dash, posting the fastest time of the trials at 21.611 seconds. Sophomore Cam Caso is the second seed at 21.618, followed closely by Alex Flynn in third at 21.77.
- In the decathlon, five of the 10 events have been completed, with two Rochester athletes leading the standings. Sophomore Emmett Hansen is currently first with 3,490 points, and junior Ashton Tokarski is in second with 3,476 points. Hansen has not finished lower than third in any event so far and secured wins in the high jump (1.84m) and 400-meter dash (50.51). Tokarski also earned two victories, posting the top marks in the 100-meter dash (10.99) and long jump (6.66m).