ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Russell Sage College Indoor Track and Field tallied five top-ten finishes and four program records at the 2026 Empire 8 Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships, held on Friday and Saturday at Nazareth.

Senior Dylan Lawless (Slingerlands, NY/Guilderland/HVCC) accumulated 4122 points in the heptathlon to finish sixth.  As he increased his program record in the event, the senior improved upon his school record in the high jump by clearing 1.79m.

Freshman Christopher Whalen (Arlington, VT/Arlington Memorial) lowered the program standard in the mile, crossing the line in 4:25.03. The time, which was good for 11th on the day, was exactly a minute better than the previous record, set by the rookie just two weeks ago at Utica.

In the relays, the DMR of junior Jack Christopher, senior Jacob Haynes (Cambridge, NY/Cambridge Central),  freshman Kishamar Glasgow (West Harrison, NY/Harrison) and Whalen, set the program record with a time of 11:20.71. The quartet broke the old RSC record, set in March of 2021, by more than 13 seconds.

The Gators finished in ninth place with the three points that Lawless scored.

On the women's side, senior Alexius Smith (Cohoes, NY/Cohoes) took tenth in the high jump with a leap of 1.43m. 

The 4x400m relay squad of  freshman Catherine Newkirk (Marathon, NY/Marathon) , senior Alexis Arango (Albany, NY/Albany), Smith, freshman Ashley Bovee (Wilton, NY/South Glens Falls) finished eighth with a time of 4:35.47.

As a team, RSC finished in ninth, while SUNY Geneseo captured both the women's and men's titles.

Looking ahead, selected Gators will compete at the AARTFC Indoor Track and Field Championships on March 6 and 7. 

Gator Bites with Papa John's: RSC concluded the meet with 16 new program records this winter, 12 by the men and four by the women…Both teams finished ninth at the 2025 Empire 8 Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships as well.