Both the UB men's and women's cross country teams performed well at the Penn State National Invitational on Saturday, where they faced many nationally ranked schools. Both teams finished in 14th place in their races. UB also sent a team of runners to compete at a smaller race in Rochester.
Providence captured the women's title at Penn State, with three runners finishing in the top 10. Kim Smith won the overall title with a time of 19:46 while her teammate Mary Cullen crossed the finish line in second.
Jenny Koeppel was once again the Bulls' top finisher. The senior clocked in a time of 21:26, good for 20th out of a field of 346 runners.
Kelli O'Brien was Buffalo's next best finisher finishing in 68th place with a time of 22:25. Teammate Jen Jezorski was just behind, clocking in at 22:28 for 70th place.
The men's race was won by American University, which placed runners in second, fourth and sixth place. Ryan Sheehan, formerly of St. Francis, ran unattached and won with a blazing time of 25:22 on the 5.2-mile course.
For the fifth time this year Andy Wigton was Buffalo's fastest runner. He clocked in a time of 26:23. Wigton finished in 28th place among 322 runners.
Dan McKenna and John Flor were the next fastest runners, finishing in 86th and 89th places respectively. McKenna ran the course in 27:04 while Flor came in one second behind. As a team Buffalo was the top finishing MAC school.
With Buffalo's top runners competing at Penn State, the rest of the Bulls' squad was sent to Rochester to run in the Harry F. Anderson Invitational at Roberts Wesleyan College.
Buffalo's men placed second with 65 points behind RIT's 37 points in the nine-team field. Mercyhurst won the women's team title while the UB women placed eighth among 11 schools.
In the men's 8k race UB freshman Chuck Laderer clocked in a personal best of 26:42.2 good for fifth place out of 108 runners. UB's next best was Brian Smith, who finished in 10th place, while Tim Maxon and Dan Giza placed 14th and 17th respectively.
UB's Susanna Cronmiller was the top finisher in the women's 5k with a time of 20:41.5. She placed 28th out of 115 women in the race.
Both teams are off next week and won't race again until Oct. 30 when they head to Toledo to compete in the Mid-American Conference Championships.
