TROY, N.Y. – The Union College women's outdoor track & field team recorded eight career-best performances and four conference championship qualifiers on the way to a third-place finish out of 12 teams at the RPI Under The Lights Invitational, held on Thursday and Friday at the Ned Harkness Field and Track.
 
Union finished third overall with 69 points, 11 points clear of St. Lawrence University in fourth place. Host RPI ended the event with 229 points to earn a 35-point victory over runner-up University at Albany.
 
Senior Cat Dacey provided the highlight of the day for Union by winning the 1,500 meters by nearly 15 seconds, crossing the line in a season-best 4:45.84 to qualify for the Liberty League and AARTFC Outdoor Championships.
 
First-year Kyleigh Record registered another excellent finish for the Garnet Chargers by taking second in the 800 meters, clocking in at 2:17.80. She was joined in the top-10 by senior Caroline Kelly, who earned a point with a time of 2:28.49.
 
Union's most productive event of the day was the high jump, with sophomore Ashley Sheldon and junior Grace Ardito taking second and third, respectively, to earn 14 points. The pair were two of three competitors to clear 1.51 meters, but Sheldon cleared the bar on her first attempt to edge out Ardito for second.
 
Sheldon also qualified for the conference championship in her initial 100-meter hurdles run of the season, finishing in 16.28 seconds to place sixth, while Ardito also took 10th in the long jump with a career-best distance of 4.80 meters that qualified her for the conference championships.
 
First-year Lauryn Johnson had the team's best finish in the field events, throwing the javelin 31.82 meters to take second place. She was joined in the event by senior Lauren Armstrong, who set a new season-best with a sixth-place throw of 29.10 meters.
 
Sophomore Ella McCarthy kicked off the action for Union on Thursday in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, earning eight points by taking second with a time of 13:55.57.
 
Sophomore Annabel Dobash posted the best time of her career in the seeded portion of the 5,000 meters, finishing in 18:27.82 to place fourth overall and qualify for both the Liberty League and AARTFC Outdoor Championships. Classmate Emilie Rosecan also took over a minute off her career best in the event, crossing the line in 19:30.54.
 
Senior Gabby Baker earned three points with a sixth-place finish in the 400-meter dash, completing her lap around the track in 1:03.00. She added another top-10 finish in the 200-meter dash, finishing in 27.33 seconds to place 10th out of 30 runners.
 
In the 4x100-meter relay, the quartet of Baker, Sheldon, Ardito, and sophomore Kat Doran took third place with a lap of 51.54 seconds.
 
Sophomore Epephanie LaBoy threw the hammer a season-best 29.50 meters to place 17th overall, and Armstrong led four Garnet Chargers in the shot put with a 19th-place mark of 8.61 meters. First-year Charlotte Knight added a season-best toss in the discus with a mark of 22.60 meters to place 19th overall.
 
Union will be back in action next Saturday at the Trinity (Conn.) Invitational in Hartford.